Consulting regrets….

[Dinker01]

Been retired for about 2 years now. Last year I took a part time consulting role that lasted about 5 months. I really enjoyed it and it paid very well. Fast forward this year and in a moment of insanity, I agreed to two pt consulting jobs that will last to October. Repeat of last year’s project and a new one. Pay is very good which part of the appeal. Never a bad idea to pad the nest while I can but not necessary (as my husband reminded me). Now I’m regretting taking them on. The work isn’t difficult but it’s corp America. Fortunately it will be over in a few months but then I’m done. Anyone else feel the pang of consulting regret? How did you cope?

 

[USGrant1962]

No regrets per se. I did work more than I preferred the second half of last year. But that was a project I've been signed up for since 2020, so I knew it was coming. My plan was to work quarter time mostly from home, which I exceeded last year including some business trips. Having the extra income during the 2022 stock market dump was nice. My first world problem is too much consulting income to consider Roth conversions.

 

[joesxm3]

I could never stomach going back to that environment.

I asked a woman if she could drive her Tesla half a mile to my house for 10 minutes to check if it fit in my garage without removing shelves.

She started off on too busy at work to fit me in blah blah and promised to get back etc. I realized that this was the same old corporate speak and knew at once that my tolerance for this sort of stuff was completely gone.

 

[sdtech]

I am glad that I tried consulting because I learned that even though it paid VERY well, I couldn't work part time. They only wanted me to travel one week a month to analyze work locations with my prior experience. I found myself spending an inordinate amount of time preplanning and researching the locations and technologies involved. Part time became full time - I couldn't turn it off. Good to find that out and instead jump full time into retirement.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

Not consulting but a few weeks after I retired last year I was offered a position outside from a nonprofit. Good money and I was still able to collect my pension.
It was full time but remote.
The problem was I was really ready to be retired. The new job didn’t have nearly the responsibility of my old job but it was just the fact that I had to give them 40+ hours of my time. And as someone else up thread said- I was just done with it all. My give a care had done gone.
Then they decided that everyone needed to start coming back into the office which translated to a grueling commute for me. In traffic I can’t stand to drive in.
I remember posting about quitting on this site and some very wise people said- quit!
So I did. I haven’t regretted quitting at all. Would the money have been nice? Sure but I’m not sure my health would have held up.

Now when I think about joining a board or volunteering just thinking about the meetings and time commitment stresses me out and I’m like, nope.

So I guess to answer your question- I just quit. If you don’t want to work just quit.
More money is always nice but how much does that additional money weigh on your balance scale? Will it make a big difference in the quality of your life?

 

[retire to nature]

I quit my full time job 2 yrs ago and cant think about any work environment at all now. I feel suffocating even watching people working. I have great profitable airbnb, but same thing, I dont need more money, and now I am kinda getting sick of it. Before I decided for RE, I saw here FIRE change money ethic, and now I feel work ethic is totally different after FI.

 

[Koolau]

Only paid gig I ever had following FIRE was repositioning cars and driving cars to the auction. Pay was something like $6/hour when all was said and done ($0.15/mile.) BUT repositioning was sorta fun. I got to drive new cars, share the ride one way with DW, have a nice meal in a new place and pay for it with our measly check. One summer was enough and I left (unnoticed, I'm sure) with no regrets.

 

[Dtail]

Once done with work, that was it for me.

 

[Dd852]

Consulting does do things for me. I like feeling relevant. I like be challenged. I like having my experience be worth something. I like the reward of the occasional check.

More than all that, I love the freedom to say yes or no to an engagement.

I don’t say yes to that many and indeed sometimes I regret taking one on but by and large the balance has been good.

 

[mystang52]

After I retired I was offered 2 separate consulting gigs. I gave it some thought, but then realized they'd pay me, but would expect me to show up every day and actually do some w*rk. That's when I realized I was retired for good.

 

[pacergal]

I went back to work on call several times, each time for less and less months/days.
With the final one, I lasted two months, but only worked about 10 days total. I knew I was completely done by then!
I was called back a few months ago, but, alas, I have let my license expire!

 

[Jimmie]

I had many contacts from my work world call me for consulting after I retired 4 years ago. Some still continue to reach out occasionally, as well as new people that heard about me from my contacts. The pay offered was absurd and could WFH but I was never tempted once. I've gotten so used to getting up in the morning and doing just what I want to do, as well as what my DW would like for me to do.

