Part time or not

[Senator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Which Roger +1. For some, it's possible to throttle down and gradually withdraw while still working full time. It was for me, mainly because my company was struggling and morale was very, very, low for everyone. However, this does result in some awkward situations, like when the boss comes in and offers an "opportunity" for a project that's "highly visible to upper management". I weaseled my way out of that one.

I never volunteered once I knew I was leaving, about 24 months out. Highly visible is a bad thing when you are near the end.

I told my new boss, after a re-org, I was not willing to put in 60-hour weeks, nor be on-call.

[Cobra9777]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Focus I had the opportunity to shift to part time as part of a phased retirement, but it quickly became evident that it would be the worst of all worlds -- half the pay, much of the stress, still on call all of the time. So I retired altogether...

+1 In my line of work, part time would have been a nightmare. Stress is the same. Toxic politics... same. Pointless meetings... same. Ridiculous deadlines... same. Pay & benefits... HALF. No thank you. They've called twice to see if I was interested in a temporary contract gig. I said no both times for same reasons.

My plan was to start teaching part time at the local community college. I gathered up all the required paperwork but never submitted it. After a few months of freedom, I couldn't imagine being enslaved to another Outlook calendar. Same attitude now, 5 years later.

[Koogie]

I am semi-retired and loving it. Work about 3 days a week, 40 weeks a year.

Just finished my second year of it. Might be doing 3 - 4 more.

Was FI probably about 4 years ago. At this point just trying to increase quality of life and letting market returns pad the nest egg. My "salary" equals almost exactly our spend rate.

[Ronstar]

I worked part time before I retired. Probably 2-3 years of 1-2 days a week at the same company where I previously worked. It was a great transition into retirement. Gave me plenty of personal time to fine tune my hobbies and make solid retirement plans so that I was able to hit the ground running on retirement day.

[RE2Boys]

I retired from the career job 17 years ago (at 50) but still part-timing things, but into jobs I enjoy doing, regardless of the pay. Always have at least one W2 each year. Keeps me involved and busy. Will quit by the time RMDs start. If I don't , I'll be pushed into a higher tax bracket. Some may say I'm really not retired, and I always used the phrase as being semi-retired, and still do.

And trying to set an example for my college sons.

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tb001 For those who have gone part time, I'm curious how you ramped down and managed keeping the hours under control. Did you only work 2 or 3 days/week? How did you manager calls, etc that happened not on those days? Were you telecommuting or did you have to go into the office? Also curious about health insurance. Did part time work allow you to keep health insurance? If so, was there a certain number of hours you needed to be working to keep it? I'm looking at requesting to go part time, ideally 20 hrs, but just have no idea logistically how that will work. Technically I work 10-12 hr days now, but would assume this would be a 2.5 day schedule.

I was working on a legacy technology that was pretty stable, few new installations, and some customers moving off of it. This lead to being able to keep my hours under control nearly all of the time.

I was able to keep HI with 20 hours/week. Might have had to pay more for it. Each situation is different so what matters is what you can get.

I didn't work set hours. I generally worked 4 hours/day, but if I worked extra early in the week I either took a day off or limited hours later in the week. This is related to keeping hours under control. As long as the fire wasn't too big I'd just shuffle hours around.

I did tend to check in many evenings, because if something did happen, sometimes 15 minutes of asking for more info could save a full day of turnaround, so it kind of gave the effect of me working full time without actually doing so.

[Yarnstormer]

I’m 55, switched to part time work at home and also go to office for intense work sessions. It’s pretty great. I don’t have to touch my savings, and I enjoy the work. Very lucky there!
To be clear, I am self employed and was not able to go part time with old employer. If access to health care remains I plan to keep this gig as long as they will have me. They ordered me some business cards this week so....
I work anywhere from 15-25hours/week as sub.

[Katsmeow]

I went in to resign and retire when DH retired. I was 56. I was asked to stay on part-time one day a week with the proviso that I only had to work on things I wanted to work on. I agreed. That was almost 8 years ago and I'm still there. It has changed over the years. For awhile I worked 2 days a week. Then, I moved and it was a long drive to the office and I tried to fully retire again. But, I was asked to stay on and work from home. And, so I've done that the last few years. I mostly did this to help out a colleague not because I had a strong desire to do it.

