Poll: There is no place for retirement anymore?

[Surewhitey]

But, never say never . Offer me a job that is no more than 8 hours a week, which I can do from my home, requires no travel, where the work is reviewing something others have written/designed and providing input/assessment, and pay me at least $100/hour, and I will think about it .

This is what I try to do. Probably averaging $80, but this week has been closer to $100...doing what I enjoy and at my own pace.

I do get to meet a lot of people in the neighborhood and take vacas pretty generously & DW stays happy.

 

[Time2]

I'm at 37 times, with a spending a little over $60k. We can access SS anytime, but I hope to wait 3 more years and we will collect about $55k.
Not a chance I'd go back to work. If I let her, my wife can find way more work than I want.

 

[neihn]

RE'ed in 2018, got a call from mega corp in June 2020. It has been > 2 years full time WFH, no travel, great pay.

The original plan was working until COVID is over, however, I find myself still enjoying the works and mega corp assures me that I could take long breaks or vacations (of course without pay). So I am going to stay a little longer.

I failed RE . Am I the only one here?

 

[Koolau]

RE'ed in 2018, got a call from mega corp in June 2020. It has been > 2 years full time WFH, no travel, great pay.

The original plan was working until COVID is over, however, I find myself still enjoying the works and mega corp assures me that I could take long breaks or vacations (of course without pay). So I am going to stay a little longer.

I failed RE . Am I the only one here?

It's not failure if you are enjoying something that you happen to be paid for!

 

[Out of Steam]

Should not last pretty long. Economies normally recover from a recession in a year or two.

Unfortunately, inflation tends to be stickier and longer-lasting than recession. Though it's still possible that inflation could fall if we get past supply chain disruptions in the next few months.

 

[NW-Bound]

With a WR of less than 1%, if I go back to work it has to be interesting work, which pays well too.

The places where I worked had that. Unfortunately, there was that megacorp Dilbert malaise that took the fun out of whatever I tried to do.

Nope, too much grief for the fun that it brought. And they could not pay me enough.

Not enough fun to cancel out the hassle, and not enough money. No work.

 

[yakers]

RE'ed in 2018, got a call from mega corp in June 2020. It has been > 2 years full time WFH, no travel, great pay.

The original plan was working until COVID is over, however, I find myself still enjoying the works and mega corp assures me that I could take long breaks or vacations (of course without pay). So I am going to stay a little longer.

I failed RE . Am I the only one here?

The point is FI > RE

 

[friar1610]

There are many reasons given by those upthread that pertain to me - too old, skills atrophy, lack of desire, other interests, don’t anticipate needing to financially, etc., etc. So my answer is a very emphatic NO. (This doesn’t exclude a potential new volunteer gig in the fall, but that’s not what you were asking).

 

[DektolMan]

not a chance!!!!!!

 

[Out of Steam]

Another factor is that 35% or more in combined Federal, State, and Social Security taxes take most of the financial incentive out of working for low to moderate wages. The tax rates are strictly additive for someone taking the Federal standard deduction.

Most people working for under $20 an hour out of necessity aren't paying significant Federal income taxes.

 

[Raygun99]

Stopped fulltime work MEGA Corp age 57 butttt started PT career prepareing TAX J-April. Always had age 70 pegged as RMD stop year but when RMD moved to 72 I "extended" I am sure I could quit but I enjoy the clients and the challenge.. I gues its not clasified as work?

 

[O2Bfree]

When I retired in August of 2019, I still liked my work and thought maybe I'd do a little contracting if a good opportunity fell in my lap. When the market took that dip I panicked a little and considered looking for some work, even though my portfolio dropped only about half as much as I'd planned for in my worst-case scenario. After the bounce I went back to thinking about maybe a little contract work. But those thoughts faded, and by the time an ex-coworker did contact me about a short-term job, I was totally "Nahhh."

 

[chilkoot]

Oh, hell no.

 

[COcheesehead]

If you have to return to work, you had a bad plan and probably should not have retired.

 

[RobbieB]

Yup. Bad planning or bad luck.

 

[jastew]

I guess I'm in the severe minority. I went back to work part time in Apr after being retired nearly 2 years. I have enough $ and had plenty to do, I just felt like I was wasting my life not being productive.


Crazy thing is, I've been dreaming of retirement since I was in my mid 30s (62 now). But after a lot of introspection, I learned it wasn't working I hated, it was being in charge. I've been a manager/director/leader of something since my mid 20s and that constantly being responsible for cost/schedule/performance was exhausting.


My old workplace, specifically a guy who used to work for me, asked me to come back part time as a worker bee. I've been back nearly 3 months now and it's an entirely different experience. I'm in charge of only my workload and can structure my hours as I wish. I don't dread going in and I hate to say I missed the workplace connections. Another shocking revelation since I'm a severe introvert.


Bonus - they're paying me just shy of 85% of what I was making full time just 2 years ago!


Not sure how long I'll stay but for now I'm enjoying it and getting paid pretty well.

 

[Yipee-Ki-O]

If the current rate of inflation is enough to require you to return to work then you had insufficient funds to retire.

