The Joys of Semi-Retirement Thread

[pacergal]

I think many folks work during retirement, I don't think it is too unusual, especially in your early retirement days.
I went back on call for about 4-5 years. Then I knew I was done for good!

 

[Flieger]

Cool. What do you do at the brewery?

Mostly just bartending, but I have started branching out to helping with the Brewmaster and occasional legging/canning once complete. It's a very small brewery, one 7bbl system, but they keep about 15 different beers made there and a couple "guest/collab" brews on tap.

Flieger

 

[Koolau]

Koolau, Did you ever earn any side income during retirement or were you a hard-stop type? What did you do in your career, anyway? Make custom surfboards?

Just for fun, I helped reposition cars for dealers the summer after I retired. Other than that, I've never "w*rked" in retirement from being a Chemist at a Megacorp.

 

[sparky08]

I retired at 59 and didn't do anything for 6 months.

I met someone at the local ski area wearing their jacket and asked what they do. He replied "best job on the mountain!". I said "OK, I want in. "

So, I work part time at a ski area. It isn't for the money, but the perks are nice.

 

[CO-guy]

I retired at 59 and didn't do anything for 6 months.

I met someone at the local ski area wearing their jacket and asked what they do. He replied "best job on the mountain!". I said "OK, I want in. "

So, I work part time at a ski area. It isn't for the money, but the perks are nice.

Guest services at the local ski resort is part of my retirement plan. It's gotten a little less cushy with required minimum hours, but I don't mind packing in shifts during the busy holiday periods.

 

[sparky08]

Guest services at the local ski resort is part of my retirement plan. It's gotten a little less cushy with required minimum hours, but I don't mind packing in shifts during the busy holiday periods.

I do Adaptive. So, I get to ski with people who need a little extra help.

I'm required to put in 15 days to get my pass, locker, discounts, etc. But I've been putting in 35-45 days because I like it so much. So, about 2-3 days per week.

And that leaves plenty of time for non-work skiing. I've gone over 100 days of skiing each year since I've retired!

 

[HtownRose]

It'll be 9 years for me next month. The passage of the ACA got me thinking about early retirement since health insurance was always the primary barrier to my considering it. The ACA plans offered in my zip code weren't attractive, so I started thinking of going part time. Toxic boss / work culture & burning out, decided by the time I was in my 50s I wanted my job to have a much smaller footprint on my life.

Then my department hired someone who used to be a reservations rep for an airline & when he told me about it I decided that sounded like the perfect bridge-to-retirement job for me. A year or so later I was hired. Once past the training & probationary period, I've been able to take lots of time off (in addition to vacation) as long as I can get another rep to cover my hours, & when call volume is projected to be low I can take more time off. So not total flexibility, but so much better than in my previous industry. Working from home since covid.

I'll be eligible for lifetime flight benefits in 1 year & retiree medical in 3 years but I may want to stay longer, time will tell.

 

[Diogenes]

“You mean I can put some $X in something, which grows Y% per year and, BAM, I end up with more money by doing absolutely nothing more but waiting? Where do I sign up?!

Like you, my little hobby (obsession?) is the most lucrative thing I’ve ever engaged in, by far. I guess if we count studying investments for enjoyable profit as w*rk, a lot of people on this forum would be surprised to learn they are not retired!

You internalized a concept, and then cultivated a lifetime of patience. That's not really "work"... it's more like a brief spate of work, say to wind-up a clock spring, and then to watch the potential energy stored in the spring, running the mechanism.

Contrast that with daily trading or attempting to "read" technical charts or company reports. That would be work! Something like what Warren Buffett did, before he became a celebrity... in essence it's accountancy. Most of us aren't Warren... for most of us, the more profitable approach is also the lazy one.

For many of us, there comes a time when this "lazy approach" earns more annual income than our W2 or 1099. Sure, we might still work... maybe for psychological reasons, maybe for social ones. But the real remunerative part is no longer labor; it's the potential energy stored in the spring, that was first wound-up decades ago!

 

[Markola]

^^^ I’ve been a little more active with it than that but your point is good. The investments are like stored w*rk energy.

 

[Markola]

I love Mondays. I’ve made them perhaps my slowest, most self-indulgent day of the week.

 

[Ronstar]

^^^ Monday is my favorite day of the week. Very quiet. Even more so during the summer when kids are out of school. I saw more deer than cars on my morning run today.

 

[Dtail]

Don't really have a favorite day and certainly have not worked any real type of job since retirement and never will.
Have a Plan b, c, and d just in case.

 

[Aerides]

I'm technically in the "semi" category, but my work is my very-part-time-when-I-want hobby business. I started it while planning ER, knowing we'd be retiring in our 40's, I decided to do what I wanted to do when I was 7.

Most of my working time is crafting-while-netflix. And then some administrative overhead the DH helps with.

It brings in a little income, and offsets some expenses - I travel to a trade show every year and make it a partial vacation as well as I love the area it's hosted in. It lets us both contribute to 401ks, and I have a Sep-IRA as well, as we're both on the LLC and have the earned income that results. So, financially, not much work really, but lots of nice benefits.

 

[CO-guy]

I do Adaptive. So, I get to ski with people who need a little extra help.

I'm required to put in 15 days to get my pass, locker, discounts, etc. But I've been putting in 35-45 days because I like it so much. So, about 2-3 days per week.

And that leaves plenty of time for non-work skiing. I've gone over 100 days of skiing each year since I've retired!

Adaptive is awesome! However, near us, those are highly competitive positions with folks with master's degrees in physical therapy, sports rehabilitation, and other associated degrees competing over a limited number of positions.

Also, I checked my business email this morning while I ate breakfast. Then I went for a bike ride

 

[Markola]

I'm technically in the "semi" category, but my work is my very-part-time-when-I-want hobby business. I started it while planning ER, knowing we'd be retiring in our 40's, I decided to do what I wanted to do when I was 7.

Most of my working time is crafting-while-netflix. And then some administrative overhead the DH helps with.

It brings in a little income, and offsets some expenses - I travel to a trade show every year and make it a partial vacation as well as I love the area it's hosted in. It lets us both contribute to 401ks, and I have a Sep-IRA as well, as we're both on the LLC and have the earned income that results. So, financially, not much work really, but lots of nice benefits.

Sounds really nice. Having something like that is a useful component of life, I think.

Many posters here have found ways to spend a bit of their time enjoyably and also earn a bit of income. For me, it’s raising money for a habitat restoration organization, part of which involves taking major donors fly fishing and to see the work. So I’ve figured out how to get paid to fish.