That said, I'm glad I did it. It has not been onerous. I have been glad to help. And, the extra money has been nice and has paid for some nice extras. (Note that for the past few years the number of hours has been very limited. Usually a few hours a month although it is variable).

[Backpacker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tb001 For those who have gone part time, I'm curious how you ramped down and managed keeping the hours under control. Did you only work 2 or 3 days/week? How did you manager calls, etc that happened not on those days? Were you telecommuting or did you have to go into the office? Also curious about health insurance. Did part time work allow you to keep health insurance? If so, was there a certain number of hours you needed to be working to keep it? I'm looking at requesting to go part time, ideally 20 hrs, but just have no idea logistically how that will work. Technically I work 10-12 hr days now, but would assume this would be a 2.5 day schedule.

My schedule has been usually 4 days a week, and soon will be 3 days a week. I have flexibility to pick the days. Trying to decide if Wednesday through Thursday and have a 4 day weekend every week, or do Wednesday to Friday, followed by Monday through Wednesday. The hours used to get too high when I first switched to part-time, but the longer I'm out of former job the less I'm needed to answer questions. For me I was very blessed in that I was paid my former wage to "consult" so hours getting too high equated to big day for me. Health insurance I never took it,as it was better through my DW employer.

[TimeMeasure]

Quote:

Originally Posted by InTheShade For those of you who worked part time before fully retiring, are you happy that you did so or do you wish now that you had just gone ahead and completely retired to begin with?

Not fully retired yet, but began what is effectively a part-time arrangement at the start of this year, with full disclosure given that the intent is to fully retire when that arrangement runs out, likely mid-year although that might extend.

Even though, by most realistic assessments, we are FI already, no regrets about moving to part-time first. Quite the opposite. Aside from the obvious benefit of being a more financially conservative approach, there are more subtle benefits.

For one, it allows a longer runway to disentangle oneself from all the deep social conditioning which seeks to tie one's identity to one's work, a longer glide path on which to find, or to accentuate a latent, view of oneself in the world, which is more process-oriented and less goal-oriented, more focused on living than acquiring - a perspective which is, in some fundamental way, more sane and balanced. Even if one has planned for the possibility of ER, and could transition to it without hardship, there's some benefit to accomplishing the underlying psychological shifts in perspective over time.

For another, it allows time to fully validate one's plan and correct course if need be - mundane logistical and financial details, and also one's pattern of living. My experience has been that this has been very helpful and satisfying. Did not anticipate any difficulty filling the extra time, and sure enough, no difficulty at all on that front. Did anticipate some twinges of regret at leaving behind a certain position in society - and surprisingly, felt very few such twinges.

Instead, felt a deep satisfaction and a kind of... open-heartedness, for lack of a better word. Hard to express. A kind of sense that, with the unspoken and often even unrealized pressures of the work world diminished, gone, on days when I was not working, and enough time to accomplish home responsibilities, I could be more fully "present" with my wife, helping her and just being together, without the mind always subliminally occupied by the pressures of limited time. It has felt like a gift. And it has confirmed, in a visceral way that spreadsheets cannot, that the glide path toward full ER is the right course.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrabbler1 And when I full retired 7 years after working part-time, it was not a big change to my everyday life; the switch to part-time was actually a much bigger change.

Yes. Although not fully ER yet, am fully anticipating that that will feel like a natural and gradual transition. The move toward, and the switch to, part-time work, has felt like far more of a sea change.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry1 The one thing that surprised me, however, was that with more time off... the more I became committed to retiring.

Yes to this too.

[DanP]

Been consulting about 3 days/week from home (no commute) for almost a year now.

Not a real $ need, still gig brings 6 figures so mental attitude is that every month I do this is fun money - toys, house improvements, etc. But it could end at any time given how volatile my customer is, and how little tolerance I have for BS these days. Or it could go on for years.

In my case this reduced involvement is a good transition rather than cold turkey out. On the downside at times I find myself stressing about work related projects or politics, which is so not necessary but still, hard habit to break. That is the downside.

