> I value job security, and therefore a financially secure life, over any of the benefits this consultant has. As someone who has done contract work for most

> I value job security, and therefore a financially secure life, over any of the benefits this consultant has. As someone who has done contract work for most of my working life I think it's kind of the opposite. When doing contract work you have the option of having multiple part time jobs. Not everything is based on full time yearly commitments. You might choose to do 15 hours a week for 2 different gigs, or maybe 4x 10 hour ones. Or maybe you have a few where you do 2 hours a week (code review type of stuff) but you have 3 of them. Any of the above combos could be range from 1 off things to sticking around indefinitely. I've had so many multi-year contracts, those I like because it's quite stable and lets you maximize your hours on doing work instead of finding new clients, reading new contracts, etc.. You're diversifying your income streams. If one goes away you're not left scrambling to find another one as soon as possible and you can continue paying bills with your income instead of dipping into your savings.