Is "unretirement" the new retirement?

[Teacher Terry]

We live on our pensions. But neither of us turn down side work when it comes our way. My husband is a engineer and gets 400 for every proposal that a small company makes with his name on their letterhead. I make 50-100/month for allowing a company to order tests under my credentials and I pay the testing company and charge the other company per test. That’s in addition to teaching and consulting. My worst year I made 5k and my best 22k. Obviously not a ton of money. These are my hobbies.

 

[JustCurious]

Why does anyone care how others define retirement? What difference does it actually make?

And if some people prefer work, or retire and return to work in some form, why does anyone else care, or feel a need to discourage others choices?

I am not discouraging others' choices but I do think words should have a certain commonly accepted meaning so that when we communicate our choices to others we have a clear understanding of what is being communicated, otherwise communication becomes unclear. That's why we have dictionaries.

Anyone can live their life however they want, different strokes and all that, I agree, but I part company when someone continues to work and claims to be retired. If everyone accepts that any word can mean whatever anyone thinks it means to them, well I guess I'm just a luddite about language. I don't see a contradiction between accepting different strokes while at the same time expecting people to use the commonly accepted defintions of words.

 

[albireo13]

Who cares.
Too much energy being spent on labelling IMO.

 

[FIREd_2015]

...I take issue with people who continue to work and claim to be retired, to me that is redefining what it means to be retired in a way that stretches the definition too far.

For a lot of people (myself included) retirement means no longer collecting a steady paycheck and any work is optional. I still do gig work - focus groups, mock juries, healthy patient studies, and a training/travel gig. I also have one rental property that I manage myself.

I know someone who recently "retired" from his corporate job at 55 so he can get access to his 401k without penalty. From the IRS point of view he is retired but they have 3 rental properties that they manage and collect rents from. As far as I know they consider themselves retired and so does the government.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

For a lot of people (myself included) retirement means no longer collecting a steady paycheck and any work is optional. I still do gig work - focus groups, mock juries, healthy patient studies, and a training/travel gig. I also have one rental property that I manage myself.

I know someone who recently "retired" from his corporate job at 55 so he can get access to his 401k without penalty. From the IRS point of view he is retired but they have 3 rental properties that they manage and collect rents from. As far as I know they consider themselves retired and so does the government.

I am afraid I might have to stop calling myself retired, too. Since passing the bar exam I have been doing some volunteer w*rk with legal aid and a couple of other outfits. Well, low and behold I now have people seeking me out for some legal work...which I would do in exchange for $. This was never my intention when I went to law school, but if someone is going to give me a couple hundred bucks for a little legal w*rk, then I don't know that I would want to turn that away.

 

[Mdlerth]

Also, a rope is precisely "this long"

It turns out that exactly 42 angels can dance on the head of a pin.

And you may call yourself "retired" if, and only if, you (transmission garbled due to solar flare)

 

[tmm99]

We live on our pensions. But neither of us turn down side work when it comes our way. My husband is a engineer and gets 400 for every proposal that a small company makes with his name on their letterhead. I make 50-100/month for allowing a company to order tests under my credentials and I pay the testing company and charge the other company per test. That’s in addition to teaching and consulting. My worst year I made 5k and my best 22k. Obviously not a ton of money. These are my hobbies.

I made about 15K last year (actively searching for things to do) and I'll make around 9K this year (I dropped the projects that felt like real wo*rk) and I will most likely make less next year, probably around 4-5K. (I freelance from home, and I now only take assignments from one company, and only when I have free time.) I used to say I was semi-retired, but I could hardly call this w*rk at this point. as I make so little and spend so little time doing it - It's like doing crossword puzzles and I get paid a little. Like yours, mine is a hobby.

 

[Dalmore]

For me, FIRE is about being able to walk away when w*rk is no longer fun. I don't have to worry about loosing my house or where my next meal is coming from. If I choose to do something productive financially with my time, I don't see how that is any different than the many people here who crunch numbers to maximize their stock returns.

 

[youbet]

See my sig.

For me, being “retired” means not having to work.
It means we have enough FU money.
It means that my young trophy wife who works part-time retail can tell the store owner: I won’t be here for the next month while travel to Italia/France.
It means I can tell my customers that their websites won’t get updated for month.

We're all free to define terms to our own liking, and I do it differently than you. I'd call what you describe as "retirement" as being "financially independent."

For example, I was FI for a few years before MegaCorp kicked me out. Until that day, I did not consider myself "retired," although I could have thrown in the towel on the daily grind whenever I wished.

Until MegaCorp booted me, I was employed, not retired, despite being FI. On the day MegaCorp booted me, I became unemployed but FI. Several months later when I decided DW and I had enough money and no longer needed to seek income, I terminated the job search. Then we considered ourselves retired and FI. Retired + FI = FIRE'd.

Of course it's all a gray area and everyone is free to define their circumstances as they wish. You're right for you. I'm right for me.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I made about 15K last year (actively searching for things to do) and I'll make around 9K this year (I dropped the projects that felt like real wo*rk) and I will most likely make less next year, probably around 4-5K. (I freelance from home, and I now only take assignments from one company, and only when I have free time.) I used to say I was semi-retired, but I could hardly call this w*rk at this point. as I make so little and spend so little time doing it - It's like doing crossword puzzles and I get paid a little. Like yours, mine is a hobby.

if you are making a fraction of what you were making full time cause you stopped working and consider yourself retired, then you are retired, IMO

(fwiw I'll probably be doing the same thing.... but on MY terms)

my definition of retired - a time when one is no longer someone else's beotch

 

[Katsmeow]

DH fully retired in 2010 and never has done a pick of paid work since then. I was more complicated. I semi-retired and worked one or two days a week for a few years. But, it tapered of and by the end I was often going months without doing anything and it was only a few thousand dollars a year and it was done from home. I considered myself retired at that point. I did eventually quit doing any of that at all.