[38Chevy454]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tb001 For those who have gone part time, I'm curious how you ramped down and managed keeping the hours under control. Did you only work 2 or 3 days/week? How did you manager calls, etc that happened not on those days? Were you telecommuting or did you have to go into the office? Also curious about health insurance. Did part time work allow you to keep health insurance? If so, was there a certain number of hours you needed to be working to keep it? I'm looking at requesting to go part time, ideally 20 hrs, but just have no idea logistically how that will work. Technically I work 10-12 hr days now, but would assume this would be a 2.5 day schedule.

I had no problem keeping the reduced hours in check, but I had to be at the office. No telecommuting or work from home, since I worked on classified stuff. People got used to my schedule and would have meetings on days when I was available if they needed me. Most of my work was working my own stuff, so it was easy to do what I was needed for. As stated in my previous reply, I could do more in 60% time than some coworkers in 100%.

I was able to keep health insurance, at the same co-pay amount even. My corp policy was you had to work 50% to keep the insurance at the same rate, below 50% your co-pay went up. Keeping health insurance while working P/T was the major factor to keep working, at least for me.

My commute was about 23 miles one way, so I always worked full days (8 hours charged) on my work days. It was nice that for the most part my work weeks were Tues-Wed-Thurs.

[InTheShade]

Well I verbally agreed to take a part time job today. Now I have to start the process of retiring from my current job. My wife stops working at the end of this school year although it will be 5 years before she gets any retirement. With the pension I will get as soon as I retire, plus the part time pay, we will go from 10 days of work per week to 3 and our net income will be roughly the same. My wife is not altogether happy because she wanted me to fully retire, but this seems like a good first step. As someone mentioned earlier, it would be easier to go PT and then quit if it isn't working out than to fully retire then come back to PT.

[Ronstar]

Congrats!

[Backpacker]

Congratulations InTheShade!

[albireo13]

Not retired yet but am in coast mode. One more year. I'm doing my job but, not seeking out more responsibility or volunteering for assignments. I'm sure my performance review won't be stellar but at this point I don't have the energy or motivation to respond to all the "fire drills" and corporate BS at MegaCorp.

[scrabbler1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tb001 For those who have gone part time, I'm curious how you ramped down and managed keeping the hours under control. Did you only work 2 or 3 days/week? How did you manager calls, etc that happened not on those days? Were you telecommuting or did you have to go into the office? Also curious about health insurance. Did part time work allow you to keep health insurance? If so, was there a certain number of hours you needed to be working to keep it? I'm looking at requesting to go part time, ideally 20 hrs, but just have no idea logistically how that will work. Technically I work 10-12 hr days now, but would assume this would be a 2.5 day schedule.

I mentioned some of this in other posts, but I'll answer all of it here.

I was a little concerned about being asked to work a lot more than 20 hours when I began working PT with the mostly telecommuting gig (2001-2003). But my boss replied that she was concerned I might not be kept busy enough to work 20 hours. She was right. Very rarely did I exceed 20 hours in a week, and when I did it was only by an hour or two. Many other times, I willingly took some PTO to fill the extra hours so I didn't have to sit around, getting paid, while doing nothing. At least when I took the PTO, I could go out and do as I pleased, planned beforehand or not.

I kept a careful log of the time I worked each day, in 15-minute intervals, from home or at the office on the one day I had to go there during my telecommuting gig. I needed this for my timesheet. I very rarely got calls at home with questions, less than 5 times in 2 years.

When the telecommuting part of my PT era ended, I went to the office 3 days a week to fulfill my 20 hours. This lasted for about 3 1/2 years (2004-mid 2007). I still kept a log of my hours worked, as the 3 days I worked each varied some but were the same 3 days most of the time. I did not work from home at all during this time.

In 2007, I asked to have my weekly hours worked reduced from 20 to 12. Instead of working 3 days of 6.5-7 hours, I worked 2 days of 6 hours. The days I worked varied some, a little bit more than during the 3-days-a-week era because of the added flexibility. (I never worked on a Monday, of course, and rarely worked on a Monday in the 3-days-a-week era, either.) Here, as a sweetener to the deal, I agreed to sign onto my office email on the days I was off to answer them, if I could. I would not do any actual work-work. I agree to this because sometimes there would be 5 or 6 days between my office appearances, and I didn't want someone waiting around for an answer.

