Freelancing Lesson: TASK

KEY:

1. United Kingdom - Spend £2,516.37 - Left £1,833.63
2. United States - Spend £4,014.93 - Left £3570.89
3. Canada - Spend £3,189.53 - Left £1,349.84
4. Final pay

Production expenses: 

• Computer - £1k for 4 years?  £20.83 per month
• RTX 3080 graphics card as recommended in class £750
• PC + parts for a tower 3D level = £2k
• Current laptop = £650 on Black Friday (1 year and already crashing on Maya etc, I use quite high performance stuff)
• Software - Max £317, Min £218.05 per month on the months I need Maya
• Adobe package - £50 per month , $52/£38.05 per month , CDN$70/£39.85 per month
• Maya - £234 per month  , $205/£150 per month , CDN$265/£150.86 per month
• Blender 😈 - Free!
• Toon Boom (harmony advanced) - £33 per month , $41/£30 per month , CND$55/£31.31 per month
• Other - 
• Actors - $150 for 15 seconds: £439.02 , $600 , CDN$771.16 for a minute of footage
• Musicians - £9.97 , $13.63 , CDN$17.51 an hour
• Working space? (I think I would rather work from home but the future could change) - Freeeee? I couldn't find any prices.. 

Overheads: 

• Bills
• Rent - £650 Leeds , $871/£637.31 Michigan , CND$1200/£683.16 City Centre
• Internet - £27 Average , $56.60/£41.41 , CND$10/ £5.69
• Phone - £25 (currently £10 not unlimited but close) , $114/£83.41 , CND$80/£45.54(Unlimited)
• Gas - £56.33 Average , $63.25/£46.28 , CND$130/£74.01
• Water - £46 Ours , $50/£36.59 , CND$50/£28.46 (Including garbage and sewage)
• Electricity - £58.25 Average , $97.41/£71.27 Michigan , CND$174/£99.60 Average
• Home Insurance - £7.83 , $7.50/£5.49 , CND$840??/£478.21
• Healthcare  
• Eye and dentist:
• UK £40 eye test, £60 dentist £100 a year  (£250 leeway), £8.33 (£10.83 with £30 leeway) 
• USA $46/£33.66 eye test, $49/£35.85 dentist check up a year (£7.72 with £30 leeway)
• Canada CND$75/£42.70 eye test, CND£35/£19.93 dentist check up a year  (£7.71 with £30 leeway)
• Prescription - Asthma(will be more than this with transitioning) £3, $16.08/£11.77 , CND$4.96/£2.82
• (US healthcare insurance) - AVERAGE $141.45/£103.50 per month
• Women - £7 , $5/£3.66 , CND$7/£4
• Travel
• Holiday - £2000 2 years? - £83.33 per month
• Business trips - £700 year - £78.33 per month
• Festivals - £70 year - £5.83 per month
• Transport - I mostly walk but say 2 trains and 3 busses which is last years total. 
• UK - £136 Manchester to Leeds isn't so far but £100 ish leeway for London - £11.33 per month
• USA - $130/£95.12 Buses are $1 and train average is $127 - £7.92 per month
• Canada - CND$150 trains plus $9.60 buses - CND$159.60/£90.86 - £7.57 per month
• Clothes - £12
• Entertainment - £16.66
• Gifts - £20.83
• Food - £25 , $50/£36.59 , CND$81.26/£46.26

I think whilst doing the research, and all of the related ads that kept coming up in-between research off of Instagram and google (I was asking my US friends for some of these facts) I realised just how bad and complex US healthcare is. And though the price of salary and other bills may balance out the payments in terms of the US to the UK - It's pretty clear that Canada seems like a better option all around. 

REAL MATH TIME

I found that UK average for freelance animators is $37/£27.07 an hour. If Mike said in class an animator in the North East earns around £150 a day, then they work 5.5 hours a day 

Therefore in the UK if you worked 29 days a month (days of is close to days break estimate) , you would work 159.5 hours a week and earn £4,350 per month

The UK total up above came to £1916.37

• Tax - Income: £100 (ours at home according to dad) + room for error £500 = £2516.37 so £1833.63 spare for pension or savings etc

USA's average freelance seemed to be around $65/£47.56 per hour x5.5 hours x29 days means you would earn £7,585.82 per month

USA's total above came to £1,997.77 per month 

Tax - Federal tax: 16% Michigan +£500 error +any other taxes?? so maybe make tax around 20% = £4,014.93 so £3,570.89 spare

Canada's average seemed to come up as CND$50/£28.46 an hour. x5.5 hours a day x29 days means you would earn £4,539.37 per month

Canadian total above came to £2008.62 per month MINUS THE HOUSE INSURANCE (it seemed wrong...) 

Tax- Federal tax: 15.37% + £500 error = £3,189.53 so £1349.84 spare

In the end, I feel like this came down to luck of the draw and how you assert yourself. I suppose maybe stereotypical to America, or maybe just because they have larger animation companies in America where being associated with them gives you confidence. But America definitely had the best hourly rate. Though I thought they would lose in the long run, it turns out you gain a lot more free money in the US. I'm sure there are calculations that I have forgotten for everything. I feel like talking to my American friends and understanding values that they probably got from their parents (they're not the right age to think about this yet haha) It sounds like America is very complicated. And that very easily, you could lose all of that spare money on say, one trip in the ambulance £2500. Birth. Natural disaster as terrible as it sounds. I think for the reason I would like to be out of the UK and for the lack of tax stress, Canada is a good bet, but I think the animation companies I could get in to after freelancing for a while are few in numbers. The UK is safe. And though it's not smart, I always promised myself I wouldn't be in the UK doing uni. I should have already been gone by now 😂 Though there is also nothing wrong with playing smart and adding more of the spare funds to the holiday fund to travel more (even for business to see festivals etc)