NW-Bound
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2008
- Messages
- 35,712
Well, I am among the few who still work part-time. I am fortunate to be in a position where I still work in the same area that I spent my career in. For me, the benefits of working part-time are the following.
1) It pays well. We can live without this extra money, but being frugal all our lives, we need a LOT of margin to feel safe. Ever since my wife stays home and brings in no money, she has become even more averse to spending, for fear of having to go back to work. I don't know if she would rather sell a kidney (like Khan) than go back to work, but since my work pays well, I am the one to do it. The money would allow splurging on toys and travels. As I have become the spendthrift, I need to "show" her the money.
2) I actually ENJOY the work. Though it has to do with electronics, it does not really have a counterpart in consumer electronics, meaning that I cannot play at home doing the same as a hobby. I have always enjoyed my work, but more freedom from the BS megacorp bureaucracy allows me to concentrate more on my work.
3) It allows me to keep up-to-date. Why, you might wonder. Well, it is an intellectual challenge, just like anything else. And if people pay you for your time, it's tough to say no.
4) It allows me to maintain contacts with people in the same field. I like to talk shop with some of them.
I have seen some older guys still working at megacorps way past their useful professional lives. I politely and tactfully asked why they still came to work - I suspected that their reasons were not financial. One of them responded that he needed to get away from his wife, who also felt the same. Good grief! We never felt that way towards each other, or at least my wife has hidden that feeling well!
PS. wrote liver while I meant kidney.
1) It pays well. We can live without this extra money, but being frugal all our lives, we need a LOT of margin to feel safe. Ever since my wife stays home and brings in no money, she has become even more averse to spending, for fear of having to go back to work. I don't know if she would rather sell a kidney (like Khan) than go back to work, but since my work pays well, I am the one to do it. The money would allow splurging on toys and travels. As I have become the spendthrift, I need to "show" her the money.
2) I actually ENJOY the work. Though it has to do with electronics, it does not really have a counterpart in consumer electronics, meaning that I cannot play at home doing the same as a hobby. I have always enjoyed my work, but more freedom from the BS megacorp bureaucracy allows me to concentrate more on my work.
3) It allows me to keep up-to-date. Why, you might wonder. Well, it is an intellectual challenge, just like anything else. And if people pay you for your time, it's tough to say no.
4) It allows me to maintain contacts with people in the same field. I like to talk shop with some of them.
I have seen some older guys still working at megacorps way past their useful professional lives. I politely and tactfully asked why they still came to work - I suspected that their reasons were not financial. One of them responded that he needed to get away from his wife, who also felt the same. Good grief! We never felt that way towards each other, or at least my wife has hidden that feeling well!
PS. wrote liver while I meant kidney.