BigMoneyJim said:
Yup, when I read "partial retirement" I naturally envisioned a failed or pseudo-retirement.
I like the 'degrees' idea in terms of use for an identifier, but I have to admit two things:
1) Different people have different ideas of what 'retired' means, and I am too old to argue until they are all bird-dogged into my definition, so I am learning to try to be open minded...
2) For ME (and only for me, YMMV, OIMACTTA, etc) the idea of 'semi' or 'partial' retirement is a non-starter, because the whole essence of what bugs me about work these days is not usually the actual activity once I get there, it is the fact I cannot just drop it all to go to the beach or on a three week road trip as I see fit.
At this stage of my life, that seems to be building up to be a terribly important thing. I just don't want to HAVE to do a dang thing that I haven't personally decided to do, anymore. This feeling seems kind of new to me, because I have always enjoyed a workplace with lots of other team members, and I don't always have to be the lead pack dog. I enjoyed interacting and working with people all my life, and I have been getting up in the AM and working til the job was done since I've been seventeen, without interruption and without complaint. The idea of having a schedule pretty much means that I might as well work a few more years of regular work until I don't have to do the 'semi', 'temp, 'partial', 'pseudo' or other modifier to add in front of RETIRED.
Wow, more than I thought I'd say, but figured it might be worth saying.
mod EDIT: Fixed quote-instead-of-modify edit - BMJ