I knew I could count on all of you for a laugh, and a thoughtful pause.
Cant you think of anything else you want to do?
Many many things, which I have been doing for the past five months. I have been able to restart long dormant hobbies, devote myself to a regular workout regime, and finish a bunch of projects around the house that I had been putting off.
But I'm also a family man, with daily responsibilities, so all of things I want to do have to fit into little six hour windows in the middle of weekdays. I want to hike the Pacific Crest Trail too, but that's not exactly on my agenda until after my kids are grown.
Are you able to rationalize your failed retirement by donating your wages to a worthy cause? That might help with any complicated feelings.
Even before I retired, I donated half of my 2018 wages to charity. It was a condition of delaying my retirement from civil service (which also feels like charity sometimes) for as long a I did. Since then, I have taken on a variety of volunteer gigs and "donated" my time and expertise to rescuing programs that desperately needed effective leadership. I have found these efforts to be both more difficult and simultaneously more rewarding than just cutting a bunch of $1,000 checks. Giving away money is quick and easy, when you have a lot of it. Stepping into a floundering local situation to personally try to save the cause feels more altruistic to me than just burying them in cash.
I can understand that someone wants to fatten his retirement stash. I that the real reason behind doing this? Or has it something to do with needing a sense of purpose and using your professional skills.
The money is entirely inconsequential. It will be a few thousand dollars at most, roughly a single month's spending from a stash that I expect to last more than 50 years.
The reasons for taking the job are complicated. I'm trying to make a list:
1. I have a PhD in this one little thing, and there aren't all that many people who do this one little thing who aren't already doing it full time. When a local company needs an extra person to do that thing for a while, they have a hard time scaling up. So part of the reason for taking the job is that I'm helping them out of a jam, and these are people that I like and respect. Of course, I also gouged them on the price a little bit because I knew they were in a jam, so apparently I don't like and respect them
too much.
2. Related to #1, working even a few weeks here and there is a good way to keep myself relevant in the field in case I ever do decide to go back to work. I don't plan to ever have another full time job, but then again I also didn't plan to have a part time job and yet here we are. It's nice to keep your options open, I guess?
3. I like feeling useful. They called me because I was good at certain parts of the job (and not others, obviously) and we talked about the work in a way that made me feel worthwhile and respected for my professional expertise, and like all people I am not immune to flattery. I really like the part of the job where you sit around and tell people how to do it, and I didn't like the part of the job where you sit in front a big fancy computer and actually grind through the steps. For the next three weeks I'll get to do a little of both, but they mostly hired me to do the fun parts.
None of these reasons are related to money. My investment accounts have already gained and lost more dollars in three hours of this morning's trading than I will make for three weeks of work.
it is very very attractive to show off a bit about how amazing and awesome you are
You think I'm attractive! Hooray! Sorry girl, I'm married.
In this case, this particular company needed short term backup because they sort of dug themselves into a hole. My former federal colleagues who are now furloughed can't do the work for ethical reasons, but I'm not a fed anymore. For reasons beyond everyone's control, I'm about the only person who CAN step up.
And we're both clear on this being a short-term gig, at this price. They couldn't afford to pay me this hourly wage as a full time employee, not without causing havoc with their other employees. But as a short term patch, it makes sense for them to overpay.
Considering the emphasis on money, it worries me that you may be hung up on valuing your free time vs work time in a dollar amount
I knew that taking this job would put a dent in my leisure activities, so my partner and I sat down and discussed what it would take to pull me out of retirement. Aside from the reasons listed above, we came up with a list of criteria that would make the job seem tolerable for a few weeks, including the hour cap, working from home, and an hourly wage.
When I told him how much I wanted, the phone went quiet for a few seconds and then he said he'd have to call me back. I was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to swing it, so when he called back and agreed to it I was surprised enough that I literally said "Really?!" right into the phone. I would have been happy to turn it down if he had tried to counteroffer a lower amount. So the money clearly wasn't irrelevant, but seems more about feeling valued than about the inconsequential addition to my investment accounts.
Have you earmarked that money for anything?
I worked for most of 2018, and all of that income was earmarked 50% for savings and 50% for charity. I walked away from that job, because I felt I had filled both of those buckets beyond the brim, for now. This money is likely to be my only earned income for the year, so I'll probably end up putting it all into my Roth IRA. I might peel off a grand for something fun that I wouldn't otherwise buy, like a new bike, but then I'll still put the full amount into the Roth up to the limit of my earned income. So it's kind of like I'm using that money as an excuse to transfer funds from one type of savings account to another.