Those of you who are following us at Free Agent Source know we provide the net. But that’s not the point I want to make. It’s this one sentence from the article:
“As the unemployment rate soared last year, they felt they had more job security as freelancers able to get work from a variety of sources than if they were on staff, dependent on a single company or a single boss.”
Exactly! The March (2010) issue of Money magazine called it “Working without a net.”
No one accepts the idea that we should put all our money in one stock, even it’s a relatively stable one like GE or Procter & Gamble. Why do we think being dependent on one company (actually one boss) for our pay is “safe”?
The reality is, even if we have a great job, eventually something changes. The boss moves on to another job, there’s a re-organization, the company or division gets acquired, operations get moved to another country, the changes never end. Sometimes changes are good, sometimes not good. And each time the change is not good, we are stuck in an inflexible situation. Time to look for another permanent full-time job. Long interview process due to high risk and long-term commitment of permanent employment. Re-enroll in the health plan. Re-enroll in the 401(k) plan. Re-establish credibility in the new organization.
You will hear (and read) us at FAS saying over and over – diversification is good. We just need a safety net (company resources) to make it work.
* (Looks like there is no electronic version of this article. So I linked to what was available – the Table Of Contents.)
