Would you consider a promotion?

[pb4uski]

Whether or not it is right really depends on each person's makeup and tolerance.

I stepped away from a managing role to a technical/individual contributor/SME role in my early 50s because I my enthusiasm for managing/mentoring was waning and my bucket for bureaucratic BS overflowed.

It worked out to be a good move in my case.

 

[FreeAtLast]

No. It is not fair to yourself or your employer or your coworkers. It sounds like you already have one foot out the door.

 

[pb4uski]

If OP decided to take the promotion and gave them two good years and decided to retire, why would you think it is unfair to the employer or co-workers?

 

[Larro Darro]

While not in engineering, my father went through a like experience. He was a stevedore. As such he had a place in the Longshoreman's union. He was the third highest man in his gang, and was their crane operator. The company they loaded for ask him to come to work for them, taking care of all their cranes. Going from the union to work for the client is known as becoming a Company Man in the stevedore trade. [as in other trades as well] There was a goodly increase in pay, and the promise of not working weekends and holidays. But he would have a set salary, not get paid by the hour. They also said he would have two full time helpers.

He took the job, but only after getting it in writing that he wouldn't loose his place in the union if it didn't work out. The company didn't keep any of their promises about hiring him helpers. He had one part time kid. Daddy was in his 50's by then, and crane maintenance is very hard work. [if any of you have ever greased your yard tractor, just imagine having several hundred feet of 3' cable to grease weekly. And that is just one crane]

He was working more hours than he had when in his old gang. And when you think about the added tax bite, the per hour wage wasn't that much better than before. After about 8 months he quite the company and went back to his old spot in the gang. Where he worked until he was 62.

Staying put until you decide to leave would be the safest course of action.

 

[ziggy29]

I was promoted to exactly the level I wanted to be at, and stayed there for years -- the highest "individual contributor" pay grade, where the next promotion would have been into management. I never had a promotion to management offered to me, but that's just as well since I would have declined it.

 

[sparkler]

I guess in relation to your question I would ask if you are the kind of person who really enjoys taking on new and challenging tasks. If so, then I'd go for the promotion. If you value stability/security, then maybe just stick with what you have got while the clock counts down.

I agree with this point. Some people like to take on a challenge, others prefer to keep it simple and just do what they've been doing.

 

[Spanky]

Why even do the additional 2 years?

It's only an excuse -- until my youngest daughter is graduated from college.

 

[Spanky]

I agree with this point. Some people like to take on a challenge, others prefer to keep it simple and just do what they've been doing.

There are plenty of technical challenges and many new things to learn just to stay as an electrical or software engineer.

 

[LoneAspen]

Not just no, but hell no.

I tried managing a group of people for six months at my old company. Was my first "official" management job, and I hated it.

One thing I quickly learned was...everybody's problem is your problem when you manage them. I only want to worry about my own problems, not everybody else's.

They could double my salary and I wouldn't do it, much less when only two years from FIRE.

 

[bo_knows]

I know that OP already expressed his/her decision, but I'd like to chime in with a "hell no" as well. Being that close to ER, and at a comfortable level of stress? No way.

 

[NanoSour]

Just a little math for the equation evaluation.

20K (after tax) / 2080 (work hrs in a year) = $9.61/hr based on 40 hour week

If you think your efforts will require more hours/wk, adjust accordingly.

YMMV, but when I see numbers like this, I definitely fall on the no side. Just not worth the extra pressure/stress added to your life for that kinda small change. It's unfortunate, but the higher you go in salary the bigger chunk goes to taxes making it less and less attractive. Maybe for an extra $1K/week I'd consider it. But that would be more like a $75K raise.

 

[CoolChange]

I actually faced a similar, but not exactly the same, dilemma one year ago and took the promotion: CEO knew I had a short time horizon; I thought I could actually make a bit of a difference and hopefully have; and, frankly, I am hoping retiring with an executive title will open more doors for part time consulting down the road if I choose to pursue that.

One year in: The extra money is nice but definitely not life changing; stress is of a different variety but not sure it is significantly higher or lower (although, stress and hours worked were much higher for initial several weeks with much in flux while I tried to cover both roles); hours are approximately the same now as before promotion. This has actually postponed my ER since I cannot leave in good conscience until a few remaining issues are resolved. New countdown is 6-18 months from now.

 

[Spanky]

This has actually postponed my ER since I cannot leave in good conscience until a few remaining issues are resolved. New countdown is 6-18 months from now.

Thanks for bring this to light. Such event is quite plausible and could potentially delay ER.

 

[Beststash]

I took a similar job for my last 6 years with my lifetime employer. I can honestly say these were some of the most rewarding, frustrating and stressful years of my career. One of the most negative aspects for me was seeing my former peers from a different perspective - performance reviews, bonuses, etc. and most of all the politics of management.

I would not do it.

Peace

 

[NW-Bound]

Thanks for inputs from everyone. After weighing all the pros and cons, what's right for me is to stay as an individual contributor as I really do not want additional stress and responsibilities at this stage of my life...

Though you have already decided, I'd like to add my opinion to the consensus here that you did the right thing.

Enjoy your coast down to ER, and I wish your daughter graduate with great GPA.

 

[Tekward]

Concur

I concur with the majority. I turned down a promotion with 20% increase to stay with mega-corp and took a 50% pay drop to work at the local university. Quality of life - way up.

Two points of possible interest:
We are trying to live within a budget based on the new salary and 0% SWR. This has actually been a good exercise since previously I traveled so much that our only budget limit was my big check. DDs grew accustomed to extra support even though they are all launched. Now we have had some crucial conversations about money.

A sober reminder that I use to evaluate decisions like these is the 5 year rule. If I only have 5 years left on the planet, how would I spend them? Big money, stress and travel did not fit the bill. W*rking at the university with 24 days vacation and interesting learning opportunities looks good. It also improves the odds that I'll extend the length of quality time beyond 5 years.