Coasting until retirement?

[Which Roger]

I was a coaster. A couple of scares when the boss offered me "opportunities that would be highly visible to upper management", but I managed to avoid those.

 

[EastWest Gal]

No coasting as a physician. Not possible. Though the last month I found it difficult to care all the time, which frightened me.

 

[PageTwo]

Your attitude change may surprise you, your co-workers and your bosses as you may become more of a team player and less competitive.

I would argue that this is the opposite of coasting! You're multiplying your impact as you help others....

I'm still a few months away but certainly not coasting. However my mindset has changed and I'm delegating more, coaching others on things that I would have normally done myself and generally ensuring that my team is set up for success without me. I still haven't had the conversation with my boss but that is coming in early July.....

 

[gauss]

I tried to wind things down in a responsible manner so that I could work a bit longer. After 20 years in, my tactics that I started included:

1) Purchasing as much extra vacation that they would allow me each year

2) Using extra vacation time to take off "Football Mondays" (ie the Mondays after the weekend that my alma matter had a home game that I attended)

3) Go to part time status ie 60% time for 60% of the salary -- This would allow me to focus on the tasks where I was uniquely able to provide the most bang for the buck to the organization. (Think of a EE in a department that was mostly MEs).

4) Eventually took an unpaid leave of absence to care for a family member who needed it.

After being away from it for one year and knowing that I was happy, I submitted my resignation rather than return to work. I asked the HR lady if it would be possible to return in the future after I left if I missed it-- she replied there would be no HR blocks on me in that they were not paying me to leave and that I was in good standing. I could live with that.

-gauss

 

[scrabbler1]

I wouldn't say I coasted, if you define it as some combination of not working as hard as before with goofing off or slacking off.

But I did coast in that I had reduced my weekly hours worked in the last 17 months at my job. This was during the end of my 7 years of working part-time, from mid-2007 through late 2008. I had become sick of the commute which had expanded from 1 day a week to 3 days a week in 2003 after a mostly telecommuting deal from 2001-2003 had ended.

In 2007, I reduced it to 2 days a week, and from 20 hours down to 12. I knew in 2007 that something big would happen by the end of 2008, allowing me to retire. I was rapidly approaching my "number" as the pieces of my ER plan were falling into place.

I consider those last 17 months to be "coasting," at least to some degree. I was working less, as I was down to one main project. I was still available to answer questions about other things, and I was sorta secretly working on some transition work for the many programs I wrote and maintained so others could take them over. My reduced workload was appropriate for my reduced work hours.

When I hit my "number" and my ER plan's remaining pieces had fallen into place by the end of 2008, as I predicted, I stopped coasting and resigned.

 

[1242Vintage]

… "opportunities that would be highly visible to upper management" ...

Haven’t heard those words in a while. I wasn’t so good at keeping my head down and dodging those career building “opportunities” myself. But I never used them to unload some crappy job/assignment on one of my team members.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Saw a thread on Reddit about this. People that had jobs that didn't have much work to do so they had to figure out how to look like they were working, including taking long lunches so you leave later at night from the office. No one knows you arent working hard

Although I didn't practice this...in the Air Force, there was a "hat trick":

Since a hat is required at almost ALL TIMES when outdoors, most Air Force folks would carry a hat with them. If you were flying a desk, it was convenient to just leave the hat on the desk while you were out and about in the office. Well, some folks would leave an extra hat (some with keys next to it) on the desk when they left the office early.

Of course, you could also pull a George Costanza trick and have a "Pensky File"...I will admit to carrying one for a while when I was out meeting with office colleagues.

 

[ponyboy]

Im around 15 years out and have been coasting for a couple years now.

 

[Boose]

A little over 2 years before my planned ER, I initiated a voluntary demotion to a position two grades below the supervisory one I'd held for 8 years. It was an opportunity for new and fun duties with younger customers, and my pension was already pegged to the highest wage I'd earned. The new job was also at a quieter location (easier customers). A voluntary demotion was so unusual that the Director visited my new colleagues before my arrival just to reassure them that I was sound in the head and hadn't pissed anyone off!

