Who FIREd and then went back to work?

[FrugalLady]

Less that two months ago, a retired from my toxic job and took a PT job in another industry working 4 days per week. While I am enjoying my new PT job, I am also greatly enjoying the 3 day weekends! In fact, the taste of having more free time, has me contemplating how wonderful full retirement would be.

DH (who has been retired since 2011 with a few part-time jobs since then) says he is worried that I would get bored being fully retired. DH is an extrovert who struggled with losing the social aspect of work when he retired, hence the part-time gigs since he retired. He may be right to be concerned about me retiring, but full retirement sounds so tempting to me.

I am an extreme introvert (INTJ female for those of you familiar with MBTI personality profiles), so I really don't have a need to constantly be around other people. I am usually able to entertain myself and am totally happy not leaving the house for days at a time.

However, I am only 48 and all of my friends work full-time and probably will continue to work until at least 62. While I would have all kinds of free time, my friends would not be so readily available. So I am concerned that at some point, I would wake up wondering how I will fill my days.

I would love to hear from others who retired early, but wound up going back to work (either FT or PT). What specific reasons caused you to go back to work? Was it due to financial reasons, the social aspect, loss of identity, boredom, needing somewhere to go each day, or for some other reason? While this is an early retirement forum, I think it would be interesting to get feedback from people who chose to go back to work after RE.

 

[ERD50]

While you wait for responses from people who did go back to work (some definitely did, mostly for reasons similar to your DH, but I think they mostly aren't all that active on a retirement forum)...

I can address one concern. You say you worry that "all of my friends work full-time and probably will continue to work until at least 62. While I would have all kinds of free time, my friends would not be so readily available."

Well, while you are working, you can only see them when BOTH of your schedules permit. If you are retired, you will be able to meet with them just about any time that their schedule permits.

See, it's all rainbows and puppies! You get more time with your friends and more time to do what you like to do on your own.

Will you have trouble filling that time? That's up to you, no way I can answer that, but personally, I think anyone who can't fill time lacks imagination - I have about a dozen different hobbies/projects in the "WIP" mode. I just jump to one or the other as I see fit.

-ERD50

 

[aja8888]

I am an extreme introvert (INTJ female for those of you familiar with MBTI personality profiles), so I really don't have a need to constantly be around other people. I am usually able to entertain myself and am totally happy not leaving the house for days at a time.

However, I am only 48 and all of my friends work full-time and probably will continue to work until at least 62. While I would have all kinds of free time, my friends would not be so readily available. So I am concerned that at some point, I would wake up wondering how I will fill my days.

Emphasis by me...

Seems like you are contradicting yourself? If you are happy housebound for days at a time, why are you concerned about not having contact with friends?

Some people use Facebook to communicate and stay in touch.

I worked part time in my consulting practice for a few years to stay "busy". Now I'm beyond that as I have several retired friends I see almost daily.

 

[FrugalLady]

Emphasis by me...

Seems like you are contradicting yourself? If you are happy housebound for days at a time, why are you concerned about not having contact with friends?

Some people use Facebook to communicate and stay in touch.

I worked part time in my consulting practice for a few years to stay "busy". Now I'm beyond that as I have several retired friends I see almost daily.

No contradiction.... I'm not a total recluse with no need for human contact. I just don't require having daily social interaction. However I do enjoy golfing, dining with friends, taking in a movie, etc. My friends all work and have busy lives on their few days off each week. So it's not the same as having fellow retired friends that are more readily available for activities.

 

[aja8888]

No contradiction.... I'm not a total recluse with no need for human contact. I just don't require having daily social interaction. However I do enjoy golfing, dining with friends, taking in a movie, etc. My friends all work and have busy lives on their few days off each week. So it's not the same as having fellow retired friends that are more readily available for activities.

Many of us end up joining health clubs or a gym and find some new friends that fill the void, so to say. I meet a group of guys at the local Burger King each morning and this has become my new set of "friends". None of these people worked with me in the past.

It's a different life when you retire. You have to adapt to it or you can get real lonely.

 

[Focus]

Here's my take:

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/er-surprise-a-little-work-boosts-appreciation-86761.html

 

[Walt34]

Rather than rewrite it I'll just post a link to what I posted in the other thread:
http://www.early-retirement.org/for...rk-boosts-appreciation-86761.html#post1880864

 

[FrugalLady]

Thank you, Focus and Walt34 for the link, it provided a lot of the feedback that I am looking for. After much reflection, I do think I would value my free time more if I still have some type of work (including volunteer work) to contrast it against. It is so easy to idealize retirement, without really considering how I will utilize my free time.

So instead of fully retiring, maybe I need to take this in stages. Working 4 days per week is fine for now. It is providing me with health insurance while DH and I wait to see what happens to the ACA. The work itself is not totally stress free, but it is not daily stress by any means. It is a small office that will be expanding staff within the next couple of years, so possibly with the staffing changes I might be able to negotiate fewer hours per week. I would loose health insurance, but by then the status of health care in America should be clearer.

If cutting hours at my current job doesn't pan out in a couple of years, I can always try to find another PT job that would only be 2 or 3 days per week. Maybe even seasonal work would be an option, where I would only work for a few months a year. In the meantime, I plan to start volunteering with a local animal rescue group. That is at least something that I can devote more time to as my work schedule decreases.

