I'm Going Back to the Workforce

I recently had a huge decision to make. Working from home is awesome. I love it.

In fact, there is nothing else I'd rather do. However, when you first get into the game, the irregular income is hard to get used to and I still wince in pain when a week goes by where I don't have much work. On the other hand, there are other weeks where I'm so busy I don't have time to go to the store or run errands.

It's a crazy life, indeed.

I've also become so fast and efficient that I have plenty of time to get my work done and do something else productive. Instead, I've just been kind of lazy.

These are just a couple of reasons why I'm looking to get back into the workforce. Read on to check out the others.

I hate them. Everyone hates them. You know who doesn't mind them?

People with a lot of income sources. People who know how to maximize their write-offs. And I want to be one of those people.

As an example, I can get a home office tax deduction. I can write off retirement contributions. I can write off capital losses on anything I sell for a loss on the stock market.

But at the end of the day, I'm still paying taxes.

This is why I want a regular job, or as we in the wfh office lifestyle like to call it, a real job. A W2 job. You get the idea.

The more taxes I pay from a regular job will (usually) mean less I have to pay out of pocket at the end of the year. As a freelancer, I'm an independent contractor. I get paid by the job and I pay my own taxes on this quarterly.

As mentioned above, I can write off retirement contributions. Having a full-time job, even though it means I'll be stuck at work for 40 hours a week, means I can create multiple retirement accounts.

Yep. That's a thing. I can use a 401(k) to get free money from my employer, set up a different account for my freelance business, and jam anything leftover into a Roth IRA.

Aside from actually having to work, this sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

The best part is everything except for a Roth is tax-deferred until I decide to withdraw at 59 and a half years of age. At this point, I'll just have a conversion ladder set up to minimize the fees.

The irregular income makes my head spin. I don't like it. However, having consistent money coming in will make my life much easier. I won't sweat the weeks where there isn't much work available.

Freelancing, in any capacity, is a feast or famine kind of thing. This is why so many of us bank extra cash when times are good to get through the rough patches. Like any good fool, I have money set aside, but in my opinion, it isn't enough.

If you decide to go the freelancer route, I highly recommend having close to a year's worth of desired salary in the bank for when you can't find work.

So. The verdict is that I need to go back to work. It's unfortunate in some ways. I enjoy working from home. I enjoy sleeping in every day. And I enjoy running errands as they need to be taken care of, as opposed to when I have time.

But the irregular income and the desire to retire long before 65 or 67 or whenever people are giving up the work ghost these days is grating on my nerves.

And it's time I do something about it.

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