Part Time Work

[joel2125]

Here is a question for all you smart people out there. Seems that most folks have jobs that require them to be either all in or all out ie. there is not a viable part-time option. How would a part-time option affect your retirement plans? Example:Take 20 weeks off/year in lieu of full retirement.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I have been working part time since I retired 6 years ago. I teach a online college class and do a little consulting in my field.

 

[scrabbler1]

I worked part-time for 7 years before fully retiring 10 years ago. Working PT did several good things for me, until I got tired of the commute even as little as 2 days a week.


(1) I regained control over my personal life. I resurrected some old hobbies and found some new ones. I was able to do my personal errands on weekdays at 10:30 AM instead of on the far busier Saturdays.


(2) Even on a reduced income, I was still saving a good chunk of my income, just not as much as before.


(3) By remaining employed, my shares of employer stock continued growing a lot in value in those 7 years. This was crucial because when that blob of money grew to my "number," I was able to ER.

 

[RunningBum]

I worked part time the last couple of years. 4 hour days, flexible time. They preferred that to me being gone for days or weeks at a time so I'd be available if any customer situations got hot. I know some people would rather have longer blocks off, but it worked well for me because I don't travel too much. It gave me time most days to ski a few hours at the very nearby ski hill, golf, go for a run, do errands, or whatever, usually at a convenient time. When I wanted to travel, I only needed to use 4 hours/day PTO time. I was earning PTO at half the rate too, but I had plenty of hours banked.

At this point I was in OMY mode, but I like the buffer it gave me. I never went back to figure out where I'd be if I'd have just left instead of gone PT, but I suspect I wouldn't be sleeping quite as well.

 

[IMATERP]

I picked up a part-time side hustle about 4 months after I FIRED. I average 10 - 12 hours a week and always have the flexibility to get time off based on travel, doctors appts, etc.

I proctor formal examinations (licenses, accreditations) at a local testing facility four miles from home. Just enough for discretionary cash + it allows me to earn enough to contribute to my Roth.

I average 2 shifts per week and each shift consists of 5 or 6 hours.

I

 

[tb001]

I moved down to 75% and am working 100% from home. It basically means I work Mon-Thurs. It’s been hard to balance the feeling of ‘stepping backwards’ in my career but it’s a huge plus from a lifestyle perspective.

As long as I stay at 75% I get full healthcare benefits and can still contribute to 401k etc. We’ll see how long they let me keep this up, but so far it’s a great compromise. With a small swing in the markets, we make or lose more in our investment accounts than I make in salary. We likely have ‘enough’ to pull the plug now, but 15% more would give us a nice cushion. Going part time let’s us pay our expenses and still add to savings, while not touching the nest egg. Hopefully we can see enough growth in the next 5 years to hit our ‘easy’ number. If not, probably good to have kept the income coming in anyway...

 

[ER Eddie]

I've worked PT for a little over a year now. At first, the reduction from FT was wonderful. I really enjoyed the increased freedom and free time.

However, as time has gone on, PT has seemed less and less attractive to me, as a sustainable option. I find myself chafing at the bit, wanting the "real thing" (full retirement), rather than a 50% solution. It feels like I've got one foot in and one foot out. I want to be "all in," fully retired. So I'm planning on pulling the plug in about 8 months. PT was a nice experiment, but I don't want to stay there.

 

[Red Badger]

My role involved extensive global travel. as I got older, that was one of the reasons I chose to walk the plank.

I considered consulting, but didn't need the money. Also, I never wanted another project deadline in my life. The last one is in God's hands.

My other thought was handing out paint and power tools at the local big box. Again, don't need the cash and I'm an introvert. Customers would eventually stress me.

We have a couple of modest pensions and are less dependent on the whims of the markets than others. But our portfolio is still important for us. That's where our "beer money" resides.

So, while not for me, any lurkers here would do well to consider moving from a FT to a PT role if that is an option.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I got bored after being fully retired for 7 months.