 

[Rianne]

DH consults from home. It's about 20 hours/week or less. Keeps him engaged and in touch with his alma mater and the corporate world (friends I should say), not corporate bs. He'll retire from that in July but is keeping his interest open. I think it's great if you have the background for specific corporate consulting gigs. They last as long as you want. They pay well. You decide if and when you want to continue. If you have the skills they want, why not? You're in control, really.

 

[gauss]

I got plenty of stimulation from a couple of volunteer gigs of the "white collar" variety during the first 10 years of retirement. I liked them because they renew annually and therefore are not perpetual. I recently passed the baton on one of them to someone new and feel great about it.

No need for extra income, so no paid work sought.

-gauss

 

[RetMD21]

A few months after I retired another person moved away and left them shorthanded so I helped out half time but it seemed like it removed the urgency of looking for a replacement. I ended up giving them a deadline. Since then I have filled in since for a week here and there but as more of my "workplace proximity associates" depart I'm losing interest in continuing.

 

[38Chevy454]

You can't add years to your life, but you can add years to your retirement.

 

[Scuba]

Since DH and I retired, we’ve both been offered paid work. We have always turned it down. Our logic is that we enjoy being retired, and if we thought we needed more money, we wouldn’t have retired when we did.

Fortunately so far, our investment portfolio has continued to grow even though we are living off it. The only way we would ever go back to work is if we had to out of financial necessity. Hopefully that will never come about.

 

[Teacher Terry]

In the 11 years that I have been retired I have done either consulting or teaching an online college course or both. I really enjoy it and will stop if I get to where I don’t.

 

[Tekward]

In the 11 years that I have been retired I have done either consulting or teaching an online college course or both. I really enjoy it and will stop if I get to where I don’t.

Exactly. Controlling your schedule is my definition of retirement. I'll consult/teach ~20 weeks this year, with almost half of those bookings less than a full week. I have more weeks blocked off for family time (most of March & August for example).

My current withdrawal rate is about -1%. IDK how long I'll keep it up. Perhaps as long as clients have interest and I enjoy it.

The biggest downside (beyond taxes) is reducing my time for physical exercise. But I also value the recovery time when I overdo it (rotor cuff, golfers elbow, etc.). Of course the mental exercise of teaching has value also.

 

[youbet]

Since that day about 18 years ago when the MegaCorp security team helped me load my personal items into a box and walked me to the door, I have been long-term-unemployed. I begged them not to throw me into that brier patch, but they had no mercy!

Haven't had a nickle of earned income since that day.......... At 75, I'm still unemployed!

 

[Koolau]

Since that day about 18 years ago when the MegaCorp security team helped me load my personal items into a box and walked me to the door, I have been long-term-unemployed.

I had to help security do that to two of my empl*yees and it turned my stomach.

Most empl*yees left under their own power and carried their own box with no security in sight. Those who raised the ire of local management got the full treatment. Not a pretty sight, but it was quite impressive. I just hated (I think worse than anything else at megacorp) that final humiliation inflicted on some poor soul (in my empl*yees cases) a full blown alcoholic and an emotionally disturbed person. It's been 20 years and I've had PTSD episodes.

Heh, heh, thanks for reminding me.

 

[youbet]

I had to help security do that to two of my empl*yees and it turned my stomach.

Most empl*yees left under their own power and carried their own box with no security in sight. Those who raised the ire of local management got the full treatment. Not a pretty sight, but it was quite impressive. I just hated (I think worse than anything else at megacorp) that final humiliation inflicted on some poor soul (in my empl*yees cases) a full blown alcoholic and an emotionally disturbed person. It's been 20 years and I've had PTSD episodes.

Heh, heh, thanks for reminding me.

Gosh, mine wasn't really all that bad. I was trying to be a bit tongue in cheek with my post but guess I missed the mark.

It's a long story, but in a nutshell the MegaCorp I toiled at shrunk by close to 90% (in terms of headcount) so departures were regular and frequent. The HR guy who showed up with security on my last day was someone I hired and who worked for me in manufacturing for some time. He kept me informed of what was going on all along and met me for some beers after the walkout.

In the midst of all the downsizing, at 58 I felt ready to retire. But if I officially retired, I wouldn't qualify for the fairly generous severance package. I talked to my boss about it but she wasn't ready to let me go (terminate me) yet so I marched on. Finally, my boss was transferred and I just sat in the office a few hours a day for months not really reporting to anyone but collecting a paycheck and benefits. It was sooooo boring! But, again, if I requested retirement, no severance package. Finally, someone noticed me on some list and wondered what I was doing. Then the termination process began and in a few weeks they finally walked me out with a status of "terminated" and not retired. I got my severance pay and a year of benefits extension, collected unemployment for almost two years (Great Recession unemployment benefit expansions) and later started my pension. (I qualified for full retirement benefits but needed my status to be "terminated" on my last day to get the severance package.)

