How long was your glide path? What advice can you share?

[rwdflynavy]

It's always important to remember that the RE part is optional in the FIRE equation.

I'm still working a couple very part time jobs for engagement to my old career (I'm an adjunct professor at the Naval War College) and as part of my desire to never stop learning (I'm a standardized patient at our local medical school).

If you are having fun with your part-time/full-time work and it doesn't detract from the things you want to do, keep at it!

 

[thod]

I sort of had the decision of 'when' forced on me. My group was notified that our positions were going to India (software, of course) in January of 2020. We had to ship the current release (about 4 months) and then train the India team (about 6 months).

We were free to find another position and stay if we wanted.

This was a tipping point for me. I knew retiring early was an option, but had not really done any kind of specific date/plan. The company did me a favor by forcing a decision. It did not hurt that I got to work 10 more months, got severance, got bonus for not leaving early during, etc. It was the most money I had ever made in a year, probably 3 times more.

If you noticed the date, about 3 weeks after being informed, Covid 19 hit and most of those 10 months were done working from home.

 

[freedomatlast]

I guess I've had two glide paths.

The first one was at 55 years old, financially and mentally I was ready to go, but was stubborn and held out for a lucrative, engineered package which finally came at at 59. Those years were actually fun in some respects because I said just exactly what I was thinking with no filter. It kind of backfired though because one of the officers of the company was actually impressed with my candid demeanor and promoted me, much to the chagrin of the rule following, politically correct crowd.

Then at 60 1/2, was repeatedly ask to come back, on my terms, a year later and am still there. This is no longer about money, but is in a field that's extremely interesting to me and it keeps me mentally sharp. The days go by very quickly and I work with some great, helpful and extremely talented people.

So, I guess I'm on my second, stress free, glide path now.

 

[CO-guy]

Thank you, everyone, for all of your wonderful advice. So many comments resonated with my internal struggles over this issue. My parent worked 80+ hours a week and died at 45, so the target date I set for myself when I was 20 was to be retired by 45.

In 2017 I could see my FI becoming more solid and made my exit plan from the nightmare job I felt trapped in. I planned to quit in 2022 and switch to consulting full-time. It took an extra year before I finally quit, which my better-half calls my "covid year," but it was feedback from this community that encouraged me to tighten up my FI before leaving the dumpster fire of a workplace. That turned out to be a great decision. I also raised my consulting rates in the past 18 months so that I can consult less and play more while catching up on Roth waiting for my better-half to become pension eligible.

I can see how the 6-year stretch leading up to finally quitting might be a glide path because I gave zero "forks" about the toxic office politics that entire time. However, now, I'm only consulting half-time and my FI is already solid, even if I stop consulting entirely tomorrow. (97.4% on Firecalc without considering any real estate equity and projecting an extra 20% to current monthly expenses - 100% otherwise)

It's definitely nice not 'need' more income, and I enjoy what I do. My current 5-year glide path to winding down my consulting is based on becoming irrelevant in my field, but now I don't see that happening. My guess is that I'll call it quits with my consulting business when my better-half leaves her 9-5 in 2030.

 

[Aerides]

I deliberately took a lateral move in my company for my glide, which lasted 4 years. It allowed me to mostly WFH (back before it was in fashion), and while I was still in IT, I was no longer in the Dev/Ops cycle with weekends and late night support, etc.

It was a "bad career move" to anyone not looking to glide, so there wasn't too much competition for the role. I knew that meant no one would be tapping me to promote from there, and no chance of major bonuses or accolades beyond the norm.

But I'd get to work from my spare bedroom office, instead of a 40 mile (each way) commute. So that was golden.

Around the 3 year mark I started hinting strongly for a package, and had it within a year.

 

[scrabbler1]

My glide path was 7 years.

In 2001, after I turned 38, I negotiated a part-time, mostly work-from-home deal. The long, sometimes sickening commute, which I had already so despised, had become too much for me (right, MarieIG?). I reduced my total weekly hours worked from 37.5 to 20 and reported to the office only 1 day per week. I had paid off the mortgage in 1998 so my expenses were much lower and I could easily afford them with a net pay of 60% of my old pay.

This new schedule worked out great and allowed me to regain control over my personal life. I enjoyed 2 new hobbies right away: I resurrected one from the 1980s and the other I had my eye on for a few years, anticipating such a big change in my schedule. (Both have since ended in the last few years for different reasons.)

