Like your job?

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

No question, I'll semi-retire when circumstances permit. But when I look at the joy, rewards, tears and laughter of my job, I am ambivalent about giving it up. In fact, the main reason I'll part-time is not the money (though that won't hurt) but rather the pleasures of the profession. Main negatives are the job's hours, emotional demands, and on-call (it's a high adrenaline health care career).

I get the distinct impression I'm in a small minority here, so... a poll.

 

[Mwsinron]

My wife tells me the DR's she works with love their job and probably will never retire. Must be a real rewarding profession. As for me I didn't like mine. I was a machinist.

 

[yakers]

I like my work, days like today I wonder why I get paid, why I would want to retire and do I want to leave the money on the table. Its a hard place to leave.

 

[Gotadimple]

I do ... and I don't.

I do when I feel I can make a positive contribution. I don't when I hear about the senior executive shenanigans -- especially when it rolls down hill.

I'm sure I'm FI, just pulling the details together and deciding on the 'date.'

Rita

 

[FlogBlogger]

If the money wasn't so ridiculous I'd have been long gone....

 

[Khan]

I retired early.

I was a mainframe maintenance programmer for 20+ years and my job was not too bad, rather enjoyed the challenge.

Then they contracted out the actual coding and made me a manager.

My weight, stress, blood pressure, et al went way up; and I willingly took an early retirement buyout with a pension ~1/3 of my salary.

 

[John Tuttle]

Loved my job. I was a mathematics professor. As another professor said, I teach for free, they pay me to grade papers. However, as I tell people, the only thing better than being a professor is being a retired professor.

 

[wabmester]

Like a lot of people, I get satisfaction from helping people and from doing challenging work. However, I get a lot more satisfaction doing it on my schedule instead of someone else's. Retirement doesn't mean the end of satisfaction -- it means owning your own schedule.

 

[Goonie]

I started at "Liked it mostly, got some satisfaction but not enough to postpone FIRE" and stayed at that feeling for about 22+ years.

Then dropped down to "Adequate - not horrible but uninspiring" for about 6 1/2 years. (change of bosses...TWICE....went from a good one, to a poor one, to a LOUSY one)

Then down to "Tolerated it but had little satisfaction or desire to stay" for about a year and a half. (the boss went from being a horse's *ss, too being the 'product' which emanates from that orifice)

If I would have stayed 1 DAY longer, I would have voted "Hated it, couldn't wait to leave". (boss's ineptness, stupidity, asininity, and total lack of common sense finally hit a new all time low)

Fortunately I saw the approaching train wreck, and jumped out at the last minute....3 days ahead of my planned FIRE date! So I voted "Tolerated it but had little satisfaction or desire to stay".

The only thing that I ever really "loved" about my j*b......are the benefits that I'm reaping NOW!!! A nice monthly check for NOT going to w*rk anymore.....COLA'd. Full health and dental benefits for life. Endless Days of Play!!! But the best thing psychologically (for me).....FIRE'ing at 49!

 

[UncleHoney]

After 35 years as a mechanical designer I still haven't grown tired of the challange. Of all the things I like most about the job the end result of helping people is the most rewarding.

This is the latest project that I worked on and probably the crown jewel of them all. I spent 4 years working with a team of 12 people designing and refining this little gem. I personally spent about 6000 hours on the computer designing and detailing every one of the 115 parts.

http://medgadget.com/archives/2007/02/huma-pen_memoir.html

But the time has come to enjoy the rest of what life has to offer.

UH

 

[wabmester]

http://medgadget.com/archives/2007/02/huma-pen_memoir.html

Very cool!

I'll mention something that doesn't seem to get discussed too much around here. When I was working, I *thought* I liked my job. I had lots of intellectually challenging work, high visibility, good feedback, and good compensation.

It wasn't until I left the workplace and revisited about 6 months later that I realized I was brainwashed.

You need several months of "detox" before you realize how toxic the workplace can be. I always considered our org pretty "enlightened" and full of highly competent people. But going back and seeing the useless meetings, the oppressed cube dwellers, the disconnect between management and grunts, the constant drive to create more revenue, the artificial light and lifeless surroundings, and the sometimes-subtle passive-aggressive politics, I couldn't wait to get out of there.

IMHO, the key to cementing one's ER decision is to take a 6-month break (preferably spring and summer), and then revisit the old office stomping grounds. Worked for me.

 

[chinaco]

My interest in work is waning. I vasilate between being disgusted and tolerant of the BS. I think the more I anticipate ER... the less interested I am about my job. I am going to hang in there to get retirement health care benes. DW feels the same way. She is more disgusted than I am. She is hanging in there for the health benes also. We think that the double health benes will give us some redundancy in case one of our companies pulls some funny business over the 10 years before medicare is available to us. The only other reason we are hanging with the job is to accumulate a few more $ for retirement.

 

[sgeeeee]

I both loved and hated every job I ever had. Some jobs were mostly love . . . others not so much.