 

[Koolau]

I mentioned elsewhere recently that when my assignment changed (from something I loved doing to something I'd done before and KNEW I would hate it) that I briefly considered "coasting." We as a megacorp weren't known for firing non-performers but I just couldn't do it. I couldn't be comfortable being viewed as a slacker - even though I suppose I'd earned it. SO, I left almost immediately. Probably could have comfortably costed for 4 months to year's end but - Nope, I was outta there. YMMV

 

[ychuck46]

Did exactly that

I was also in IT sales for my whole career. Towards the end with my last company, one that went out of their way to screw you as much as possible, I went on full cruise control for at least two years. The only thing that was of interest was travel since I oftentimes was raised to first class on plane flights, and my high level at various hotel chains insured great accommodations. Was able to keep this up for a couple of years, still made good money, and finally left at 60. I felt nothing for that company since I figured they easily screwed me out of 100s of 1000s of $ in commissions by various means, so I didn't feel bad for screwing them in a smaller way in turn. Do the same and enjoy your eventual retirement. The IT sales industry changed forever after the glory years of the 1980s, 1990s, and somewhat into the 2000s.

 

[bfernand]

I'm 52. Targetting next year sometime. I have made my career in IT sales for last 25 years. It has been pretty stressful, only as good as your last quarter. Quota increases that drive you to a new job every 3 or 4 years on average. I have exceeded quota for 19 years straight.

My question for those who made the goal line: did you coast your last year or two? I am just exhausted. I ran out of f**ks to give about chasing incremental dollars when the government takes 52% (waving at my California friends). I would pull the plug now, but I have some equity compensation vesting between now and next April that is non insignificant. I have seen slacker individual contributors spend a year at my company selling zero and being able to stay for a year before the system forces them out. (My company slow to fire except for egregious behavior). I dont see myself selling zero, but I don't see myself grinding as hard as I have done.

Any coasters here?

I am in a similar situation to you. I have a sales position and am certainly NOT putting in 60 hours per week any longer since I have been selling IT since 1984! The biggest issue I have in pulling the plug is:

1. a bit worried about how I would spend my time
2. giving up a large compensation package plus benefits

I am planning to hang on until I either hate my job or I run out of good customers (who I actually enjoy spending time with.) Right now, I feel like I am already semi-retired and still take 3-4 vacation trips per year. I really can't complain and feel pretty lucky. . .

 

[steveark]

My last two years were the worst, out of a 38 year career they were the only two years I didn't love my job. That convinced me it was time to go.

 

[SeanPizzle]

I am in a similar situation to you. I have a sales position and am certainly NOT putting in 60 hours per week any longer since I have been selling IT since 1984! The biggest issue I have in pulling the plug is:

1. a bit worried about how I would spend my time
2. giving up a large compensation package plus benefits

I am planning to hang on until I either hate my job or I run out of good customers (who I actually enjoy spending time with.) Right now, I feel like I am already semi-retired and still take 3-4 vacation trips per year. I really can't complain and feel pretty lucky. . .

I too love my cusotmers. My manager is actually a good friend and we have worked around each other for two decades. I told him today that the admin part of my job is what will make me pull the plug. I told him to pay someone 80K a year to manage all my bullshit (channel stuff, renewals, new appointment setting) and take it out of my end. I'll end up probably making the company several times that 80k in profit.

 

[Redbugdave]

Of course, you could also pull a George Costanza trick and have a "Pensky File"...I will admit to carrying one for a while when I was out meeting with office colleagues.

And don't have a sleeping shelf under your desk...

 

[Perryinva]

Yup. Coasted. No regerts. No guilt. But my career was entirely different in earnings (less) & duration (longer) and I hated sales, so YMMV. At 61, took an ERP that I predicted was coming (4 years earlier) and 2 years later (to the day!) like so many others have said, the waters great, come on in.

 

[DektolMan]

Impossible to coast being self employed for 40 years. If my wife & I didn't bust our a$$ we didn't have food on the table, money to pay bills, and the ability to save and invest for retirement. That being said the last 5 years when we reached FI we worked our business part time with no evenings or weekend, basically 4 days a week. Many 60-80 hr weeks to reach our goals with no regrets at all.

 

[Aerides]

I don't think even the coasters here are equating coasting with slacking - not to the degree that there is performance degradation, or impact to your teammates who have to pick up after you or work harder to carry your load.

But in today's corporate always-on culture - which many who retired 10 or even 5 years ago might not have experienced - dialing back to a modest 45 hours would be considered coasting.

In my last roles, I was expected to answer the phone at all hours if issues arose. Weekends for installing patches and validating changes. Late nights/early mornings to interface with teams in other timezones around the world. Travel on sundays to arrive for monday meetings, then a red eye back on friday. Logging in late from home to finish the project that got dumped on you at 4pm that was due at 8 the next morning, stuff like that.

Coasting, at the end, meant going back to doing a solid 8-5/6, not juggling more than I could handle, saying No to stuff that would break my back (and my team's), and not being plugged in doing emails all night.

 

[richardf]

Lost benefits

Are you losing any benefits. I lost healt insurance on my wife, life insurance, dental insurance. Your choice but there is a lot of things that happen before Medicare kicks in.