 

[Katsmeow]

When I went in to retire, I was asked to continue working one day a week only on things I wanted to work on. I did that awhile eventually working up to about 2 days a week. Then we moved to a place that was a good hour from my office and I went in and tried to fully retire again. This time I was offered the ability to work entirely from home. That is 6 years ago. Since then I kept doing that although the work has slowly dwindled down over the years as I really was doing more to help out a colleague than because I needed to do it. Still, I've kept doing a little bit and it really doesn't interfere at all.

I must admit that I have at times just thought about getting a real part-time job on something totally unrelated to my field, just for fun. Of course, I probably wouldn't like being tied down but the idea of just doing something totally different is kind of interesting to me. Realistically though I would want something more flexible.

 

[iloveyoga]

I have worked PT for my son's heating and cooling business for five years. About 10 hours per week, mostly from home. It really helps with our insurance costs since we are not Medicare age quite yet. I have also really enjoyed working with my son.

 

[youbet]

Here is a question for all you smart people out there. Seems that most folks have jobs that require them to be either all in or all out ie. there is not a viable part-time option. How would a part-time option affect your retirement plans? Example:Take 20 weeks off/year in lieu of full retirement.

Working 32 weeks per year ( or any other example OP might toss out) would suck! Both DW and I strongly prefer having absolutely zero work commitments to allow for spontaneous travel and other activities. We’ve been fully FIRE’d 12 yrs (me) and 16 yrs (her) and love it this way. Others need to do things to their own tastes, of course.

 

[Jerry1]

I've worked PT for a little over a year now. At first, the reduction from FT was wonderful. I really enjoyed the increased freedom and free time.

However, as time has gone on, PT has seemed less and less attractive to me, as a sustainable option. I find myself chafing at the bit, wanting the "real thing" (full retirement), rather than a 50% solution. It feels like I've got one foot in and one foot out. I want to be "all in," fully retired. So I'm planning on pulling the plug in about 8 months. PT was a nice experiment, but I don't want to stay there.

I found this to be the case also. I worked PT for two years. Once I started PT it was great, but it quickly became something that made me want to work less and retire sooner. Once I got a taste of not working on every workday, coupled with the realization that I was actually FI, it got harder and harder to go to work even just the three days per week that I was working. It didn’t hurt to pad the portfolio, but after two years I was done and I worked in a good situation and would have been allowed to work PT as long as I wanted.

 

[tb001]

I found this to be the case also. I worked PT for two years. Once I started PT it was great, but it quickly became something that made me want to work less and retire sooner. Once I got a taste of not working on every workday, coupled with the realization that I was actually FI, it got harder and harder to go to work even just the three days per week that I was working. It didn’t hurt to pad the portfolio, but after two years I was done and I worked in a good situation and would have been allowed to work PT as long as I wanted.

I can totally see how this would be the case. We have young kids, so it’s not the work piece that hampers our ability to travel. I have tons I want to do and work feels like it gets in the way of that, but if we can pad the portfolio a little more (or not withdraw) that helps.

For me, it helps to be able to be concrete about what the extra $ is doing. We just relocated and have a few big projects we want to do on the house. So my salary dollars are earmarked for these. When we no longer have those projects, it’s going to be a lot harder to stick with it, assuming the market is doing ok...

 

[Music Lover]

I would rather work full time for a shorter period of time than work part time for more years.

 

[tb001]

I would rather work full time for a shorter period of time than work part time for more years.

In general, I agree with this. For us right now it's a variation of OMY syndrome. The additional $ from PT to FT isn't really enough to take much time off the table--it's dwarfed by market gains or losses in our portfolio.

Hopefully by being PT and covering some extras and basic expenses, we're padding the portfolio a bit and letting the market play out so we minimize any SOR risk. If we were already at our 'easy' number, I would quit yesterday!

 

[simple girl]

I've worked part-time for many years now while DH has worked FT. In 2019 the plan is for hubby to retire fully (so excited - and nervous!). I am going to retire from my part-time teaching job. I told them yesterday that I am not coming back after this semester. It was a great feeling!

I set myself up to start a part-time business in 2019 as a "fall back plan" in case we might need a bit extra cash. I will treat patients privately in their homes (I am a physical therapist). I plan to only see one or two patients maximum a week and take long summers off (May to Sept) for travel.

If we end up not needing the extra cash I will be happy to fully retire with hubby.