Do you work part time in retirement?

[philly17]

So my view is I'm retired when I no longer have to work for $'s and no longer have to manage a career or resume.
My vision is I'll still do some part time work to provide some structure and enjoyment even when retired.
So my questions are the following:
- Do you do any paying work in retirement?
- How many hours a week do you work?
- What types of jobs are people doing in retirement?

Thank You.

 

[REWahoo]

- No
- Zero
- NA

 

[MRG]

Oh hell, no!

 

[Dtail]

- No
- Zero
- NA

+1 Same.
Retired for ME is no work whatsoever forever.

 

[38Chevy454]

I did work 2 days per week for about 8 months last year. I worked at a local auto parts store, which was just for getting out of the house and do something different. Since I work on old cars as my hobby, this was more interesting to me than other options. I was an engineer, and did not want to work an engineering job. Just something mindless and providing some interaction with people while getting out of the house for a bit. Give DW a bit of a break from me and some time for her to do her own thing as well.

I did not work for the money, although it did give some small extra spending money. I did it because I wanted something different to do. If I work on my old cars hobby all the time, it starts to become like work.

I quit that job in early Dec 2019, and then spent the winter snowbirding down south with our motorhome. I think I am done with any working now and into the future.

 

[jollystomper]

No. I retired when I knew I could choose to work or not. I choose not to work at all.

My criteria for accepting any part-time work:
- Work from home
- No more than 8 actual hours a week
- No less than $150/hour or equivalent
- No physical labor
- Nothing more than consulting/reviewing something and providing my input/opinion

When I present these terms to people offering me jobs, they go away.

 

[youbet]

- No
- Zero
- NA

Hee, hee..... Yep! 14 years of FIRE for me and no earned income at all during that time.

When OP asks "What types of jobs are people doing in retirement?" it seems like an oxymoron. There is absolutely nothing wrong with continuing to earn money full time or part time if that's what you want to do. But I just can't call that "retirement" at least in the ER sense of the word.

It's all terminology though...... I admit I do some chores around here (car and house maintenance, monitor investments, meal prep, etc.), that, as an alternative, I could work part time to earn money and then pay to have these things done. And sometimes my unpaid home chores aren't fun at all. (I spent much of yesterday working on a malfunctioning power window on my 20 year old daily driver )

I consider myself fully retired, FIRED, despite being tied to several hours of sometimes crappy household chores every week. And I have no problem with folks who would choose to earn some dough and pay to have these things done for them. Clarifying the difference is waaaay too complicated for me!

 

[Red Badger]

- No
- Zero
- NA

+1.

I volunteer to support worthy things in my community and give DW some time without me being underfoot, in the way, etc. I considered consulting (concatenation of convict and insulting), but quickly determined that retirement was way too cool to screw up with any type of professional obligation.

 

[Dreamer]

I retired in 06/06. I went back to work 03/10, 24 hours per week, as a receptionist for a glaucoma doctor. I wanted to finish getting the needed social security credits, after spending my working career job for the federal government. I finished getting the needed credits 05/15 and have not worked since that time. I have no plans to ever work again.

 

[ocean view]

+1.



I volunteer to support worthy things in my community and give DW some time without me being underfoot, in the way, etc. I considered consulting (concatenation of convict and insulting), but quickly determined that retirement was way too cool to screw up with any type of professional obligation.

+1

I volunteer about 6 hours a week, even through SIP I am able to do my volunteer work from home.

In Feb they offered a full time position. I laughed and said “why would I want that? This arrangement works just fine for me”

 

[mountainsoft]

So my view is I'm retired when I no longer have to work for $'s and no longer have to manage a career or resume.
My vision is I'll still do some part time work to provide some structure and enjoyment even when retired.
So my questions are the following:
- Do you do any paying work in retirement?
- How many hours a week do you work?
- What types of jobs are people doing in retirement?

"Do what you’ll love, and you’ll never work another day in your life."

I won't retire for a few more years, but I enjoy running my own business from home. I have already transitioned from the "get ahead" mode to the "take it as it comes" mode. My hours are flexible, I work when I want to, do other stuff when I don't. I enjoy the work as I like the problem solving and it keeps my mind active. I also enjoy interacting with customers as it's one of my few social outlets and it's nice to know others benefit from my work.