 

[Nords]

It wasn't until I left the workplace and revisited about 6 months later that I realized I was brainwashed.

There's nothing quite like revisiting your old palatial office and realizing that it was really a 12x12 cubby (with toxic hazmat everything) tucked into an 80-year-old windowless concrete building with peeling vinyl floors and leaky walls...

 

[CyclingInvestor]

I enjoyed my various programming jobs for the most part for my 27 year
career, with a few short exceptions. It was not that rewarding, but very
easy work, and I got to sit in an office by myself 8 hours a day, while
bicycling to and from work. I got decent paychecks and benefits with
almost no pressure.

When we were told that we were moving to an "open environment"
(cubicles with no walls, part of Extreme Programming), I knew I would
be quitting soon. The move took place after I announced my retirement
(while I trained my replacement), and only the fact I had already quit
and was only working 2 days/week kept me from wigging out.

 

[Dawg52]

I enjoyed the people I worked with and enjoyed a nice income. But the work itself became very tiring. Thirty years of bean counting was enough for me.

 

[janeeyre]

Like a lot of people, I get satisfaction from helping people and from doing challenging work. However, I get a lot more satisfaction doing it on my schedule instead of someone else's. Retirement doesn't mean the end of satisfaction -- it means owning your own schedule.

Absolutely, that is true freedom.

 

[happy2bretired]

When I was younger, I lived to work. I liked the challenges and the anticipation of what was around the bend. As I progressed over 31 years, things began to change with reorganizations, new bosses, competent and in competent, my position being shifted from one department to another...all kinds of crap. I went thru a phase while still working, where I began to see that my job had always defined me and that with all the changes, my job no longer was as important or necessary. Please remember I was only a lowly government worker, but, even at that level, one tends to get a little caught up with the ego thing. So, my ego took a beating for about 7 years before I retired, making it pure hell some days. But, looking back, that 7 year phase of ego beatings, helped me adjust to retirement quite easily. It was like breaking out of prison on that last day....wheeeeee.

 

[cj]

I loved my job, loved the company, loved the challenge, loved the people, but got tired of the hours, the daily grind, and the commute. After leaving a year ago, I took a couple of months off, then worked part time at my church for a while for something to do. My ex-boss kept asking me, periodically, to name my terms, but puh-lease come back! I decided I missed the bit of structure, the people, and challenge of it all. I went back a couple weeks ago. I work 3 days per week, and one of the days is from home, in my jammies. For me, it's the best of both worlds. Every week I have a 4-day weekend, I get to have lunch with my old buddies, I get to pick my projects, I get the insurance, vacation, company match on 401K and ESPP and other bennies (yes, even as a part-timer), and I know I can walk away from it anytime I want. It's awesome!

So, all of these articles they have currently about boomers and phased retirement - for me it works!

CJ

 

[DangerMouse]

I don't dislike my job, but rather I feel like I am not making a real contribution to anything worthwhile. All I do is work to make more money for a select few individuals. The frustrating thing about being in accounting is you know who is getting what, how much the real profits are etc. Sometimes it's the unfairness of the system that frustrates me more than anything.

The best job I ever had was working in a hospital, even though I was only in Admin it felt like I had the power to make someone's day that bit better.

 

[brewer12345]

My current job has plenty of frustrations, but overall is very interesting and fulfilling. The problem is that it is high hours and high stress, and there basically no such thing as a part time job in my profession. So at some point I will be doing something else or FIREd simply because of the burnout factor. As it is now, I don't have time for much besides work, chasing the kids for a couple hours every weeknight, and collapsing into bed, which makes for a badly unbalanced life.

 

[Meadbh]

No question, I'll semi-retire when circumstances permit. But when I look at the joy, rewards, tears and laughter of my job, I am ambivalent about giving it up. In fact, the main reason I'll part-time is not the money (though that won't hurt) but rather the pleasures of the profession. Main negatives are the job's hours, emotional demands, and on-call (it's a high adrenaline health care career).

I get the distinct impression I'm in a small minority here, so... a poll.

Rich, I agree completely. Medicine can be very satisfying at an individual patient level. I also find my part time leadership role highly satisfying because I am helping populations of patients (which many of my colleagues find difficult to understand). The "feelgood" aspect of medicine keeps many MDs practicing much longer than is good for them, or for their patients. Most MDs are programmed to spend lavishly for the sake of image (present company excepted). Without pensions, this leads to postponing retirement for many. I am holding firm on my RE plans because I have recently realized that otherwise my profession will kill me.

 

[wabmester]

My current job has plenty of frustrations, but overall is very interesting and fulfilling. The problem is that it is high hours and high stress, and there basically no such thing as a part time job in my profession. So at some point I will be doing something else or FIREd simply because of the burnout factor. As it is now, I don't have time for much besides work, chasing the kids for a couple hours every weeknight, and collapsing into bed, which makes for a badly unbalanced life.

Brew, this guy runs a long-short fund from his home in my neighborhood:

Seems like a pretty relaxing gig. His workday ends at 1pm....