 

[Meadbh]

I am another diehard INTJ female, though a little older than you. I retired 5 years ago. In the first year I did some consulting. I had an offer of a full time job, but quickly realized that I really, really didn’t want to be at the beck and call of an employer ever again. So I said “no thanks”. I have volunteered for several different boards and clubs in an organizing capacity. I’m using my strengths and enjoying meeting new people and developing friendships, but the time commitments are sporadic and not onerous. This is the best possible situation for me.

 

[Walt34]

One thing I didn't mention in the other post was that the fact that working was optional, and knowing that we didn't need the income makes a huge difference in both attitude and the effects of any job-related stress. Stuff that bothered other people (like the payday being delayed from Friday to the following Monday) just didn't bother me. BTW, that only happened once but the furor it caused was phenomenal.

Or people getting upset and stressed about petty stuff at work just didn't affect me because I didn't care. If it got bad enough I had the option to leave and that makes a big difference in the stress levels and attitude so I had a kind of zen-like outlook on it.

 

[FrugalLady]

I am another diehard INTJ female, though a little older than you. I retired 5 years ago. In the first year I did some consulting. I had an offer of a full time job, but quickly realized that I really, really didn’t want to be at the beck and call of an employer ever again. So I said “no thanks”. I have volunteered for several different boards and clubs in an organizing capacity. I’m using my strengths and enjoying meeting new people and developing friendships, but the time commitments are sporadic and not onerous. This is the best possible situation for me.

Ahhh, Meadbh, another INTJ female...we are a rare breed! When I told my former boss that I was retiring, he told me I would miss researching problems and finding optimal solutions. I do miss that aspect of the job, but not the stress and office politics. I never was good at playing the corporate game.

In my former job, I was very autonomous and worked on what I wanted to work on when I wanted to work on it, which was ideal for me. I do think part of my desire to completely retire is that my new PT job is a little more constraining, and I see the freedom I would have in retirement to pick and choose my daily activities. However, if I am truly honest with myself, because I am an introvert, I do need something that pulls me out of the house and forces me to socialize and make new friends. Otherwise I fear retirement could become very socially isolating. It may be work or it may be volunteering that provides that social outlet along with much needed mental stimulation.

 

[FrugalLady]

Many of us end up joining health clubs or a gym and find some new friends that fill the void, so to say. I meet a group of guys at the local Burger King each morning and this has become my new set of "friends". None of these people worked with me in the past.

It's a different life when you retire. You have to adapt to it or you can get real lonely.

aja8888, this is finally what gave my husband contentment in retirement. He worked 6 days a week/60 hours a week. So he was very much "retiring from something, not to something". When he retired, all of his friends were "work friends" who were still working those long hours. No one was available to have coffee in the morning, or go golfing a couple of times a week. Other than golf, he had no other hobbies and I was still working full-time.

However, within the last couple of years he has a group of retired friends who meet every morning for coffee. They go out for breakfast on the weekends. In the summer, they golf. He now has a routine that works for him.

I do see that I need to put more thought into what I want to retire to, especially since both my work friends and non-work friends will still be employed. I need to start laying that groundwork now.

 

[FrugalLady]

One thing I didn't mention in the other post was that the fact that working was optional, and knowing that we didn't need the income makes a huge difference in both attitude and the effects of any job-related stress. Stuff that bothered other people (like the payday being delayed from Friday to the following Monday) just didn't bother me. BTW, that only happened once but the furor it caused was phenomenal.

Or people getting upset and stressed about petty stuff at work just didn't affect me because I didn't care. If it got bad enough I had the option to leave and that makes a big difference in the stress levels and attitude so I had a kind of zen-like outlook on it.

You have the right attitude, Walt34. I agree, FI does change your outlook on work. Instead of "oh Lord, I need this job" it's "well...If I don't like it I can always quit". If the future of the ACA was settled, I would really be in the drivers seat. But while it's future is a little murky, I am happy that I have employer provided healthcare at the moment. I can handle working 4 days per week a little longer.

 

[Out of Steam]

Right now, my plan is that I will retire and return to work part time. As retirement gets close, I'm realizing that the things I want and need to do fairly soon will take only 1 1/2 to 2 years, and that I will have time for part-time or seasonal work.

 

[Dreamer]

I took an early retirement from my job in 06/06 at age 53. When I was working my career job, I always said that I was going to flip hamburgers at Mickey D's, to finish getting my social security credits that I needed. I worked 32 yrs and 8 months for the federal government and did not pay into social security. My youngest daughter graduated from high school and started college, married and had a child. I was very involved with her life and helping with my granddaughter (they lived with us for a while). My son-in-law was in the Navy and he was assigned to San Diego CA. Off they went and my DH was still employed, so I started a part-time job as a receptionist for a glaucoma doctor in 03/10. I worked 3 days per week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I definitely did not do it for the money. I think that I started at $8.00 per hour. I was making over 4 times that amount when I retired in 2006. I had a goal to finish getting my ss credits. I really enjoyed and became friends with the office manager who was a few months younger than me. She retired 5/15/15. I checked how much money I had earned in 2015 and I had my full social security credits and gave my notice to stop working the same day, 5/15/15. I now receive my huge social security check of $93.00 each month. LOL. I have not had a desire to work since that time. I volunteer now by ushering at the theater for plays, making blankets to take to the hospitals for the children, worked at the Thanksgiving Basket giveaway at our church today for 5 hours. I love being able to come and go as I please without a work schedule. We also are able to go about every month or two, to visit our grandchildren (3), who live 400 miles away.