I’ll start by saying I’m not in poverty now, but I was a few years back and I’m still digging my way out of a financial hole that 3+ years of unemployment put me in. So at best I’m on the edge of poverty. Here’s my most recent results into looking into making some additional money.
I already have a full-time day job, and I’m also an Uber driver for an additional 20-30 hours a week. I added a rider on my vehicle insurance to cover this type commercial driving. Just last week I got an offer from a local resort owner to shuttle guests to and from their business and a couple of airports in the area. This isn’t something that can be be done under the auspices of Uber.
And after a bit of research, I had to decline. My insurance doesn’t cover this form of commercial use of my private vehicle. I could add insurance at the cost of something like another $2000/yr, but I don’t expect to add enough business to cover the additional expense and make a decent amount for myself. A lot of people might consider doing this off the books and uninsured, and odds are good they could get away with it. Or I could quit my day job and give up the bennies like health insurance and paid vacation, and maybe build enough onto my driving business to make up for what I would lose. But I’m neither type. I’m well into middle age, oh fuck it I’m past middle age, and while I like the idea of making more money and being more independent, I’m risk-averse at this point of my life.
So do I “lack the will to succeed?” Are society’s regulations for small business and entrepreneurship too burdensome? Or what?
Those aren’t bad goals and writing them down is actually good. Ask yourself what do you need to do today to ensure that you can continue living according to that statement today, a decade from now, and in your last years.
When you need to make a decision such as risking a lawsuit from not having proper insurance ask yourself what’s the maximum downside and what’s the maximum upside? Ask yourself is that risk necessary?
If you are digging yourself out of a financial hole than you are already moving in the right direction. You just want to speed up the process? I’m not seeing the benefit of the additional risk if you are already making progress.
You have any money going into tax advantaged retirement plan at your current work?
But I can’t keep up a 70 hour work week indefinitely, nor even a 40 hour one, unless I’m “lucky” enough to die before retirement. Realistically, I don’t foresee retirement as a future option at all. So I can succeed in terms of those goals until I become physically or mentally incapable of working, and then it’s off to the cardboard box house and the tins of cat food.
…When you need to make a decision such as risking a lawsuit from not having proper insurance ask yourself what’s the maximum downside and what’s the maximum upside? Ask yourself is that risk necessary?..QUOTE]
I can’t conceive of any possible upside to being sued. The downside is losing my home and every dollar of cash I have, and maybe a source of income if I do something egregious enough to lose my driving privileges.
What’s the nature of this financial hole you are digging yourself out of? Debt? To whom?
Is bankruptcy or default an option? An increase in the cost of future credit may be worth keeping more of your present money. Fully exploit any legal option with regards to finances. The mega-corps and politicos do.
I owe just over 10 grand on 2 credit cards, and nearly another 10 grand to a family member. I have negotiated lower interest rates and a repayment schedule with both card companies, and I’m also on a repayment schedule with my family member. I’ve also renegotiated a lower interest rate on my mortgage (I had foreclosure papers filed against me, but I’m out from under that now).
My credit rating has improved over the last couple of years, but I have no immediate plans for major expenses, so that’s not such a concern.
My main concern is that I can’t put aside much money while retiring all this debt, which means my retirement plan includes having a stroke and dropping dead on the job.
He’s not saying there is an upside to being sued. The upside to not having insurance is that you don’t have to pay for it. If you’re never sued, then you save the $1000/year (or whatever) your insurance costs. The downside is a risk because there’s a chance of never being sued, and a chance of being sued for a million dollars.
I’m not sure how to answer your bigger question. Comparing entrepreneurship to employment is a lot like comparing owning a house to renting. Yes, on the one hand you have more control and long-term appreciation of an asset. On the other hand, you have higher risk, fewer protections and have to either do all the work yourself or pay someone else to do it. There is no single answer that fits everyone. As a general rule, I’d say that if you don’t have a burning desire to do it, you shouldn’t do it. Desire is not the only ingredient, but it’s important.
Really? Simply filing some papers would protect me financially if I knowingly run a transport business without insurance, get in an accident and kill or maim some of my passengers?
This is a serious question – how does one make a judgment about that using something other than gut instinct? There is a virtual certainty that buying the insurance will make the business (on the modest scale I’m currently thinking of) unprofitable. That has to be balance against 2 risks. One, that I would get in an accident and be sued by other parties to the accident. Second, that there is presumably some regulatory agency somewhere that, should they find out what I’m doing, could levy fines or other sanctions against me.
I have great confidence in my own driving abilities – in 30+ years the only 2 accidents I’ve been in have been 100% the other parties’ faults, but so what? Maybe that means I’m overdue.
There is no way to accurately assess this risk. You don’t know the variables accurately you can only estimate. My estimation would be that health insurance and vacation from a company while driving for uber part time is of more value than a few extra dollars from gambling on the other driving. Pizza delivery may be more lucrative without the risk of engaging in commercial driving uninsured.
The good news is $20,000 is not insurmountable. I’d be more worried if you were one of these foolish new graduates with a useless degree and 6 figure debt.
Actually, one of the best ways for a layman to measure the aggregate risk is to look at insurance companies themselves. Your premium is their estimate of how much will be paid out over time for people like you, marked up to cover their overhead costs and provide some profit. That doesn’t tell you the exact chance of being sued for a million dollars, but it does suggest that a $1000/year policy means something like $600 in total insured expenses for all members of your class in an average year.
The insurance companies themselves have massive databases and people with fancy degrees, but that’s not going to be available to you and me.
Ignoring the regulatory hurdle, it soundslike you are succeeding. You simply value other things higher than pursuing this entrepreneurial activity.
These are not “society’s” regulations. They are government regulations. Government is not society. Society is shorthand for the multitude of voluntary interactions and arrangements between individuals.
All it means is that not all businesses are viable.
If you don’t get insurance, the costs don’t disappear. The costs, should you get in a crash, will probably get born by your creditors because you are likely going to go bankrupt.
As a society, we’ve decided not to allow businesses to shift their risk like that. You can’t (legally) make everyone else subsidize your potential liability. This isn’t a case of over-zealous regulation. It’s just reality that driving a car is inherently risky.
You are wise to be risk adverse right now. Someone in their twenties can risk everything, and if they lose, they have an enormous amount of working life left to rebuild.
You and I have very little working life left. Can you even imagine starting out fresh, homeless, no money, etc … sounds like you’ve thought of it.
You got into this financial hole because you didn’t have a full time job, now you do … protect that. Earn a little extra scratch from Uber, great … time to cut out the extreme luxuries, like memberships to otherwise free websites … for example … [giggle]