Professional licenses and FIRE?

[ZiziPB]

What do mustachians do with their professional licenses when they FIRE?  I'm a lawyer admitted in 2 states and trying to decide if I want/need to maintain my licenses to practice in effect.  It costs money and may require keeping up with CLE requirements, which will be extremely difficult for me since I am moving out of the country when I FIRE. 

[dude]

What do mustachians do with their professional licenses when they FIRE?  I'm a lawyer admitted in 2 states and trying to decide if I want/need to maintain my licenses to practice in effect.  It costs money and may require keeping up with CLE requirements, which will be extremely difficult for me since I am moving out of the country when I FIRE.

My state doesn't require CLE's and only costs me $75/year to keep current, so I'll probably keep it just in case (though I don't plan to practice law ever again when I FIRE in 2.5 years).

[boarder42]

i'm a PE i'll probably pay the small fee to keep it current for at least the first few years incase i decide to do some contract work.

[Field123]

I will likely keep my law license current. However, at least in my state - you can let it expire and then bring it back into good standing by paying the fee for all the inactive years. Could get expensive, but at least you're not paying until you need it.

For CLE's, my State Bar Association provides classes online for free.

[ZiziPB]

Thanks all.  It sounds like people generally keep their licenses as a backup.

Looking in detail at the requirements in CT, it appears that I can file for revocable retirement which would exempt me from payment of the occupational tax, the client account fee and CLE requirements.  I would still have to register annually but I don't believe there is a registration payment (have to look into it as my employer now pays all of these).  Given all of that it makes sense to file a revocable retirement notice as that would allow me to get reinstated at any time.

My other state is NY which is a bit more complicated.  I can either retire and be exempted from all payment and CLE requirements or I can continue paying the registration fee ($375 every 2 years) but be exempt from CLE requirements by virtue of not practicing in NY.  Unlike CT, NY doesn't specify revocable versus permanent retirement.  I need to find out if the retirement in NY can be revoked.  Otherwise, I need to continue paying the fee.

[Spitfire]

I plan to hang on to my CPA even after FIRE. There are so many ways to get CE credits online that it should not be a challenge even if I were to move abroad.

[attackgnome]

Anyone now how this works for licensed PEs?

[boarder42]

Anyone now how this works for licensed PEs?

what do you mean.

[attackgnome]

Anyone now how this works for licensed PEs?

what do you mean.

What are the requirements to maintain a professional engineering license during FIRE including, but not limited to, continuing education, licensing fees, etc.

I would imagine it is highly state specific.

[boarder42]

Anyone now how this works for licensed PEs?

what do you mean.

What are the requirements to maintain a professional engineering license during FIRE including, but not limited to, continuing education, licensing fees, etc.

I would imagine it is highly state specific.

correct. very state specific as all of those are options are state specific.  the requirements to maintain a license whether FIREd or not are the same.  so just look up your state.

[pbkmaine]

My CPA is on inactive status in NJ. I can re-activate it by writing a letter and showing proof of CPEs. My CFP(r) is still active, but between the CFP Board of Standards licensing and FPA dues (good source of CPEs) costs me almost $1,000 per year. I still work very part time, and use the CFP(r), but am undecided about whether to renew in 2 years.

[totoro]

I've retained a pt licence to practice law.  As for continuing education, we have access to free online courses that take a few hours but can be repeated each year.  I don't think I will give up my licence for several years given how difficult it is to requalify.

[Optimus Primal]

some professional licenses have a lower rate for people not in the workforce, e.g. the CFA charter.

[dude]

Thanks all.  It sounds like people generally keep their licenses as a backup.

Looking in detail at the requirements in CT, it appears that I can file for revocable retirement which would exempt me from payment of the occupational tax, the client account fee and CLE requirements.  I would still have to register annually but I don't believe there is a registration payment (have to look into it as my employer now pays all of these).  Given all of that it makes sense to file a revocable retirement notice as that would allow me to get reinstated at any time.

Interesting, thanks!  I'm barred in CT.

[Ozstache]

Just before I FIREd, I made sure all professional certifications were up to date and would run for at least a year as a contingency in case retirement was not for me. Since then, I have let them naturally expire as it turns out that retirement really is for me!

[happy]

I'm not FIREd yet, but know I won't easily be able to keep up my licences as  there is now requirement to practice a certain number of hours per year and the CPD requirement would be albeit impossible to meet out of the workforce. You're either in or out. Once you're out trying to get back in is onerous. I am planning my exit in such a way as to optimise using up leave on half pay ( which will reduce tax) and working til the end of my registration period so I don't waste the money.

[Cassie]

I have let mine go but I don't need them for what I am doing on a p.t. basis now. My DH has a PE that he keeps so he can do consulting work when he wants to.

[arebelspy]

The wife and I are letting our teaching licenses expire.

Most backup plans we have that involve teaching would be overseas, where having a current teaching license isn't a necessity.

We decided that the chance we'll need to get down to our 13th backup plan or whatever (teaching in the US) is small enough, odds-wise, that the requirements to keep it up (small monetarily, for the license, medium monetarily for the continuing education classes, big time-wise in terms of the classes) were not worth it.

That's how I'd recommend calculating it... what backup plan number is going back to work?  Is it plan A?  Or plan Q?  And is it required for all types of work you'd be doing (e.g. can you consult without it), and how long until you can decide you won't need that as a backup anymore?  And how likely is it you'll get to that backup plan (e.g. if you're already at a 2% WR, extremely unlikely, if you're at a 4.5% WR, maybe more likely).

Turn it into a math problem.  Yay!  :)

[Metric Mouse]

Yeah, in this case I wouldn't have kept mine either. The few I did have were not important, or were able to be placed on 'inactive' status while I traveled overseas. Not really a big deal, as I don't define myself by my past career.