This setup went well for 2 years and 3 months until the company ended all open-ended telecommuting in late 2003. I could keep the part-time weekly hours worked but now had to fulfill all of my hours at the office. I now worked 3 days a week but some of the horrors of the commute had returned. I knew this would eventually be my undoing as I increased my effort at find a way to fully retire soon. I was able to maintain my 2 new hobbies but it became more challenging with the added commute and its exhaustion.

I did this 3-days-a-week commute through 2004, 2005, and 2006. But it was becoming too much, with the only solution being the total elimination of the commute with a full retirement. Those RE plans were starting to fall into place as the company's stock price (ESOP) skyrocketed.

In mid-2007, I asked to reduce my weekly hours worked from 20 to 12. This took 1 day off the commute and shortened the 2 days worked to 6 hours each, getting me home from work an hour earlier. I also had to forgo most of the remaining fringe benefits I still had, including enrolment in the group health plan. I went on Cobra which would last for the next 18 months. However, I knew by the end of 2008 I would be retiring, as more pieces of me RE plan were falling into place, including health insurance when Cobra expired. Reducing my salary (again) was no big deal, as I could still easily cover my expenses.

By the fall of 2008, I knew the time was near. And the crashing markets actually made things easier because the big bond fund I would be buying into saw its price dropping like a big rock, while my company's stock price was holding pretty steady, creating a terrific sell-high-buy-low scenario whose financial benefits I enjoy today. (See my signature line.)

I put in my notice in late September and left on Halloween. That was 15 years ago and it has changed my life for the better. The introduction of the ACA's exchanges in 2014 has helped a lot, too.

 

[mystang52]

I was in "approach pattern" for about a year, when I knew my target ER range was a few years hence. Then the SOB megacorp laid me off, and I thought that would derail my long term plan. Instead, I realized all was good, financially. I then accepted another offer. And the entire 2 1/2 years I was there before ER was a glide path - easy w*rk, no stress, "9 to 5" without ever putting in extra hours. BTW, I prefer another term to glide path: ROAD Engineer [Retired On Active Duty].

As to advice: I accepted an offer from the company to do some regular consulting for them. Only reason I accepted was that is was 100% remote, beyond-easy, and no responsibility (I gave ongoing suggestions but no follow-up required, and the suggestions were not requirements). Simply too good to turn down the easy $$$ for little time commitment. Anything beyond that I would have turned down.

 

[Badger]

I posted my 5 year glide path on my office wall which was at the usual/normal retirement age. After 20 years in a couple of other careers I was finally asked to join the faculty of a local college. This was my original dream career. I then spent 20+ years doing what I always wanted to do and eventually retired as a Professor of Anatomy/Physiology. The administration was very accommodating and left me alone to do my job so no stress there and I enjoyed giving my students a good background in their chosen careers in medicine. I would have stayed longer but my wife had already retired a year earlier and I had some challenging health issues my last 8 months and had to retire. That was almost 12 years ago.
I could return but with a decade being away and the safety issues on college campuses along with the political interferences in Florida I have no more desire to work within a less desirable environment.
I was fortunate to leave on good terms with an appreciation of the opportunities I was given and fond memories of well spent time providing a background for others on their chosen career path.

 

[sparky08]

I guess it was a couple days. Some crummy things were happening at work and one of them was the final straw.

I took a week off to decide if I really wanted to quit/retire. After two days I was certain.

 

[jollystomper]

Two key things from my glide path experiences I will share:


1) If you are thinking of doing any major renovations or household upgrades, do them during the glide path, so that those expenses do not hit early in (or possibly not at all during) retirement. For example, during my glide path we replaced our roof and driveway, renovated a couple of bathrooms, and replaced several major appliances. All of this was coverings from our working income.

2) This one is easiest if you have a pension and/or expect to take SS soon after retirement. Set your income to the equivalent of your expected retirement income to see how it impacts withdrawals to make up the difference. For some of my glide path I set my paycheck so that what was left in our checking account was my expected pension. We then tried to lived off of that, to see what withdrawals would be. That gave us a lot of confidence in planning how much of a "buffer" to build up to give us a SWR that we would be comfortable with.

 

[brett]

Two key things from my glide path experiences I will share:


1) If you are thinking of doing any major renovations or household upgrades, do them during the glide path, so that those expenses do not hit early in (or possibly not at all during) retirement. For example, during my glide path we replaced our roof and driveway, renovated a couple of bathrooms, and replaced several major appliances. All of this was coverings from our working income.

