Money isn't everything

[RAE]

time>>$$$

you can make more money, save more money, spend less money but the time you have (and have left) is a constant and never can change. It was perhaps the one talking point I had with my wife that she had no counter for . You can wonder if you have enough money and therefore need to keep working but if you are pretty much FI at or near the lifestyle level you wish to be at that top equation is unbreakable IMO and wins

+1. I never considered taking a contract job (or any job) after I retired, regardless what I may have been offered (and I did have a couple offers). My free time is worth way more to me than money at this point in my life.

 

[FUEGO]

I understand. Screw crappy commutes. Mine, at 10 minutes, could still be nerve-wracking (crazy busy road 10 lanes wide at times, sometimes with narrow lanes, pot holes, dodging city buses, sketchy parts of town where I was afraid of getting ambushed, etc).

I picked up some very occasional freelance work at ~4 hours per month that pays about 10% of our expenses. It's work from home or wherever. Personal finance, travel, early retirement, taxes, or lifestyle topics. In other words, like writing a long post here at ER.org but getting paid a fat hourly rate for it. Can't complain at all about the work and the commute is sometimes from the couch to my hammock on the back deck.

 

[harley]

I did a four month gig after being retired for 9 months (minimum requirement for my package). It was OK. I liked my old group, the work was sort of fun, and it helped get past the "OMG what have I done" period. But after the four months was over I was ready to go. I don't see ever having to live on someone else's schedule again. That freedom is truly (IMHO) the best thing about FIRE.


I have a (very) small business now but it's less than 100 hrs/year and pretty much at my leisure. No office and no schedule. Beer money and a chance to keep up with the tech. If it went away tomorrow I wouldn't miss it. FIRE rules!

 

[easysurfer]

I got up early the other day give my sister a ride. The early time felt insane at her place by 8 am

 

[Sunset]

While I will do some occasional work for a favourite client, I do make it less of a grind by working from home when possible, or coming in late about 9:30-10:00 to miss the traffic and I leave late for the same reason (and lock up the office as I'm the last one out).
The owner does not mind, as he used to do the same thing when he had a terrible commute

 

[Cobra9777]

I had a hellish commute for 25 years... 80 miles per day, 1 hour each way... on the most congested and poorly-maintained highways in the great crumbling infrastructure that was once Texas. And much of that time was spent with a bluetooth headset, on overseas conference calls, and often with ppt slides on my laptop in the passenger seat. There is absolutely no amount of money that would get me back out on that road. For years, I've been on the email distribution list of some headhunters, and now just reading the job descriptions makes me physically ill.

When bad weather hits (usually sleet and ice in these parts), it's still stressful for me, as I have to get on the phone and convince both my 20-something kids and my 80-something in-laws to stay at home. They think it's no big deal.

 

[braumeister]

For the last few years I had a ten minute commute ... which took fifteen minutes

Most of my commutes felt like that.

 

[athena53]

When I left, I considered talking to a friend whose company, a mutual fund manager, hires part-timers to answer calls from 401(k) customers wanting to move money around. No selling, but required a Series 7 license, which is material I wouldn't mind learning anyway. I left in May but we had a 2-week trip to Alaska in July, so held off. By that time I was spoiled- no schedule, only commitments that I wanted to take on, no alarm waking me in the morning. I didn't realize till I got out what an awful idea it is to have anyone who wants to put meetings on your electronic calendar, even when you've already got something scheduled. (I know there are ways to block this but the culture in most companies is that your Calendar is open and you accept invitations unless there's some pressing conflict.)


OP, at least your job is temporary. Take some of the extra $$ and use it for a special dinner out or some other reward when you're done!

 

[Corporateburnout]

I didn't realize till I got out what an awful idea it is to have anyone who wants to put meetings on your electronic calendar, even when you've already got something scheduled. (I know there are ways to block this but the culture in most companies is that your Calendar is open and you accept invitations unless there's some pressing conflict.)

The last few months on the job I enjoyed declining most of the invitations imposed on my calendar without inquiring about my availability.

 

[Cat-tirement]

The last few months on the job I enjoyed declining most of the invitations imposed on my calendar without inquiring about my availability.

I remember having this happen during my last couple of months too, and found it fairly entertaining. (Close to the end I put a "retired" meeting in Outlook for the rest of the year. ) It was also satisfying to ignore all the notices regarding the annual mandatory training refreshers happening at the time. My mid-year performance appraisal was also due during my final few weeks. So my manager could check off her box, we just had a nice social conversation instead, as we had worked together on and off for many years.

 

[Corporateburnout]

I remember having this happen during my last couple of months too, and found it fairly entertaining. (Close to the end I put a "retired" meeting in Outlook for the rest of the year. ) It was also satisfying to ignore all the notices regarding the annual mandatory training refreshers happening at the time. My mid-year performance appraisal was also due during my final few weeks. So my manager could check off her box, we just had a nice social conversation instead, as we had worked together on and off for many years.

I had the same experience as our company was in process of implementing a new focal point compensation system that required extensive training according to our HR department. I kept getting invited to this mandatory training even when they knew I was leaving for 6 months. After declining a couple of invitations I started accepting but did not show up.

For my performance appraisal my boss, who I worked with for 15 years and who retired 6 months after I did, and I went to dinner to discuss our retirement planning.

 

[Midpack]

Money isn't everything, especially to folks here, otherwise they wouldn't be retiring early. And very it's easy to say time > $ while you're still working, or early on during retirement. But perspectives may change later during retirement IF money starts to run short. It might not be as simple as time > $, there's a balance...