Soooooo........ Here I sit 18 years later having been "walked out" and still considered terminated and long-term-unemployed but having collected various unemployment benefits, retiree health care and now a pension (started it at 70). And I'm kinda proud of having been "fired" and walked out by a security guard!

And I've managed to not earn a nickle of income in these 18 years of unemployment, although I had to dodge a few situations from time to time.

It's tough getting thrown into that brier patch!

 

[Koolau]

Gosh, mine wasn't really all that bad. I was trying to be a bit tongue in cheek with my post but guess I missed the mark.

It's a long story, but in a nutshell the MegaCorp I toiled at shrunk by close to 90% (in terms of headcount) so departures were regular and frequent. The HR guy who showed up with security on my last day was someone I hired and who worked for me in manufacturing for some time. He kept me informed of what was going on all along and met me for some beers after the walkout.

In the midst of all the downsizing, at 58 I felt ready to retire. But if I officially retired, I wouldn't qualify for the fairly generous severance package. I talked to my boss about it but she wasn't ready to let me go (terminate me) yet so I marched on. Finally, my boss was transferred and I just sat in the office a few hours a day for months not really reporting to anyone but collecting a paycheck and benefits. It was sooooo boring! But, again, if I requested retirement, no severance package. Finally, someone noticed me on some list and wondered what I was doing. Then the termination process began and in a few weeks they finally walked me out with a status of "terminated" and not retired. I got my severance pay and a year of benefits extension, collected unemployment for almost two years (Great Recession unemployment benefit expansions) and later started my pension. (I qualified for full retirement benefits but needed my status to be "terminated" on my last day to get the severance package.)

Soooooo........ Here I sit 18 years later having been "walked out" and still considered terminated and long-term-unemployed but having collected various unemployment benefits, retiree health care and now a pension (started it at 70). And I'm kinda proud of having been "fired" and walked out by a security guard!

And I've managed to not earn a nickle of income in these 18 years of unemployment, although I had to dodge a few situations from time to time.

It's tough getting thrown into that brier patch!

That is one great story. I'm serious and really mean that. Maybe someday I'll tell the whole story about one of my two walk outs. I guarantee it will beat your story - by a mile. You can't make this stuff up, sometimes. If I ever do tell it, I'll forgive anyone who doesn't care to believe it.

Maybe some day.

 

[freedomatlast]

My consulting experience has been the opposite of OP's.

I really enjoy the work, the mental stimulation, the comradery and the extremely generous pay doesn't hurt either. The only thing I missed was the over six weeks of paid vacation I had while working. So when they offered that back if I came back full time, along with some other great perks, I took them up on it.

Just like MegaCorp can get rid of a person at any time, I can just leave at any time too. There's no stress, people there are extremely appreciative and it's basically a four day work week with Fridays off. Of course I do see some corporate politics in play, so I just refuse to engage and actually see some humor in it at times.

It's an interesting perspective to be there because I want to be there, with all the other people that HAVE to be there.

When it's no longer fun, I'll just leave my badge in my office one afternoon on my way out, never to return.


And Koolau, I'd love to hear your story if you care to tell it.

 

[mystang52]

I had to help security do that to two of my empl*yees and it turned my stomach.

Most empl*yees left under their own power and carried their own box with no security in sight. Those who raised the ire of local management got the full treatment. Not a pretty sight, but it was quite impressive. I just hated (I think worse than anything else at megacorp) that final humiliation inflicted on some poor soul (in my empl*yees cases) a full blown alcoholic and an emotionally disturbed person. It's been 20 years and I've had PTSD episodes.

Heh, heh, thanks for reminding me.

I recall 2 unusual episodes where I terminated people. Both times I was as polite and professional as possible. One was a gentleman whose work PC had gotten frozen.......for trying to download porn. The other was gut-wrenching; literally the first time I terminated someone. She wasn't emotionally disturbed, but after hiring it was evident she was mentally challenged a bit. I terminated her at 1PM or so. By 5:30 she had not stopped crying in front of me; neither of us had moved from our seats.

On a much lighter note, I read this thread last evening, and overnight had a nightmare. I found myself back at work, and was bereft at doing so. I guess that means I have no desire to do consulting.