Invest it, and walk away?

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Yes, I am available all year. If I wasn't, I would lose opportunities and be forgotten about (or replaced by a competitor). Plus, when you eat what you shoot, you have to keep hunting for more game, so to say. ....

In my experience there are lots of white-collar, professional part-time opportunities out there.

I can see where it would be tough being a sole proprietor.

I was in consulting but was a full-time employee and decided to go part-time. All my management needed to do was compare my billing rate to the cost of carrying me and they knew that they were making a lot from my services and a half of my hours was better than none. I did that for more than 5 years.

It might be possible to take on fewer projects (hunt and kill less) and use the time freed up to do what you want to do. In other words, do only 60% or 75% of what you do.

Or perhaps merge with a local competitor and then work for them part-time.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski It might be possible to take on fewer projects (hunt and kill less) and use the time freed up to do what you want to do. In other words, do only 60% or 75% of what you do.

I'm looking to do this but find it difficult since the energy industry is so crazy busy these days. Seems like when I find a gig, they want me to stay on and be "available".

As daylatedollarshort pointed out, teaching jobs may lend themselves to fitting part time work, but I have not thought about that. (I don't think part time teachers make much income around here either, but I could be mistaken).

The bottom line about part time work appears to be task related and if you have a skill that matches with a particular project with a finite end, then it could be truly part time.

Another avenue is working for an agency that places part time folks. Here in town there are a few, but those positions usually are long term (6 months+) and may end up ful time (if you are asked). I think it's the nature of the industry around here (Houston).

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigBangWeary A real return of 5% over 25 years would mean $1,693,177 at 60. Nothing extravagant with inflation

This may be too obvious to mention, but if the next 25 years sees inflation equal to the last 25 years, then the $1,693,177 will be worth less than $877,000 in today's dollars.

[daylatedollarshort]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 As daylatedollarshort pointed out, teaching jobs may lend themselves to fitting part time work, but I have not thought about that. (I don't think part time teachers make much income around here either, but I could be mistaken).

I don't know about part-time teacher jobs, but I know several people who changed careers to become teachers, which does give them summers and most other school breaks off and maybe a pension. One of our former co-workers just got a teaching certificate for a career change.

[ERhoosier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Yes, I am available all year. If I wasn't, I would lose opportunities and be forgotten about (or replaced by a competitor). Plus, when you eat what you shoot, you have to keep hunting for more game, so to say. I suppose there are very specialized consultants that have the skill set to pick and choose jobs or be "the only game in town", but those are not the garden variety consultants. You make it sound so easy for someone to stop what they are doing and just migrate to a high paying part time gig. In real life, it's not that easy.

That's general impression in my region,too. Congrats to those who have been able to scale back to hi-pay part-time IC. Many who tried to scale back to PT ended up involuntarily scaling back to (near) zero
Most self-employed "part-timers" I know seem to be folks who are trying hard to GROW their business.

[Milton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski Or a less stressful job with a smaller firm.

It should not be assumed that working at a smaller organization is less stressful than working at a large one. Different types of stress, typically; but not necessarily reduced or otherwise better.

[BigBangWeary]

Funny, I actually work in the education sector. I was planning on taking one of those low stress jobs in industry

[daylatedollarshort]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigBangWeary Funny, I actually work in the education sector. I was planning on taking one of those low stress jobs in industry

It may not be just the job itself so much but also if the job suits your personality type.

[nash031]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister This may be too obvious to mention, but if the next 25 years sees inflation equal to the last 25 years, then the $1,693,177 will be worth less than $877,000 in today's dollars.

By "real return," I assumed he meant "return after inflation," in which case the $1,693,177 in 25 years would be in today's dollars. That assumption was why I asked him where he planned to get 5% "real return" over the next 25 years, because I want in.

[BigBangWeary]

Yes, return after inflation is what I meant. My apologies.

[LendingWire]

It depends on what they want to do. It's not really about being wise, if they like their jobs and want to continue working at that time I'd say go for it. If you'd be happier with your job I'd say retirement wasn't wise. Or, if they wanted an extremely high standard of living, continuing to work would probably be their best plan. Some people really hate being frugal, and if they have the money to do it, I say more power to them. If you're asking whether or not they could live comfortably I'd say yes, they would be fine doing that.

[BigBangWeary]

Just a reminder that in this scenario the couple is not walking away from work to live some kind of ERE lifestyle. They would be winding down to work at jobs they enjoy that pay the bills and allow them to put a few thousand away for retirement each year. This, instead of earning large and saving large (and hating it).

The idea of planting a 'big-ish' deposit in the markets at a 'relatively' young age and continuing on with a little less worry than they might have had. The argument being that compounding would put them on a solid footing over a 20+ year period.

For argument sake, we would assume that they have avoided lifestyle creep during their higher-earning years and enjoy low cost hobbies and family time.

[dallas27]

OP: i think you have the right idea. At least a part of me want to shoot for a million at 40 then hang it up and go teach snipe tracking or something.

The problem with me is this goal oriented work ethic I'm instilled with makes it hard to just walk away and bet on the market to do the labor.