For me retirement is when neither my wife nor I are obligated to work. Since my "work" is already flexible, I will consider myself retired when she retires. However, I'm sure I will keep running my home based business at least a couple more years, or until my customer base goes away. I'm not making a strong effort to grow my business anymore, but ironically, sales have been on the upswing during the COVID crisis.

 

[youbet]

For me retirement is when neither my wife nor I are obligated to work.

I would call that situation "financial independence."

 

[scrabbler1]

- No
- Zero
- NA

Same here.

 

[folivier]

Since I retired 10+ years ago I have an aversion to commitments and schedules. I do some work as a freelance proofreader for a few authors. It gives me a bit of spending money and a feeling of accomplishment. And I do it at my schedule. Other than that, no mo' work!

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

No
Zero
I don't know

 

[mountainsoft]

I would call that situation "financial independence."

That's fine, either description works for me. All that matters is you do what you enjoy and live life on your own terms. No bosses to please, no work obligations, no time clock. If part time work makes you happy, go for it. As long as you don't HAVE to work to make ends meet, that's retirement to me.

 

[bclover]

Yes
I'm a baker's assistant
about 15 hours a week.

so I love baking, when I got laid off from mega corp, I went back to culinary school with the intention of opening my own bakery. lol, talk about an eye opener, so I quickly decided that owning my own restaurant was waaay more work and stress than I wanted.

I think the major downside is getting up at 3:30 am because the place I work does french pastries and it's mainly a coffee type place.

truthfully I don't see it as a "commitment", I'm pretty dependable by nature so if I say I'm going to be somewhere I do my best to be there and so far I've never had any issue taking off when I want.

 

[geeky_grrl]

No work for me.

I always had a hard time with work/life balance. If I worked in my field I know I'd end up working more than part time - I'd just be getting paid less.

I half considered looking for part time work dealing with something I enjoy like part time at the local yarn store, but I decided I'd rather just hang out there and talk about knitting as a customer and have the freedom to do it when I want. I also thought about the beer industry but I just judge beer competitions for free sometimes and spent a lot of time talking beer at the local watering hole.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I retired 8 years ago. 7 months later I was asked to teach a online college class. I had never taught before. I am still doing it. I also do some consulting in my field which is vocational rehabilitation. It’s the best of both worlds.

 

[pacergal]

First three years, worked 10-20 hours per week--requested by employer to come back and train successor managers.
No work for the last year, and no further plans too.

 

[aaronc879]

My brain does not compute. Why would I work if I don't have to work for money?

 

[Sojourner]

- Do you do any paying work in retirement?
- How many hours a week do you work?
- What types of jobs are people doing in retirement?

• Yes. But very little.
• Around one hour/week, on average.
• I do freelance I.T. consulting for small, local businesses.

I have been FI since about 2012 and semi-retired since 2015. As of this year, I'm about 99% fully retired, as my freelance consulting work has dwindled down to almost nothing. That's perfectly fine with me, although if it picks back up again down the road, that'll be OK, too. Life is good... except for this annoying pandemic.

 

[ksr]

I worked part-time for perhaps 7 or 8 years after leaving megacorp. It was something completely different from my career, and something I enjoyed doing. On average, I probably worked 6 to 8 hours/week, a bit more in the beginning and then gradually pulling back until I stopped working altogether.

It was a good opportunity at the right time. I retired right into the financial meltdown (late 2007), and was pretty stressed about suddenly taking withdrawals as the market was tanking. There was a nice and gradual transition to working less as the markets improved and I become more comfortable taking withdrawals.

At this point I wouldn't want to work even part-time, as I really don't like having to be someplace at a prescribed time. However, I remain grateful that the pt work was there at the right time.

 

[Chuckanut]

No.
N/A
Substitute teachers and barista.

 

[IMATERP]

Yes...

One to two days per week (8 hours total) doing accounting work for a local florist.

I actually enjoy feeling appreciated for my efforts as well as picking up some extra spending $$.

Sadly, it is doubtful that the shop will remain in existence as the virus has dramatically decreased business. This year I’ve made more in UI then I have at the shop.