if this was your dh's job would it bother you?

beachgirl1977

dh was laid off in July. We were lucky and he got a consulting job 6 weeks later. The pay is good but he is considered an independent consultant so he is not an employee of anyone's. He travels almost weekly and pays upfront for all travel costs about 1500 per week of travel. There are no medical benefits, 401k etc. 

This is the part that bothers me: there is no set pay day or frame for reimbursement for travel expenses. The client has 30 days to pay the contractor and they have 30 days to pay the subcontractor
(my dh). We went from dec 12 to feb 4 with no pay or reimbursement. He was told they try to pay the first week of the month but that came and went this month. We could technically go 2 months with no pay.

I know it should get easier to make this stretch because in nov and dec there were holidays with almost a week off unpaid. We are still waiting for his january hours and could wait until march 30! Planning and budgeting sucks because he also refuses to carry a cc balance which is hard when you try to make my teaching salary strech 2 months and cover 4k in travel expenses.

I am thankful he has a job but would like him to keep looking for a more regular job (set paydays and benefits) since I am going on mat leave this summer,  I'm torn because he likes the job but the uncertainty of knowing when the next check will come stress me out and I am tired of fighting over money

DandR

Well, when we started having kids my DH had an independent sales job that was 100% commision based so some months we were poor, some months we were rich.  It sucked.  No insurance, etc, etc.

However---if he had LOVED the job, I would have never complained.  Because we made it work by spreading out the rich months through the poor months. 

But he didn't love it....so I encouraged him to find something more stable.

Now he is in a much better job that he loves a lot more and all is good.

SOOOO---basically, I"m saying I understand where you are coming from...stability is a nice thing to have.  BUT---you haven't said how much he loves/hates the job.  If he loves what he is doing, its hard to put a value on that, you know???

soontobemomma

How often is he doing expense reports?  Could he start doing them bi-weekly, because then you would get paid more often?  Is he just doing them monthly?  Not sure if that would help. Is he able to explain to someone how this affects him?

I don't think it hurts for him to look for another job, b/c it doesn't seem like this is permanent and it is crazy that he can't get a better pay situation.

GL! 

*Amy*

I can definitely see why you are frustrated. I would be too.  It must be incredibly hard to budget.  If it were me, I would want him to look for something with more predictablility.

Marce921

It would definitely bother me and it would probably bother DH more. He's a control freak when it comes to money, so I think it would stress him out to no end.

JOEBunny

Depends how much he is making.  I know some guys who make $500K+ a year, and they have the same "pay structure", and they would otherwise be making $100K with benefits.   I guess it depends on what the "risk reward" is.  If it is close to 0, then he should find something else.  If it is 4X, then it is probably worth it in the short term. 

You should be past the point of pain, assuming he is working consistantly, He should be getting  fairly regular cash flow from here on out.  

beachgirl1977

He can only submit his report once a month. 

He says he likes his job a lot which is the hard part. He has never paid bills etc and I don;t think he understands how hard it is to budget. I would like to take a year off when I have the baby in July and this uncertainity is making me think I may need to go back in feb even though he makes good money.  I also know he hates looking for a job. Hates with a passion!

It also bothers me because it doesn't bother him as much. He also set up an s corp. I don' know of we are doing everything right with taxes etc, but he gets so annoyed when I ask questions but i don't know if he fully understands either.  

beachgirl1977

we should catch up soon. I hope. He has been traveling less but we went from unemployment in the summer (I am a teacher so also got paid 0) a full month of work in oct and nov and dec were less than his old job because of all the unpaid time off. So until we get january's invoice we are still living off a lousy 6 weeks pay from the months of dec and nov

eclaires

A friend of ours has a job like this - he's an independent contractor though (works for himself, so the company pays him directly) and he makes a boatload of $$$.

I think once you get used to the pay structure it would be easier to deal with b/c you'd be far ahead... but I am sure it's stressful in the meantime.

littlemermaid

beachgirl1977:

He can only submit his report once a month. 

He says he likes his job a lot which is the hard part. He has never paid bills etc and I don;t think he understands how hard it is to budget. I would like to take a year off when I have the baby in July and this uncertainity is making me think I may need to go back in feb even though he makes good money.  I also know he hates looking for a job. Hates with a passion!

It also bothers me because it doesn't bother him as much. He also set up an s corp. I don' know of we are doing everything right with taxes etc, but he gets so annoyed when I ask questions but i don't know if he fully understands either.  

Is there a way to funnel more money into savings so you have a bigger chunk of change to work with in between checks/reimbursements.  If he enjoys the job and it is paying well then I wouldn't force him to quit I would just try to play "catch-up" and try to get more money into a savings account that you use for the in between periods.

Also are taxes being taken out of his paychecks.  If not, then you will want to make sure you are paying estimated income taxes quarterly so that way you are not left with a huge tax bill when it's tax filing time.

sarahjared

It would drive me crazy not knowing when the money would come in, etc.  I would love to say that if my DH loved it I would work it out.  However, with a child involved, I think I would strongly encourage him to find something more stable.