Well, I think that there's a distinction between contracting and running a small business. I've been contracting sinve 1998 until this year. Our country has free healthcare, but I do supplement it with insurance (about $100/mo). As for retirment benefits, I guess it's a cultural thing. I consider that a personal expense like food or rent, because it's rarely offered as a benefit from an employer in New Zealand. My administration costs are small, I enter my time in my accounting package each day (takes 5 minutes), and it generates my invoice automatically each month. I spend another half an hour a month entering expenses. I've never made any thing like $100/hr, but my declared income has always tended to follow my rough formula. This includes things like 4 weeks holiday per year, plus sick time.. I guess I do my training in my own time (outside of my 40 hour week) so you could argue that I work more than a standard day

However, as part of my new years' resolution, I've switched from contracting to running my own business in January - and all the additional costs like marketing, booking ratio etc have come into play. I'd make much more as a contractor, but I enjoy this more