Thank you for the responses everyone . I ' m strongly considering taking the position . I almost see contractingconsulting as the next avenue naturally , but I thought of it later in life . As far as my roleposition goes , I am pretty much at the pay title ceiling . I have only met a few other top earners ~ 10 % to my salary and its a result of years of experience usually 20 years experience compared to my 11 years , and have confirmed that with professional recruiters as well . The ability to control my workload , at the cost of a slight increase in taxes , and additional insurance expenses , I think is worth the risk . I ' ve also established many professional relationships , and have many former coworkers scattered around the industry that I think I should be able to land extra work if I asked around . This client should be a solid gig for a year , with the likelihood of an offer at the end of contract . They even mentioned possibly staying contract if I wanted interviewing manager was freelance most of his career and said candidly he liked it , this company would not let his role be contract when he joined .