2) This one is easiest if you have a pension and/or expect to take SS soon after retirement. Set your income to the equivalent of your expected retirement income to see how it impacts withdrawals to make up the difference. For some of my glide path I set my paycheck so that what was left in our checking account was my expected pension. We then tried to lived off of that, to see what withdrawals would be. That gave us a lot of confidence in planning how much of a "buffer" to build up to give us a SWR that we would be comfortable with.

Agree. I believe that they key is to understand your expenses. Adjust for inflation, adjust for error, make allowance for capital expenses if you anticipate them. Plus extra amounts for more travel, etc.

It was easy for me. Almost everything goes through credit cards or direct debit. I did all calculations on an after tax basis. So four years of tape from from our current account took less than an hour to give me an accurate spend number(s). That was the easy part.

The finger in the air whatifs took more time, more thought. This is not rocket science. Just some very basic math.

Get all your ducks in row vis a vis investments, insurances, taxes etc before you plan to retire because chances are you may go sooner that you think. We went sooner than I expected.

We did a five year review of our taxes, engaged a CPA. a few years prior in anticipation of early retirement. We both re-filed with adjustments for those five years. I did not want any tax issues in retirement. As luck would have it we came out $7K ahead (we file separately), net of professional fees. With a tax plan roadmap for retirement. My original thought was that it would go the other way!

One last thought....don't sweat the small stuff. Don't spend any time worrying about things you do not or cannot control. Spend your time on mapping your future.

 

[HMMY]

I retired a year after I achieved FI. I delayed because I found out I needed surgery, and I wanted to get it and rehab done while I still had the gold plated insurance. The year went quickly because I spent a lot of it saying no to requests at work that I thought were a waste of time since I no longer cared about pleasing people.

If you enjoy what you're doing and you can control your hours, keep at it. Now, that I'm retired, I work part-time because I found a job I really enjoy but I only work as many hours as I want.

 

[kgtest]

By your definition, I am already in my glide path and should have retired a while ago... but I still need more $$ and am too young.

My IT consulting work does not at all get in the way of my fun, but it is crucial to our accumulation phase. Right now, staying healthy is more important to me than earning more money.

IF I don't change a thing and save as much as we did this year for the next 10 yrs we will have 100% FIRECALC success at age 50 with a 35 yr planning horizon.

I started adding up the days I worked this year, and it was significantly less than any other year, but I earned second most gross and net income than any other year.

Working less, earning more! Heck yeah. We did spend quite a bit this year, but it was all worth it. You have to balance and live a little.

 

[scrabbler1]

Two key things from my glide path experiences I will share:


1) If you are thinking of doing any major renovations or household upgrades, do them during the glide path, so that those expenses do not hit early in (or possibly not at all during) retirement. For example, during my glide path we replaced our roof and driveway, renovated a couple of bathrooms, and replaced several major appliances. All of this was coverings from our working income.

2) This one is easiest if you have a pension and/or expect to take SS soon after retirement. Set your income to the equivalent of your expected retirement income to see how it impacts withdrawals to make up the difference. For some of my glide path I set my paycheck so that what was left in our checking account was my expected pension. We then tried to lived off of that, to see what withdrawals would be. That gave us a lot of confidence in planning how much of a "buffer" to build up to give us a SWR that we would be comfortable with.

I did variations of both of these in the lead-up to my ER back in 2008.

With (1), when I reduced my weekly hours worked from 20 to 12 back in June, 2007, I became ineligible to remain on my company's group health plan. I went on Cobra for 18 months to preserve, even temporarily, my medical and dental insurance coverage. I would eventually line up an individual policy I would switch to starting in 2009, but it lacked dental coverage. So, while I still had dental coverage for 18 more months, I made sure to get any expensive dental work done I had been postponing for a while.

With (2), reducing my weekly hours worked in June, 2007, reduced my income to roughly the amount it would end up (coincidentally) being when I ERed in late 2008 and cashed out the company stock, invested it in a specific bond fund, and lived off its monthly dividends. Getting only one paycheck per month instead of one every 2 weeks was something I had to adjust to, but that wasn't a big deal. With most of my expenses paid monthly, it actually simplified my budgeting because my income could be more easily aligned with my expenses.

