Yesterday I turned down a consulting gig: 3-4 months of work, and about $100,000 in income. I guess I’m fully retired now (versus partially retired). I’m finding the hard part of easing into retirement is deciding when, or if, I should stop working completely. It might have been easier several years ago to stop fully and all at once.
I struggled yesterday with the decision to turn down this project. Thinking about it over night, here are my thoughts:
- I love, or loved, my work, but there’s always stress in any endeavor. Plus, any gig could go well, or not. I virtually never had even remotely bad stuff happen on projects or in business, but the chance still exists for an unpleasant or worse outcome.
- So is the compelling reason to do this just to add $100k to my income (say, $60k to my net worth)? I had to conclude the answer is yes, but for me it is not so compelling. The question is, “Would that money make any difference?” In a word, “No.”. There is a good chance my estate will grow, not get smaller over time. So $100k will not make any difference (and if it seemingly might make a difference, it still wouldn’t because then there would be bigger, systemic problems; $100k more still wouldn’t make a difference, we all are eating dog food).
So to take the work, or not? I previously may have answered this question (not remembering last night that I had done so). Several years ago, I was talking with a friend, the woman in a husband/wife consultancy. The man is older, in his 70’s, still working; she is in her early 60’s. I asked her if the plan was to sell the business (as I had done with mine). She said, “No,” that she like working and would continue after he exited. Later, I thought that this is answering the wrong question. The wrong question is, “Do you like your work?” She was answering, “Yes, I do.” (Or maybe she was saying, “I have to work for the money, but that doesn’t apply to me.). The right question, however, is, “What would you like to do among all alternatives available within your budget and health?” So while I like what I did for work, there are many things I enjoy more that I can afford. So last night I made the right decision and I guess I’m fully retired now (...unless I get a really compelling, fun project... or can’t be creative enough to keep my retirement activities interesting and exciting).
On 3/8/2016 in this thread, I posted my small business story (founder of INC 500 engineering company, sold in 2000’s, solo after that, and working part-time since 2012).