I'm 52. Targetting next year sometime. I have made my career in IT sales for last 25 years. It has been pretty stressful, only as good as your last quarter. Quota increases that drive you to a new job every 3 or 4 years on average. I have exceeded quota for 19 years straight.

My question for those who made the goal line: did you coast your last year or two? I am just exhausted. I ran out of f**ks to give about chasing incremental dollars when the government takes 52% (waving at my California friends). I would pull the plug now, but I have some equity compensation vesting between now and next April that is non insignificant. I have seen slacker individual contributors spend a year at my company selling zero and being able to stay for a year before the system forces them out. (My company slow to fire except for egregious behavior). I dont see myself selling zero, but I don't see myself grinding as hard as I have done.

Any coasters here?

 

[Flyfish1]

No coasting as a physician. Not possible. Though the last month I found it difficult to care all the time, which frightened me.

Definitely not easy to coast as a Doc. I've stopped doing big multi hour uncomfortable cases, dropped to 4 day work weeks and have reduced my on call load. Still it is not easy to drop much below that.

 

[MarieIG]

I'm not wired that way. I will (attempt) to put out my best work product/ service the clients through my last work hour.

 

[mike914]

coasting

I'm 52. Targetting next year sometime. I have made my career in IT sales for last 25 years. It has been pretty stressful, only as good as your last quarter. Quota increases that drive you to a new job every 3 or 4 years on average. I have exceeded quota for 19 years straight.

My question for those who made the goal line: did you coast your last year or two? I am just exhausted. I ran out of f**ks to give about chasing incremental dollars when the government takes 52% (waving at my California friends). I would pull the plug now, but I have some equity compensation vesting between now and next April that is non insignificant. I have seen slacker individual contributors spend a year at my company selling zero and being able to stay for a year before the system forces them out. (My company slow to fire except for egregious behavior). I dont see myself selling zero, but I don't see myself grinding as hard as I have done.

Any coasters here?

Hello fellow Coaster here

I just turned 57 and am also in sales.

I am with you, burned out on striving for ever increasing quotas.

It was fun and attainable in my early years but I have come to realize what a toxic cycle it has become.

It's funny how humans can get used to really stressful environments without being conscience of it.

My plan is to become less competitive as a previous member stated.
Do a good job but let go of having to be the best.

It seems that I've spent my career in the competition mode for so long I have forgotten how to enjoy my work/life.

I plan to re-program my brain once I pull the plug hopefully in 12 months.

Good luck, don't be too hard on yourself sales is a tough career.

Regards

914Mike

 

[Koolau]

I am in a similar situation to you. I have a sales position and am certainly NOT putting in 60 hours per week any longer since I have been selling IT since 1984! The biggest issue I have in pulling the plug is:

1. a bit worried about how I would spend my time
2. giving up a large compensation package plus benefits

I am planning to hang on until I either hate my job or I run out of good customers (who I actually enjoy spending time with.) Right now, I feel like I am already semi-retired and still take 3-4 vacation trips per year. I really can't complain and feel pretty lucky. . .

1) That's part of the fun of ER. You have time to figure that out and there are few mistakes you can make. If you don't like it - change it.

2) If you've run the numbers and you have "enough" you get over it pretty quickly. I KNEW there had to be a package waiting for me if I hung on (coasted) for a year or two. Man was I close. It was 18 months after I told my boss I won't do my new assignment (and coast). I'm outta here. So I missed the package and kicked myself for maybe 5 minutes. Then I realized I'd had 18 months of freedom for the price of that package. Oh, and I didn't have to do a j*b I hated for 18 months. Win, win. YMMV

 

[Calico]

Coasting the last year for me meant doing 100% instead of the 150-200% I'd been doing for decades.

I never missed a deadline, and the quality of my work never declined in the last year. I just didn't go out of my way to do all of the "extras" I'd done for so long.

The only thing I put extra effort into was producing detailed, lengthy documentation on how to do everything in my job. I knew they would drag their feet replacing me (they did on all positions). I felt good about leaving a "road map" for whomever inherited my tasks, and the gal who temporarily inherited most of them told me she appreciated it. I also spent several hours on Zoom talking her through several processes, which she appreciated.

I can hold my head up and know I earned my pay until the last day, as can the other "coasters" in this thread.

 

[Koolau]

Coasting the last year for me meant doing 100% instead of the 150-200% I'd been doing for decades.


I can hold my head up and know I earned my pay until the last day, as can the other "coasters" in this thread.

Probably a good point. I recall years of 60 hour weeks but YMMV.