 

[poorcarver]

+1 Nuke_diver. That is what woke me up when I realized that a lot of friends who were younger were dead or seriously incapacitated.

 

[nuke_diver]

I would say yes and no Midpack. The point is you can do things to get more money but you cannot do anything to get more time (total time not time off work). You have x number of day until you die. If, like my Mom or some friends, you die early that number is small and if you retire at 35 and live to 110 that number will be big and you have to plan for a long time.

Retirement planning would be a piece of cake if we knew the value of x. So you need to plan for a large value of x and make sure that your planning will cover you so you don't run short in retirement. However that can happen whether you ER or not...I would tend to guess that ERer's are less likely to have a problem BECAUSE they did the planning. That guy that thought he would work until he dies and so never bothered to plan then gets laid off at 60 and has major health issues at 65 is probably the one that has neither the time or the money

I'm willing to take that risk and soon...maybe even sooner than I planned initially

 

[robnplunder]

The only scenario of my coming out of retirement for money would be if I ended up broke and I need the money to feed DW & myself. There is 0.927% chance of that happening.

My 27 min commute takes 65 mins and I take a company shuttle to work to avoid road rage.

 

[nun]

Money isn't everything, especially to folks here, otherwise they wouldn't be retiring early. And very it's easy to say time > $ while you're still working, or early on during retirement. But perspectives may change later during retirement IF money starts to run short. It might not be as simple as time > $, there's a balance...

This is so true. I think taking the part time job was the last expression of my income worries. In the first year of ER I was a bit nervous about generating my own paycheck without any work, so when offered the chance to earn a quick $25k I took it. I went into ER knowing my income needs, but actually living it is a bit different and it's taken me a year to get really comfortable with the flow of money around my various accounts.

Obviously, for people who post on ER, time is more important that money because they choose to spend some prime earning years doing other things. When I ERed at 53.5 I estimated the amount of money in salary and gains I was giving up by not working until 65; it was roughly $2M. I was pretty bored at work and could feel it sapping my love for life and so took the plunge The money would certainly have bought far "nicer" cars and given me far more income and probably meant more for the heirs to inherit, but even on my lesser 53.5 year old's portfolio I estimate I'll be producing 3 to 4 times my budgeted income needs using a conservative investment return. So because I'm single, and don't need to pay for things like college, I made the decision that 12 years of extra freedom and stress free life were worth $2M.

 

[SteveNU]

Years ago a wise man told me "you can always make more money, but you can't make more time".

 

[yakers]

This discussion has flowed appropriately about something like 'is it worth it going back/continuing to work?' Which is fine, I just want to add a different perspective as I was reading the board a couple days ago from recovery in the cardiac ward.Nope, not worth going back to work for me.

 

[nun]

This discussion has flowed appropriately about something like 'is it worth it going back/continuing to work?' Which is fine, I just want to add a different perspective as I was reading the board a couple days ago from recovery in the cardiac ward.Nope, not worth going back to work for me.

Yes that puts it in perspective. I hope you get better soon.

I have a friend who is right now in hospital waiting for a bone marrow transplant for leukemia. She went in to the doctor feeling tired and thought it might be menopause or anemia....turns out it's caner and the next day she's in hospital with restricted visits and going on chemo. Time and health are precious.

 

[jebmke]

Years ago a wise man told me "you can always make more money, but you can't make more time".

You got it. Last year, a good friend finally succumbed to cancer. The same year a fellow TaxAide volunteer learned he has early-onset dementia. In November he was fully alert and capable of preparing a tax return. By January, he barely knew where he was.

 

[Midpack]

I would say yes and no Midpack. The point is you can do things to get more money but you cannot do anything to get more time (total time not time off work). You have x number of day until you die. If, like my Mom or some friends, you die early that number is small and if you retire at 35 and live to 110 that number will be big and you have to plan for a long time.

Retirement planning would be a piece of cake if we knew the value of x. So you need to plan for a large value of x and make sure that your planning will cover you so you don't run short in retirement. However that can happen whether you ER or not...I would tend to guess that ERer's are less likely to have a problem BECAUSE they did the planning. That guy that thought he would work until he dies and so never bothered to plan then gets laid off at 60 and has major health issues at 65 is probably the one that has neither the time or the money

I'm willing to take that risk and soon...maybe even sooner than I planned initially

The "answer" is definitely yes and no, there's no avoiding some level of uncertainty re: when to retire. We all make that decision on our own terms, with no guarantees. The best any of us can do is choose what probability we can accept - all of us will be surprised in the end, some positively, others not.

I guess my point was it's almost meaningless to say time>$ money early on. So is using the unfortunate minority whose lives are short as a basis for the decision, most of us are likely to enjoy long retirements, so that's what we have to plan for. Only when you're at the end of your plan can you say with any authority what the right balance is between time and $...

Years ago a wise man told me "you can always make more money, but you can't make more time".

You don't have to be very wise to know it's pretty hard to "make more money" when you're 70, 80 or 90 years old. Retirement plans fail in the end, never in the beginning when "you can always make more money" might be more likely...

 

[bmcgonig]

I think the idea of doing some contracting after retirement is good for me if I allocate the money to something that my SWR would not support, like a very expensive vacation or a car upgrade or something like that. My retirement income won't allow for flying Business Class and staying in super nice hotels, so the extra work could pay for those. I've noticed that when I've done extra freelance work in the past it helped to do things like that so the work seemed immediately rewarding.


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