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Originally Posted by zx10guy
^This.
I would also assess if the company will extend your contract. Because you might have to factor in having to look for a new job again in a relatively short amount of time.
With respect to 401ks and retirement. The actual max for 401ks is $17,500 a year. It is not based on the company you work for. It is a IRS mandated maximum just like the maximums for IRAs and qualifying factors for Roth IRAs. In your contract situation, as stated above, you will be looking at doing IRAs at $5.5k a year, but if I were you I wold be doing a Roth IRA and forget about a traditional IRA. Doing a traditional IRA does have one benefit which allows you to use the money you put in as a deduction on your taxes.
I don't know what field you're in, but I'm in the IT field. About two years ago, I was working with a tech staffing firm. How this arrangement works is they find a pool of skilled workers and then shop them to prospective employers. They set up the interviews for you with the prospective hiring company. If after the interview the hiring company likes you, you work with the staffing firm to negotiate your salary. This also includes working out any benefits such as paid time off. Health benefits are also discussed negotiated. I don't remember if it's an allowance for you to purchase on your own or if it's purchased from the staffing firm. Once you've negotiated all of these details, you get paid by the staffing firm because technically you're an employee for the staffing firm.
With my situation with the staffing firm, there was a set salary ceiling the hiring company was willing to pay. I got the maximum they were offering for the position. From there, because they liked me so much, I was able to negotiate additional paid time off which wasn't part of the original package. Otherwise, if I wanted time off, it would have been leave without pay situation. And an additional supplement to help pay for health insurance. So they made it where I was getting the maximum salary they were offering and didn't have to take a hit with getting the "standard" benefits. I was also able to do a 401k through the staffing firm but with no company matching. The staffing firm makes their money by charging back to the hiring company a percentage of my negotiated salary. This to me was the best of both worlds where it was a hybrid of working a normal employee type position but more as a contractor.
I didn't take the position though. The term was only 8 months but the hiring company assured me that if I worked out (and they had no reason not to think it would based on my strong technical interview), I would be hired on full time by them. So there was a slight risk I would be looking for a new job again after 8 months. But the hiring company was trying to staff this position for almost a year but couldn't find anyone who could meet the technical requirements. The other issue was the hiring company was going through a major merger. A large foreign company had just bought them out. I was told the parent company would most likely leave the IT department alone. But I was still very uneasy about this. So between the merger and the official 8 month term, I didn't think the risks warranted a job move. Also, with the new position I was going to be taking a $20-30k pay cut from my base pay without factoring in the commissions pay I also get. Why I was considering this move was because I hated the sales environment I was in. Things have changed for the better since then with my current job but I still keep an eye out for new opportunities as I'm a true techie at heart and don't like dealing with the BS which comes with sales.
Sorry for the long winded response but wanted to relay my story as I was in a very similar situation as you.
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My wife has works in the staffing industry for the last 20+ year and you painted a nice picture for what is generally know as the meat market.
Your just a whore being pimped out to company who wishes not hire permanent employees for various reason manly the cost of benefits and cost of laying someone off. Depending on the Staffing company and the contract with the end employer will depend on whether you get straight pay or benefits included. Some employers required the staffing company to cover benefits. You also have realize the staffing company is make 10% to 30% of your pay as their fees.
Some people love this work since they can just go from company to company work in the next new things verse staying with one company and dealing with being an employee.