 

[indiajust]

I had 6 xmas layoffs, that transitioned to intermittent temp jobs, the last of which petered out in 2008. I got about a week notice. I did not find out it was ER until 7 years later after I sold the house. In some sense, the lack of steady engineering work gave me years of glide path. In another sense, it was zero with the last layoff. Meh. It's all glide now.

 

[Maidensong]

Our glide path was 30 months before May 2014 when the DH would retire at 59. That's how long it took us to pay off our retirement home in a LCOL state and the rental properties that would tide us over till SS & his small pension kicked in to cover most of our monthlies. He gave his boss a two year head's up that he meant to retire then, but when the day finally came, the company didn't want to let him go. The DH agreed to continue to work remotely until the end of the year. We went ahead & sold our condo and moved to our forever home. His official retirement date was Jan 1, 2015. He'd hoped to be out before 60 but he missed it by just 4 months and we benefitted by the extended pay, bonuses and excellent insurance for the rest of the year.

We've been so blessed in our retirement. All our needs and so many of our travel dreams are covered and our net worth continues to climb. God is good.

Happy & prosperous New Year to all!

 

[brett]

What amazed me when I was working were those employees in their 50's who for some reason felt that their jobs were secure or that that they could not be replaced.

Oftentimes, in my experience, these were the people who were not emotionally or financially prepared to be downsize victims and prepared for early retirement.

From my perspective this is exactly the right time to be re-evaluating your career, updating resumes, keeping up with industry contacts, and going on practice interviews!

Those that did this, IMHO, often landed in new positions fairly quickly. And more often than not those new positions were at a the same, and quite often, a higher level.

 

[Koolau]

What amazed me when I was working were those employees in their 50's who for some reason felt that their jobs were secure or that that they could not be replaced.

Oftentimes, in my experience, these were the people who were not emotionally or financially prepared to be downsize victims and prepared for early retirement.

From my perspective this is exactly the right time to be re-evaluating your career, updating resumes, keeping up with industry contacts, and going on practice interviews!

Those that did this, IMHO, often landed in new positions fairly quickly. And more often than not those new positions were at a the same, and quite often, a higher level.

Yeah, I saw this at Megacorp - 50+ folks thinking they were secure. Of course, Megacorp played the little game. They would tell someone that their j*b was no longer required and that they were free to find another position within Megacorp. Corp. musical chairs, we called it. Most never found anything and took a decent package. Those who were ready did okay. Those who had not planned had some real hard times. YMMV.

 

[CO-guy]

Two key things from my glide path experiences I will share:

1) If you are thinking of doing any major renovations or household upgrades, do them during the glide path, so that those expenses do not hit early in (or possibly not at all during) retirement.

2) This one is easiest if you have a pension and/or expect to take SS soon after retirement. Set your income to the equivalent of your expected retirement income to see how it impacts withdrawals to make up the difference.

#1: So true. I delayed leaving the full-time by a year to build up my cash reserves and wound up getting hit with some big home projects. Had I pulled the ripcord when I initially wanted, those expenses would have crushed me. Waiting that year has me feeling comfortable currently.

#2: Our rental income covers nearly all of our monthly expenses. This has given us a comfortable cushion for retirement planning.

 

[CO-guy]

I posted my 5 year glide path on my office wall which was at the usual/normal retirement age. After 20 years in a couple of other careers I was finally asked to join the faculty of a local college. This was my original dream career. I then spent 20+ years doing what I always wanted to do and eventually retired as a Professor of Anatomy/Physiology. The administration was very accommodating and left me alone to do my job so no stress there and I enjoyed giving my students a good background in their chosen careers in medicine. I would have stayed longer but my wife had already retired a year earlier and I had some challenging health issues my last 8 months and had to retire. That was almost 12 years ago.
I could return but with a decade being away and the safety issues on college campuses along with the political interferences in Florida I have no more desire to work within a less desirable environment.
I was fortunate to leave on good terms with an appreciation of the opportunities I was given and fond memories of well spent time providing a background for others on their chosen career path.

This type of situation is the holy grail of academia these days. Graduate faculty that cannot support themselves through grants are let go. Worse, undergraduate faculty -- the Tenured Full-Professor types-- typically fulfill both teaching and a middle management role. Often there are only 1-2 for any academic discipline and, in addition to a full teaching load, they are expected to manage dozens of adjunct lecturers (many remote) that teach the majority of classes. So they're basically "herding cats" being a professor.

