any part time or semi-retired blogs out there?

[des999]

I've been doing a lot of research recently on how and if I should switch to part time work.  There are a lot of considerations outside of can I afford it.  A lot of the considerations are around ACA and whether it makes financial sense to maximize subsidies or maximize salary.  Some other considerations are withdrawing a small amount of your investments vs just living off of the part time money and letting your nest egg grow. 

I'd be happy to share my details and see if any one has suggestions or ideas for me.  If not, maybe someone knows of a blogger who is semi-retired and has ran into some of these same issues. 

[Classical_Liberal]

I dont know of any blogs specific to semi-re, but there have been many discussions on these boards about the options. 

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/semi-retirees-united/msg1171832/#msg1171832

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/work-less-hours/msg1142640/#msg1142640

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/early-semi-retirement/msg1099770/#msg1099770

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/post-fire/semi-retired-to-fully-retired/msg1124194/#msg1124194

My plan is for a semi-RE situation, feel free to PM if you're interested in exchanging general plans and bouncing ideas around.

There is enough info out on here regarding ACA to be able to make some tentative plans.  Over the long term of an extended semi-re I think it'll be more subject to the policy makers and any plans would have to be modified. My personal opinion is that with the ACA in it's infancy, we will see many changes over the next couple of decades.

[des999]

thanks for the links, I'll read through them.  Also I pm'd you. 

I would appreciate any info folks have, my initial plan is to cut way back on my contributions to retirement account, currently at 250k, with 100k in home equity.  I need between 30-35k a year, and I plan to work part time and get on ACA in the meantime.  Until my nest egg is enough to safely withdraw 30-35k a year.   My part time work would put me at about 50k, so I can put some extra in 401k to keep my MAGI where it needs to be.

[Life in Balance]

I'm pondering part-time work while letting the stash grow on its own, and my numbers are strikingly similar to yours (except my expected part-time salary would be smaller, hence probably limited contributions post part-time).  Are you counting home equity?  I'm hoping to not have to, just to have an extra layer of cover, plus I don't intend to sell for quite some time.  How long are you anticipating part-time work until you pull the plug for good?

[des999]

I'm pondering part-time work while letting the stash grow on its own, and my numbers are strikingly similar to yours (except my expected part-time salary would be smaller, hence probably limited contributions post part-time).  Are you counting home equity?  I'm hoping to not have to, just to have an extra layer of cover, plus I don't intend to sell for quite some time.  How long are you anticipating part-time work until you pull the plug for good?

I was kind of unsure what to do with home equity, but I do factor it in, if nothing else, as a nice stash in case I were in need.

I am not sure on how long I'd do the part time, I guess it would be once my SWR is 30-35k with a 4-5% rate.  I know it will take much longer to get there if I go part time, as I won't be contributing as much, but I think working part time would be a lot more enjoyable, so maybe I can do it for 10 years or so.  How long do you anticipate you'd do part time?   

[Classical_Liberal]

There are so many variables with semi-RE.  In the OP’s situation, you are cutting back your current full time work, to go from a higher savings rate to a lower savings rate. 

A big question would be age, (ie how long do you have for have 250K in 401K/to grow?)  It’s a different situation at 30 than it is at 60.  Do your due diligence regarding medical, as it is probably more important than average in your situation.  Also make sure your spending numbers are "real" and account for everything.
 
IMO, home equity in primary residence should not be counted as part of net worth in a drawdown situation.   Specifically, I mean it should not be part of your goal of 20-25X expenses in savings (4-5% WR you said earlier), unless you plan to sell.  It is already accounted for on the expense side.
 
On the withdrawal rate topic, once you have some more time in your SemiRE, I would do some research on asset allocation and find one that you can tolerate for the long haul since your contributions will be smaller going forward.   Come up with an investment policy statement to hold yourself accountable.  AA isn’t so important in a quick accumulation period, but it becomes very important in slow accumulation & drawdown.

You can always post a case study and get input from a bunch of people on here & see what they think.  When I have some time I'll PM you back with my particular situation & strategy to see what you think. 

Bottom line, IMO with a little effort you can be semi-Re very soon. I'm super jealous!

[Life in Balance]

I was kind of unsure what to do with home equity, but I do factor it in, if nothing else, as a nice stash in case I were in need.

I am not sure on how long I'd do the part time, I guess it would be once my SWR is 30-35k with a 4-5% rate.  I know it will take much longer to get there if I go part time, as I won't be contributing as much, but I think working part time would be a lot more enjoyable, so maybe I can do it for 10 years or so.  How long do you anticipate you'd do part time?

I'm also thinking around 10 years of part-time, but I'm still in the early stages of my planning as this possibility just began to seem possible about 6 months ago, and I've not had time to really run the numbers (over and over again).  I'm also a bit stumped as to what my part-time job might be.  I might be able to find something in my same field (and same employer), but if I don't, then I seem to lack creativity in seeing options outside those walls.  Been following my path too long, I guess.  Which is also a sign that I'd benefit perhaps from changing paths.  Much to think over...

ETA:  One bonus of staying at same employer is that employees over 50% time have access to insurance, retirement match, etc.  So, it's tempting, particularly since I find my job (some aspects of it) rewarding.  But I don't know how the higher-ups would respond to a part-time request. 

[startingsmall]

This is definitely my plan. My husband plans to continue working FT for a while (he just finished seminary and started FT work two years ago), but I'm looking to go to a PT/freelance arrangement ASAP.

We currently have about $180k invested. (That number does not include our home equity of about $35k.) I'm 37 yrs old and my husband is 32.

My FT job pays $80k, my husband's FT job pays $40k, and my side gig will probably total about $15-20k for this year.

Our yearly expenses are on the high side at around $55k, but will go down to $48k when my daughter starts school next year (unless we have a second kid, which is looking less likely after a year of not succeeding.... we don't have any interest in doing fertility treatments, etc).

The current plan is to go along at our current rate for one more year. I'm hoping that we can get our investments close to $225k by that time. (Hopefully closer to $250k, but I like to be conservative in my numbers and we have a few upcoming repairs/updates on this new-to-us house that we bought a few months ago.)   By my math, I could then cut down to a combination of PT/freelance work pretty easily while knowing that our investments are on autopilot. As long as we can maintain our household income at about $75k/yr, I think we'd still be on track to retire within 20 years. (At least, according to some quick math that I did a few months ago.... though I need to do a lot more double-checking before pulling the plug!)