However - I am pondering looking for a job. Why? It really isn't the money. I mean, honestly, I would rather be paid than doing the same thing as a volunteer. But getting a job is not necessarily from a financial standpoint.

Why get a job? Well, I worked in one career my entire working life (I was an attorney). But, along the way I earned an MSW degree and am an LMSW. I never worked in that field (I had intended to when I started the degree but circumstances changed and I decided to remain an attorney). But, now it is different. I have zero desire to ever do any kind of legal work again. But, I am wondering if I could use that degree that I earned and never used. Now, I might find it very hard to get a job as someone who has maintained a license but earned the degree over 20 years ago and never used it. But, I have toyed with the idea of trying.

I really don't care what it would pay and I don't care about benefits, etc (went on Medicare this year) but I would do it simply to see if I would enjoy it. And, of course, if I didn't or it was too onerous I would have no hesitancy in quitting.

 

[Midpack]

A lot of people want to worry about what others say and do, in this case total strangers stemming from a Motley Fool article written by a "kid." Undoubtedly her unique take on retirement was meant to elicit a response first and foremost - not to share useful information. Looks like her tactic worked, as with many on the internet these days.

Life's too short. I could care less what you call your station in life, doesn't change my status at all.

 

[Big_Hitter]

A lot of people want to worry about what others say and do, in this case total strangers stemming from a Motley Fool article written by a "kid." Undoubtedly her unique take on retirement was meant to elicit a response first and foremost - not to share useful information. Looks like her tactic worked, as with many on the internet these days.

Life's too short. I could care less what you call your station in life, doesn't change my status at all.

My reading of the article is that the US retirement system has generally failed us. The vast majority stay employed because they simply have no other recourse.

 

[JustCurious]

A lot of people want to worry about what others say and do,

I do not want to worry about what others say and do, nor do I.

 

[Perryinva]

I never have been bored in my life, but I sure don’t look for things to keep busy. There are always more things I want to do than there are hours in a day. The last 6 months (when I officially stopped being employed) have flown by. I haven’t done 1/10th of what I thought I would be doing with all my free time! One of my hobbies is a side hustle that I thoroughly enjoy., and I haven’t even been able to do that to the extent that I planned. IF I ever have more time than plans, then I may decide that unretirement makes sense. I’m sure I’m a few years out from that.

 

[jollystomper]

I have observed several people who retired and moved to doing a part time job or side gig/hustle go into panic mode when that job/gig/hustle unexpectedly went away, and actively started seeking a new one. So it was unclear to be if that paying activity was being done because they wanted to, or had to.

I am surprised at the number of friends/acquaintances that are shocked that I have yet to go into some type of part time paid activity since retiring. DW still teaches part time, and one of her friends asked her if she had to do that because "Jolly has not found anything yet".

DW herself is looking at cutting back her part time teaching even further... That income was never included in our retirement finances, and I have told her that whenever she stops is not going to impact our finances. After seeing me retired for almost 18 months she is realizing how much even part -time work takes up of her schedule and how it impacts our planning... so time is becoming even more important to her.

 

[MarieIG]

Well, someone in their 40s can say that they intend to work forever, but ask them again when they hit 60. A lot can change between 40 and 67.

My first very short (trial) retirement three/ four years ago was a flop. There was no pre-retirement preparation, and DH was not retirement.

My plans are this: to be in the position of never having to work again to supplement the nest egg; in other words, not for financial reasons. I would not be able to make the same money (proportionately): working part-time was/is not part of the financial plan.

However, if I feel like working part time (which is currently not on the radar) I would call it working part time. What anyone else wants to call what they do does not cause me much concern.

 

[gerntz]

Work? What's that mean?

 

[Dtail]

Work? What's that mean?

Amen

 

[Walt34]

Work? What's that mean?

I'll never forget having to work for a living.

No matter how hard I try.

 

[ugeauxgirl]

Who cares.
Too much energy being spent on labelling IMO.

+1
I'm about to retire from a 23 year career- I'll get a retirement package and all that. My husband says he's still going to work some, even though he doesn't have to. Someone has already pointed out that I will be a stay at home mom or housewife rather than retired. I don't care what you call me as long as I don't have to go to work anymore.

 

[Walt34]

FIFY:

I don't care what you call me as long as [-]I don't have to go to work anymore[/-] you don't call me employed.

 

[CaptTom]

My biggest fear retiring early was that I'd find a "retirement gig" that became so enjoyable and profitable that I'd wished I'd found it earlier in my career.

Hasn't happened yet.

I'm just as busy as I ever was, but doing things *I* want to do now. I've looked around for side gigs I'd like to dabble in, but nothing that pays much has come up yet.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

FIFY:

"WORK!!!" [emoji79] (Maynard G. Krebs)

 

[nativenewenglander]

When I first started cutting back my work hours 11 year ago I said to my wife commerce was my hobby. Being three years into a 75-90% retirement I really don't have the interest in the business I once had. My commerce is my hobby has become simply being a fly fisherman, hike, trail runner, exercise and keto diet geek and alpine skier. Do I still like business, yes, but my view has definitely changed from just a few years ago. Perhaps if I was less busy I might look at it differently. I think the items that have replaced my work really changed my life for the better. Especially the diet and exercise. I ran a 5K race yesterday and came in 98th out of 1900. Last year I did the same race and came in 197th out of 1800. This year I shaved off 2 minutes and ended being 4th in my age group, my time being 22:14. The winner finished in 15 minutes, he's on the US Olympic team pretty impressive time.