 

[Koolau]

This type of situation is the holy grail of academia these days. Graduate faculty that cannot support themselves through grants are let go. Worse, undergraduate faculty -- the Tenured Full-Professor types-- typically fulfill both teaching and a middle management role. Often there are only 1-2 for any academic discipline and, in addition to a full teaching load, they are expected to manage dozens of adjunct lecturers (many remote) that teach the majority of classes. So they're basically "herding cats" being a professor.

It's been 30 years since I was in the university system (as primarily an adjunct - after completing my graduate degree and being a TA.) I never saw the type of system you describe, though I have no other experience with universities. The prof. I w*rked with was not promoted but got tenure even though he failed to get enough grant money. He was teaching one of the hotest topics at the time and was bringing in more students than the department could even handle (which is why I was so valuable as one who practiced the "specialty.") Together, we set up a graduate program (I was the first graduate, thereof - heh, heh, nice to be able to give myself an A in a course I had designed!)

What I did notice was that universities are more "political" than I had ever guessed. It was MUCH worse than at Megacrop and even worse than I had heard about in actual gummint w*rk. Who knew?

 

[Badger]

the Tenured Full-Professor types-- typically fulfill both teaching and a middle management role. So they're basically "herding cats" being a professor.

Three years in I was asked to be the Dean of Sciences. At first I was flattered and filled out the paperwork. The next day I came to my senses and asked for the application back. Dodged a bullet and continued to enjoy teaching/guiding my students.

What I did notice was that universities are more "political" than I had ever guessed. It was MUCH worse than at Megacrop and even worse than I had heard about in actual gummint w*rk. Who knew?

Most people outside of academia don't realize this. I stayed away from the politics and focused on teaching. I also had overload number of classes that were always maxed out with more students waiting to get in. I was known to be hard but fair and somewhat of a geek in my discipline. Couple that with very few qualified professors to take up the excess I was left alone to do my job. Made life easy.

 

[PointBreeze]

21 months. I resigned my FT position at age 58 then consulted part-time (no benefits) for my employer for 5 months and then consulted remotely part-time for a couple of other entities for 16 months. The consulting just about covered my expenses with no additional saving for retirement. One day as I was w**king I realized I wanted all my time for myself, and gave my client notice that I would be ending the consultancy.


It was a great way to ease into retirement.

 

[Koolau]

Three years in I was asked to be the Dean of Sciences. At first I was flattered and filled out the paperwork. The next day I came to my senses and asked for the application back. Dodged a bullet and continued to enjoy teaching/guiding my students.


Most people outside of academia don't realize this. I stayed away from the politics and focused on teaching. I also had overload number of classes that were always maxed out with more students waiting to get in. I was known to be hard but fair and somewhat of a geek in my discipline. Couple that with very few qualified professors to take up the excess I was left alone to do my job. Made life easy.

After creating the department, the prof and I went for (and received) accreditation. Our dept. was known for getting our graduates j*bs. That's high on the list of attracting more students. At one time, there was the prof. and me. When the prof got sick (several months) there was me (and I had a full time j*b at Megacorp!) DW was ready for divorce. BUT, last I checked, there were 4 profs and who knows how many TAs and adjuncts in the dept. I haven't checked for 20 years now. I loved my time in academia, but am so glad that's all over since I treated it as a "hobby" or a "service project." Since I actually w*rked in the field, it's amazing how relevant we cold make the course w*rk and especially the labs.



Full disclosure: Once in a while I miss it. I miss it way more than I miss Megacorp. YMMV

 

[CO-guy]

Three years in I was asked to be the Dean of Sciences. At first I was flattered and filled out the paperwork. The next day I came to my senses and asked for the application back. Dodged a bullet and continued to enjoy teaching/guiding my students.

You dodged a huge bullet. One of the hats I wear as a consultant is to assist universities at various stages in the "streamlining" of academic programs. Overall, I view it as a positive process since, big picture, it's updating half-century-old (or more) institutional structure into something resembling a for-profit model. Typically, my role is to provide guidance in avoiding bias and documenting efforts throughout the process to make programs more diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

While this "streamlining" has been going on for decades in higher ed., there was a wave of these types of changes at many schools following the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Currently, (IMO) we're cresting the second wave of this type of change, this time resulting from the financial fallout in higher ed. following Covid.