WWYD...year of "retirement"

[palomalou]

Firecalc is giving me a 92% if we retire this year and work pt (earn about 10K/year each), 58% if we don't work. If we wait till 2013, 98% if we work, 74% if we don't. Work is of course somewhat adjustable, not only 20K or 0$, but only if we can find work at our mid-50s ages. What are your free associations to this decision? I've calculated this part-time work to continue until I'm 70.
On days I hear about someone retiring and dying right away, I'm gung-ho for this year; on other days, patience seems to be a virtue...

 

[SecondCor521]

For me I won't pull the trigger until I'm at least down to a 4% withdrawal rate on my projected retirement spending with zero additional income. At that point I think I'll move into the "just a little more" / "one year more" classification.

But everyone's situation is different and it's a very personal decision, so my thoughts on the situation are barely relevant.

2Cor521

 

[flyfishnevada]

Sounds like you are dooming yourself to work part-time until you are 70. What if you can't? What if you don't want too? I get the idea that you want to retire, but it seems a little like buy something you can't afford assuming you'll get a pay raise to pay for it. Working part-time becuase you want to is one thing, but doing because you have to makes waiting a few years until you can FIRE for real seem like a better idea.

Like stated above, it is a personal decision but to me retiring in your early to mid 50's (I assume based on your post) to a life of part time work until seventy isn't nearly as attractive as retiring at 60, for instance, to a life of leisure. That's me though.

 

[Amethyst]

I'm acquainted with some people who enjoy part-time work for the pay, the company of others, and "something to do" 2-3 days a week. Does that describe your feelings toward p/t work? If so, then I'd say it sounds like a plan, assuming the work is available.

Amethyst

 

[W2R]

Sounds like you are dooming yourself to work part-time until you are 70. What if you can't? What if you don't want too? I get the idea that you want to retire, but it seems a little like buy something you can't afford assuming you'll get a pay raise to pay for it. Working part-time becuase you want to is one thing, but doing because you have to makes waiting a few years until you can FIRE for real seem like a better idea.

Like stated above, it is a personal decision but to me retiring in your early to mid 50's (I assume based on your post) to a life of part time work until seventy isn't nearly as attractive as retiring at 60, for instance, to a life of leisure. That's me though.

+1 It's such a personal decision, but were in in your situation I'd w*rk until I got 95% probability of success without any work at all, and then fully retire.

But then, how do YOU want to spend your later years? Up to you.

 

[Aiming_4_55]

It's really a personal decision which involves risk of finding a reliable on going part time job.

I would suggest studying your current earning potential vs. your part time earning potential. Would you have to work more hours to get that $10k working part time, thus not really part time anymore?

Say you take a 25% paycut on your part time job, you have to work 25% more hours to make the same money. YMMV

What will it take working fulltime to get to 95% success? Is it 1 - 2 years?

Is the issue of your job?

Personally, I will would not consider pulling the plug until I hit 100% success expense funding with a SWR of 3.5% or lower. Part time after that would be for fun or new toy that was not in the budget.

 

[Rowdy]

First, do you have medical insurance covered? That would be a major consideration for dropping down to part time work for me.

One of you could give PT work a try to see how things go. If you enjoy the PT work, perhaps the other could follow. But as the other posters have said, you may be in a health situation later in life that would prevent you from working into your late 60s; then what do you do?

 

[Live And Learn]

To earn 10k / year, assuming a low stress $10/hr j*b you'd need to w*rk approx 21 hours per week (assuming 4 weeks of annual unpaid vacation). I struggle with the same decision and at this stage I think I'd rather w*rk FT another year or two for the FI. Then I think about getting up for w*rk on Monday and I think "no, I think I want out NOW ".
So the logical side of me says "w*rk another year or two" but the emotional side of me says "get out as soon as you can !!".

Could you cover all your expenses outside of hobby and vacation expenses w/out w*rking ? If so then you could go to your PT job with the attitude of "I'm doing this so I could have a GREAT vacation this year". Alot different than "I HAVE to do this PT w*rk".