As for health insurance, I was able to stay on the group plan when I went to 20 hours. I had to pay 50% of the premiums instead of 25% when I worked FT. But when I went to 12 hours, I lost eligibility for group health and went on COBRA for 18 months. I had offered to pay 100% of the premiums (equivalent to COBRA) to stay on the plan, thinking it was a no-brainer. But I was turned down because I had magically become part of a high-risk class of near-Medicare, part-time employees who worked only a few hours a week (mainly at field offices, not the home office I worked at). It didn't matter that I only 43 years old at the time, ~20 years younger than those other low-hours employees. I was pretty annoyed, and I made sure to let hem know that the company's failure to keep me in their group health plan was a secondary reason for my leaving in 2008.

[ILikeStarTrek]

I'm 55 and I have generally planned to retire this year. But as others have said in this thread, even though the calculators tell me I'm good financially, now that I'm getting ready to do it I'm getting a tad nervous about it. Working part time another year or two would avoid starting to draw from my funds and make my long-term numbers look even better. I am planning a fair amount of travel in retirement, and having even more cushion to do all that could be nice. And I don't hate/dread my job the way some people in this forum do; it's just that it *is* a job, and I'd obviously rather have more free time.

So to balance the better finances vs more time, I've been thinking about bringing up the subject of whether I could switch to part time. Right now there are one or two people out of the whole (large) office working part time, but none of them have the kind of role I do, so it would be a pretty new thing to ask for.

I had my annual performance review this past week. My manager is already aware that I am considering retiring in the next couple years (though he doesn't know I am planning it this year), because he is older than I am and he is planning to retire too in about two years, so we have had a couple brief conversations about retiring. In the review this week, he asked me candidly what I'm thinking now as far as retirement time frame. I decided it was a natural time to ask the question about going part time. He was very understanding of my reasons; the only negative thing he said is that it would make managing projects harder, especially since quite a few other people in the building are in their late 50s or early 60s, and if word spread that going part time was okay, then others may want to do the same thing. If there were multiple people only working 50-75%, the project managers would have some adjustments to make in their schedules, manpower for projects, etc. But he also said I am well respected in my role, so management may approve my request in order to keep me happy. In any case, the decision will not be up to him, but he will kick this up the chain to his manager.

I think it will be a few weeks before I get an answer. I'll have mixed feelings either way. If they approve the part time work, I will definitely like the increased financial security. But one person in this thread noted that going into work on Monday after a 3 or 4 day weekend all the time was hard, and I think I will experience something like that. Of course, if I find I really hate working part time, I can retire at any time, especially since that is my alternative anyway if they don't approve it.

So right now I'm waiting to hear back. If they don't approve the part time request, my time frame to retire is in the April/May range.

[InTheShade]

IlikeStarTrek, Your situation sounds a lot like mine. I should be fine financially to retire now at 55 but the PT gives a little buffer for travel and such. Unlike you, however, my PT job is a much different role. I will be trying to go back to a technical role (coding) that I have been out of for almost 20 years. I told my new employer that I might now be too stupid to do such a thing but he was convinced that I would relearn quickly. I told him that if at anytime it looks like he has misjudged, just give me the signal and I will be on my way, appreciative to have had the opportunity.

Good luck to you. I hope that your management will be wise enough to grant your request.

[ILikeStarTrek]

InTheShade, thanks for the thoughts, and best wishes to you in your new role.

I'm a coder too, and for what it's worth, when I have changed jobs a couple times over the past 15 years, I found that going into a new job, learning enough of the code to be productive is a big effort; generally the first few weeks or months (depending on how big the overall code size of the project) of anything new in the coding realm makes me want to pull my hair out and leaves me feeling frustrated and unproductive. But when I keep at it and get past the learning curve, it gets easier and at some point I start feeling happier and productive. I'm sure you will experience that initial frustration as well, but don't get discouraged and think that you are too stupid (to use your words) to do it; it just means you need to keep at it and get past that learning curve.

If you think about it, post back in this thread in a couple months and let us all know how the new job goes for you. When I get an answer on the part time request, I will post back here as well.