Thanks for the post. This has raised some interesting ideas that I hadn't thought of.
My plan personally was to work full-time until I had enough to retire permanently without really much need for part-time/supplemental work.
I was just looking at what some of the numbers might look like for myself in a couple different scenarios.
For example, if I was planning to work full-time and then retire with spending annually at $35,000, then I was planning to work full-time until I had saved $1,000,000. That was my comfort level for a safe withdrawal rate in retirement. This plan would require me to work another 10 years from this point in time.
But, the numbers change slightly if I was looking to instead switch to part-time work earlier on in my career.
Since I only need about $35,000 to maintain my current standard of living in retirement, then that means I could probably work a couple days of week if I found a part-time job and earn $35,000/yr. Currently I earn a $100,000 salary.
So instead of working full time for 10 more years to reach permanent retirement, I could instead technically work full time until I save $400,000. That would only take me another 4 years, at which point I could switch to part-time work and just let that $400,000 grow and not touch it but also not pull from it. Then after working part-time until the age of ~55, I could then retire completely and my nest egg would likely have grown to about $1,000,000.
That seems like a doable option as well, but there are definitely some pros and cons to it.
Some pros would be that it seems like it would be a lot more of a flexible plan with regard to weather any economic uncertainties. Since my I'd be living off of income for a greater period of time, then my investments would be allowed to grow/decline with the economy without me having to withdraw from it for a longer period of time. It would also likely be easier to management my nest egg in retirement without having to worry about performing Roth IRA Ladders and such to minimize my tax burden in early retirement and would also likely give me a larger social security benefit once I reach that age.
Cons would be the fact that I'd be working part-time for about 17 years which might mean less job security. I feel like part-time jobs are more difficult to find, especially during economic downturns (I could be wrong about that). That might mean that if I am let go from one part-time job, it might be difficult to find another. Also, while there is more flexibility with regard to my investments weathering economic uncertainties, there would be less flexibility with regard to my income. By that I mean, it might be difficult to go from being part-time to switching back to full-time (I could be wrong there too). So I'd need to be very sure that the decision to switch to part-time is the right decision for myself.
Does any of this make sense or am I completely missing something?