 

[FreeAtLast]

I am 59 and worked part time for the past 5 years. It was an extension of my prior full time job at the same rate and benefits. Somewhere during that time I became FI but decided to work as it provided me with free health insurance as a benefit.

Work becomes much less stressful when you only are there part time. I could have gone on working for another 5 years had the job not ended. I think that it would be harder for me to go back to the work from retirement.

 

[Live And Learn]

Part time after that would be for fun or new toy that was not in the budget.

+1 !

 

[Alan]

Like stated above, it is a personal decision but to me retiring in your early to mid 50's (I assume based on your post) to a life of part time work until seventy isn't nearly as attractive as retiring at 60, for instance, to a life of leisure. That's me though.

This would be my view as well.

One of you could give PT work a try to see how things go. If you enjoy the PT work, perhaps the other could follow. But as the other posters have said, you may be in a health situation later in life that would prevent you from working into your late 60s; then what do you do?

DW went to PT 6 years before we both fully retired. Having her work PT actually helped my stress levels as she took on a lot more of the household chores etc.

 

[Dreamer]

I would not want to have to have a part-time job until 70. I would definitely wait, if it were me.

I retired from full-time work and had not work for almost 4 years. I started back to part-time work 3 days per week, 2 years ago. My job is low stress, mostly enjoyable and I really like my boss. However, I am thinking more and more about quitting. My job has a schedule and I can not be as spontaneous as I would like to be. I am 58 yrs old and I would probably have a feeling of panic, if someone told me that I definitely had to continue working until age 70.

 

[jebmke]

I retired at 55 but then continued part time for a couple years -- not to make the numbers work -- to help cover a gap that wasn't anticipated after I left. By the end of the second year I was definitely feeling the tension of having to manage a part-time situation where the organization increasingly pulled me back in and my own desire to cut the cord. I finally cut the cord. For me, a couple of years was manageable but a long term, part-time would just not have worked.

 

[traineeinvestor]

Delay retirement until you get a sufficiently high success rate without needing to work part time. I'd rather front end-load some extra years in the work force than be compelled to seek out work when I am older - which presupposes both the availability of work and the ability to work. Both would be risk factors that I could avoid by working more now - while I have a job and can do it.

There is also the issue of needing to sleep at night - the longer I need to work the more likely I am to worry, not only about the financial side but also the reduced amount of time in retirement mode.

I went through this issue myself over the last several months (last year's market put a dent in my confidence) and decided to push back retirement to either 31 December 2012 (if no prospect of a bonus) or early 2013 (if I think I may get a bonus). I want the security of knowing that work is optional.

 

[Rambler]

I would not pull the plug until I knew I could do it without PT work should the stars not align the way I had hoped...particularly if we are talking about working PT all the way to age 70. I would hate to get a couple years into it and find out I could not longer work until that age. I would rather take my full-time job until I was at a SWR I was comfortable with (let me sleep at night, w/o work income, w/ sufficient play money).

R

 

[MichaelB]

Unless I had a profession that was very high demand and lent itselt to part time work, I could not retire knowing I still had to go earn some money to get by. It would just make me feel uneasy. I would rather work the extra years and then feel that my time and life was now mine.

 

[Mulligan]

I concur with waiting. I work part time in ER, but not from necessity. I dont know your income requirements, but my part time job is low paying, and I get killed on taxes. I am in a low paying PT job, but Im firmly entrenched in the 24% tax bracket, add state, and SS, etc. I am only getting 60 cents on the dollar working. Im not saying this to complain as I dont have to work, but if you do, you might be surprised how little you get back and how much more PT hours you need to overcome this.

 

[Nords]

Firecalc is giving me a 92% if we retire this year and work pt (earn about 10K/year each), 58% if we don't work. If we wait till 2013, 98% if we work, 74% if we don't. Work is of course somewhat adjustable, not only 20K or 0$, but only if we can find work at our mid-50s ages. What are your free associations to this decision? I've calculated this part-time work to continue until I'm 70.
On days I hear about someone retiring and dying right away, I'm gung-ho for this year; on other days, patience seems to be a virtue...