 

[skyking1]

I guess I'm in the severe minority. I went back to work part time in Apr after being retired nearly 2 years. I have enough $ and had plenty to do, I just felt like I was wasting my life not being productive.


Crazy thing is, I've been dreaming of retirement since I was in my mid 30s (62 now). But after a lot of introspection, I learned it wasn't working I hated, it was being in charge. I've been a manager/director/leader of something since my mid 20s and that constantly being responsible for cost/schedule/performance was exhausting.


My old workplace, specifically a guy who used to work for me, asked me to come back part time as a worker bee. I've been back nearly 3 months now and it's an entirely different experience. I'm in charge of only my workload and can structure my hours as I wish. I don't dread going in and I hate to say I missed the workplace connections. Another shocking revelation since I'm a severe introvert.


Bonus - they're paying me just shy of 85% of what I was making full time just 2 years ago!


Not sure how long I'll stay but for now I'm enjoying it and getting paid pretty well.

your re-work was not related to the economy. Glad you are happier, maybe next time you decide to retire it will stick and for *your* right reasons.

 

[Aerides]

Crazy thing is, I've been dreaming of retirement since I was in my mid 30s (62 now). But after a lot of introspection, I learned it wasn't working I hated, it was being in charge. I've been a manager/director/leader of something since my mid 20s and that constantly being responsible for cost/schedule/performance was exhausting.

I can totally understand that. It was the about that point where the stress of that kind of responsibility came home at night that I started thinking of ER. Even WAH didn't help because the job was always in my head.

Being a well paid worker bee would have been a far different situation.

 

[Time2]

If the current rate of inflation is enough to require you to return to work then you had insufficient funds to retire.

While I agree, this inflation is costly, just because of 8.6% inflation I have lost $215,000. And it's not like I really haven't lost it if you don't sell, this is real purchasing power. Now, the other 20% I am down because of market prices, is bad, but I have been around long enough to have been through 2000 and 2008, so expect I recovery.


What would happen if we had 3 years of 8.6% inflation and you had retired on the proverbial $1M, First year inflation brings your purchasing power to $914,000, second year, $835,946 and by the end of the third year, your purchasing power is reduced to $763,552.
Now your your $40,000 only the purchasing power of $32,480. Also, the purchasing power of your nest egg does not include any withdrawals, that is another $120,000 reduction in the nest egg, nor does it include the 20% market drop we had.

This inflation needs to be tamed sooner rather than later.

 

[Music Lover]

But, never say never . Offer me a job that is no more than 8 hours a week, which I can do from my home, requires no travel, where the work is reviewing something others have written/designed and providing input/assessment, and pay me at least $100/hour, and I will think about it .

A friend was having a hard time finding someone to install LVP and new baseboards and casing in his kitchen. One person wanted $2500!! He finally asked me if I was interested and he said he'd pay me.

It took me about 14 hours over 2 days, he paid me $1000 and said it was well worth it.

Small jobs like that are the only thing I'll do and I'm very picky about it...if it's complicated, time consuming, if there's a potential for error, or if i just don't feel like it then I won't do it. I've since installed a new dishwasher for him and will be installing a new counter and sink shortly.

But to actually get a "regular" job, it's a hard NO.

 

[jastew]

I can totally understand that. It was the about that point where the stress of that kind of responsibility came home at night that I started thinking of ER. Even WAH didn't help because the job was always in my head.

Being a well paid worker bee would have been a far different situation.

Same here. I can't count the number of times (high double digits) I would wake up at 2 am thinking about work, lie there awhile trying to shut it off, and finally getting up and going into the office before 4 am. No way to live.

 

[Koolau]

A friend was having a hard time finding someone to install LVP and new baseboards and casing in his kitchen. One person wanted $2500!! He finally asked me if I was interested and he said he'd pay me.

It took me about 14 hours over 2 days, he paid me $1000 and said it was well worth it.

Small jobs like that are the only thing I'll do and I'm very picky about it...if it's complicated, time consuming, if there's a potential for error, or if i just don't feel like it then I won't do it. I've since installed a new dishwasher for him and will be installing a new counter and sink shortly.

But to actually get a "regular" job, it's a hard NO.

Heh, heh, I'm sure you're working with your tax guy (girl) to forward the appropriate taxes, etc.

But seriously, this is how folks get sucked back into the w*rk-a-day world. You do a good j*b at a fair price and suddenly everyone wants your service. Then again, if you enjoy it, it's not really w*rk.

 

[mystang52]

Every so often when I see a sign "Now Hiring!" outside a business, I think that "gee, I wouldn't mind working there." But that's a Pavlovian reflex after a lifetime of working. One second later I remember how glorious these last 9+ years have been and blissful reality returns. Even if, by some quirk of temporary insanity, I did find and land a part-time job, I'd last maybe one day.
Either I'd quit, or I'd be fired [lower case fired].

 

[38Chevy454]

This inflation needs to be tamed sooner rather than later.

Until gov't policy changes, little will change. I'm hoping the end of the year will be better than the beginning of the year; something about elections causing politicians to see things differently