Megacorp Called Again. Guess I am "semi-retired"

[ICNTR]

I was actually pretty happy to hear from them.
Retired about 8 months ago and did a one week assigment for them last December. This one will be several weeks long. This is good because:

1. Since DW literally insists on working 2 or 3 days a week, I only need about 4 weeks a year to keep from drawing off savings. Always nice to add a little "cushion" to our ER financial assumptions.

2. My in-laws just don't understand our situation. For some reason, my working brings them some level of comfort. I apparently still suffer from ER guilt and worry too much about what others think. Gotta keep the peace to some degree though : )

3. It is fun to see the old friends and also to stay in touch with the business to some extent. The "consultant" compensation and getting paid for every hour also makes it more "fun".

Thought I would just make a case for an "optional semi-retirement" approach in case anyone was considering it. I probably wouldn't like it if I had to do it but it really seems pretty cool from time to time since it is my choice. I guess I will learn to say "no" when it becomes not fun.

[Live And Learn]

Good gig with a great attitude about it -- what more could one ask ! ? congratulations

[obgyn65]

Well done !

[gardenfun]

I like your term "optional semi-retirement".

I am an accidental early retiree, courtesy of my former corporate employer, 59 yo. I have been teaching marketing for several years, mostly online, in addition to my corporate gig. No real $$$ in it, but the pay does help with expenses.
Now that I don't have a corporate job, I have been treating my teaching gig as my working identity. I know what you mean by having that comfort zone in telling people what you do.

I was okay with it until I started two new courses this week. I realized (partly due to joining this forum ) that I truly don't need to do the teaching if I don't want to. Or to put it another way, if I would rather just have my days completely to myself to do whatever I want.

It's been an interesting self-discovery process: do I feel I "need" to do the teaching in order to feel good about myself and my place in the world?

As I was commuting to the class yesterday, I really wondered why I was doing it. So I guess I'm in the process of answering my own questions.
Again, by reading this forum, I have really resonated with folks' experiences with living each day the way they choose. One of my favorite threads is "What did you do today?"

Like you, after this teaching gig, I think I will be in a better place to be able to say yes or no to future offers.

good luck to you!

[HighRoller]

I've been retired for about a year now and earlier this month I got another "would you like to do some consulting work" calls. It was nice to get the call but even nicer to say "no thank you".

[RockyMtn]

I do a couple of consulting gigs for my former employer each year and a couple for clients in the same industry. Mostly all done from home. I pick the hours and they are never more than a couple weeks in duration. Helps keep me sharp and it is fun to catch up with old friends and colleagues.

I never let the projects interfere with my day to day goofing off. If I think they will I just tell them that I am busy. It is amazing what they will pay for the short term help. Gives me some funny money to support my other vices.