But $800/day is still significantly more than $100k/yr even after taking those things into account. For me both those numbers were higher but it came to a 45% increase if I only took 6 weeks vacation.
But let's do some back of the envelope math: $800 day * 250 days (10 holidays) * 75% (3/4 billable) = 150K - 10K ? Social Security - 5K No more 401K match - 10K Health Insurance (Multiply for a family) - 5K Training - 5K Other benefits (leave, sick days, life insurance, etc) ------ 115K
Some of these numbers may be off, and I've missed some things, but this is roughly in line with the original post.
[1] Consulting would be more like 9/10 billable or even more. Some contractors take the absolute minimum required time off since they're paid by the day (I've heard of guys who haven't had a consistent week off for years), which would put them at 11+/10 relatively.