If you absolutely hate your job, then your calculations have demonstrated that you can quit now and take your time in finding a different bridge career.

Otherwise I don't think I'd be very eager to "retire" (if we can call it that) if I had to continue part-time until age 70. I'd be tweaking my budget or my health insurance or looking for side hustles that could raise my income now.

 

[Chuckanut]

I must go along with most of the others here. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to work part-time. This would free up a lot of hours during the week, but it would also delay retirement by several years since i would only earn 1/2 year of service every school year. The clincher for me was that despite working less, I would still have to be on a schedule, still go to meetings, still be subject to programs and whims that may or may not be useful, and still not have the freedom to use my time as I wished to.
I am glad I continued to work full time. In a few more months I can truly enjoy retirement.

 

[Chuckanut]

Oh, I have also boosted my savings to the max for the last two years so I won't have to substitute teach to pay the health insurance premiums. While I can hook into a group plan, I must pay 100% of the premium.

 

[Mulligan]

Oh, I have also boosted my savings to the max for the last two years so I won't have to substitute teach to pay the health insurance premiums. While I can hook into a group plan, I must pay 100% of the premium.

I had the same option also in retirement, but I discovered it was a lot cheaper in the individual market than it was staying with the group plan. Some strategic risk, but after a little more than a year and a half , I have saved 10k. I am sure this doesnt work for everyone though.

 

[Koolau]

As a belt and suspenders kind of thinker, I would not even consider depending upon part time w*rk to retire. In my case, I w*rked several years beyond FI to insure that I would never need to w*rk again (of course, there are no absolute guarantees in this life.)

As a practical matter, one would need a PT j*b that paid a decent rate or else earning $10K per year could take half your time (say, at $10/hour). Seems better to stay where you already get paid your top wage and tuff it out for a few years. From your figures, I'm SWAGing that you might need another 4 or 5 years of FT to get to 95% or better without PT w*rk.

If it were me, I would either continue to w*rk or else change my budget so I could retire w/o PT. Just me. YMMV

 

[Grainiac]

As a practical matter, one would need a PT j*b that paid a decent rate or else earning $10K per year could take half your time (say, at $10/hour). Seems better to stay where you already get paid your top wage and tuff it out for a few years. From your figures, I'm SWAGing that you might need another 4 or 5 years of FT to get to 95% or better without PT w*rk.

+1

If I remember correctly the OP is a college professor or something like that. If her field is such that short lucrative consultation gigs are available, $10k might just be one month of work per year or less. Otherwise, if she is talking about 20 hour per week job to earn the $10k, it does not seem to make much sense. Actually my situation is somewhat similar: If I could find something that would give me 50% of my current pay for 50% of my current hours, I would go for it immediately, but no such luck. More like 10% of compensation for 50% of hours.

 

[Gumby]

I would wait. When I stop working, I don't ever want to be in the position where I have to do it again for financial reasons. If I get bored and something really interesting comes along, I might give it a try, but I would want the money to be irrelevant.

 

[flyfishnevada]

+1

If I remember correctly the OP is a college professor or something like that. If her field is such that short lucrative consultation gigs are available, $10k might just be one month of work per year or less. Otherwise, if she is talking about 20 hour per week job to earn the $10k, it does not seem to make much sense. Actually my situation is somewhat similar: If I could find something that would give me 50% of my current pay for 50% of my current hours, I would go for it immediately, but no such luck. More like 10% of compensation for 50% of hours.

That is a different animal. Doing a short term project for the same wage rate (or maybe more) once or twice a year would be fine.

I got called by my ex-employer to provide some info to their lawyers. I asked for $150 and hour plus expenses. They gave it to me and I earned over $2500 in a day and a half. I'd do that again in a heartbeat! Not too often, but if they wanted to call me once every 3 or 4 months for a day or two's work and a couple of grand, I'd do it. That's almost like free money.

I got the impression the OP was talking about a real job. Traditional part time work might as well be full time work as far as I'm concerned.