I feel that there are two options for increasing freedom in my life.
- Grind out money at an office over the next 8 years and retire early
- Give up the full time job and work 20 hrs a week and live off of that
I need help weighing the pros and cons of each of these options.
My SituationI am an early 30s engineer and I have saved up ~100k
I have a 70% savings rate and spend about 20-24k a year including rent (10k/yr)
I also have a spouse who makes near what I do and is willing to support me indefinitely (I don't want this to happen)
So at this point I am trying to decide whether I want to continue working full time and getting to a nest egg of around 600k
- or -
I could stop working full time right now and switch to 20 hours a week.
I would most likely have to change jobs and start my own business consulting (I've done this before) and if I can lock down gigs for 20hrs a week I will be making about 65-75% of what I currently make as a full time employee.
At this rate I could live off of only 20 weeks of work a year, but if I go this route I will most likely work all year round so I can continue saving. The issue is that it is much tougher to find companies that are looking for part time consultants. I do have quite a good network in my industry and will be able to use that to establish work for a while. My big worry with this part time approach is that it may take 15+ years to reach that 600k goal and will I be able to find part time gigs for 15+ years or will I start being seen as unqualified because I haven't worked a full time job in a long time? Note that if I go this part time route, retiring early will not be as important to me and if I can't do it until I'm 60 then that may be fine.
I realize this is a bit different as this isn't entirely about retiring early but increasing the amount of freedom I have in my life. I see part time work as being able to reach that freedom much sooner while still making enough to save 30-50% of my income.
What do you think? Is part time work a viable alternative to FIRE?