Working more hours to retire early.

[Baron235]

Let's say you have a projected retirement date of 10 years.  Would you work an additional 8 hours a week to cut that down to 8 years or 7? Let's assume you are working 40 hours a week. IOW 9 to 5 type job.

[giggles]

I have gone back on forth on this one - sometimes I pick up overtime, sometimes I just can't stand being in the office another second.  I am on an OT kick right now before I head out on maternity leave, but I go in and out of putting in for OT and just loving being able to leave on time!

[samburger]

I have a very similar opportunity, and I don't take it.

I can pick up some light contracting work for 10 hours/week that would put me ahead like $20-25k/yr. It would wildly accelerate FIRE for me, but I don't seem to be doing it…

My FT job pays well, its super flexible, and it's only very occasionally stressful. I'm not willing to sacrifice my hobbies and time with my wife when I'm so comfortable and happy in the FIRE-friendly life I live now.

[MustacheMatt]

I think this was mentioned in Your Money or Your Life, and I agreed with their sentiment.  Working extra to achieve financial independence isn't a sacrifice, however sacrificing to work those extra hours is a problem.

If you were going to spend that time sitting around doing nothing, yes work a little more now!  If you're missing of time with family, or skipping out on other irreplaceable life moments don't do it.

[sheepstache]

I think this was mentioned in Your Money or Your Life, and I agreed with their sentiment.  Working extra to achieve financial independence isn't a sacrifice, however sacrificing to work those extra hours is a problem.

If you were going to spend that time sitting around doing nothing, yes work a little more now!  If you're missing of time with family, or skipping out on other irreplaceable life moments don't do it.

I think that's a good way to put it.  Wanting to be FI has actually caused me to be more ambitious in taking side work than I had been.  My free time is often not used well, and that factors in.  Plus working the side jobs makes me better at my main job.  Plus the side jobs increase my network if I want to drop to freelance only at any point.  So those are factors to consider.

[jrhampt]

I used to work side jobs, but once my income from my main job increased to the point that anything I could do from side jobs is only worth a small fraction of my hourly pay from my main job, it didn't seem worth it to me anymore.

[arebelspy]

I haven't run the scenario on your particular hours and such, but in general my answer to the question is yes.

(For example, my wife and I, as teachers, tutor after school, do Saturday school at times, teach Summer School, etc. etc.)

One of our sayings is that we "work hard now to be lazy later."

[Bateaux]

I busted butt working lots of OT for 22 years.  I may be able to retire at 50 but I'll have woked the hours of someone much older in a 40 hour week job.

[Baron235]

I think this was mentioned in Your Money or Your Life, and I agreed with their sentiment.  Working extra to achieve financial independence isn't a sacrifice, however sacrificing to work those extra hours is a problem.

If you were going to spend that time sitting around doing nothing, yes work a little more now!  If you're missing of time with family, or skipping out on other irreplaceable life moments don't do it.

Either way you will miss family time.  Now or later.  Work now you miss out those 8 hours a week for 8 years which is 2644 hours.  If you don't work extra you miss out on more hours  (but different hours) when you work two years longer (3840 hours).   

[mm1970]

Let's say you have a projected retirement date of 10 years.  Would you work an additional 8 hours a week to cut that down to 8 years or 7? Let's assume you are working 40 hours a week. IOW 9 to 5 type job.

Well, in my industry, and mathematically, technically a 40 hour a week job is 8-to-5 (you know, unpaid lunch break).

The answer is no.

I have worked 48 hours a week, on average per week, for several years in the past.  But I am salaried so I don't get paid extra.  At the time, I was being rewarded with raises.  Those aren't happening at my current company, so I try to stick to 40 (but I did just hit 41 the last two weeks).  Actually, this last pay period was the first full working pay period I had since September.

8 hours a week, 48 weeks a year, that's almost 10 extra work weeks a year.  In 8 years, that's 80 weeks of working extra, all to retire 104 weeks early.  Doesn't seem like a good trade to me.  Especially since I have small children.  I'd rather spend time with them now.

[arebelspy]

8 hours a week, 48 weeks a year, that's almost 10 extra work weeks a year.  In 8 years, that's 80 weeks of working extra, all to retire 104 weeks early.  Doesn't seem like a good trade to me.  Especially since I have small children.  I'd rather spend time with them now.

Really?  I'd think anything break even or better is a good trade (I.e. 80 now to shave 80 later is even, with your example you gain 24 free weeks).  The young kids thing does skew it.

[imustachemystash]

I think it depends on how much you like your job and how much time you want to be away from family.  I work part time even though we could live off my husband's salary so we can retire sooner.

[phred]

if the overtime is tacked onto the regular work day,then I probably would; it's just an hour or two & I get to skip rush-hour traffic.   If it means coming in on a Saturday, then it depends: do I have small children I need to take fishing, am I going to Saturday classes to improve my DIY skills, will it help write 'finished' to an arduous task we've all been working on?

[frugally]

If it's at the same company, I would say yes.  Working extra often opens up additional advancement opportunities that could probably cut that to five or six years.  Outside of the same company, it would depend on whether or not I liked the work.

[FuckRx]

I haven't run the scenario on your particular hours and such, but in general my answer to the question is yes.

(For example, my wife and I, as teachers, tutor after school, do Saturday school at times, teach Summer School, etc. etc.)

One of our sayings is that we "work hard now to be lazy later."

I think coming from teachers this advice right here should be strongly taken into account because teachers tend create more work for themselves as they work more hours. So I commend you and the wife for picking up extra, that's pretty hard work.

[arebelspy]

Yeah, but it's fun, so we can't complain.

[sleepyguy]

For me, I try not to...can't rewind back clock on my kids youth.  Although some side jobs so come along on some weekends that come up that I do take.

[Insanity]

8 hours a week, 48 weeks a year, that's almost 10 extra work weeks a year.  In 8 years, that's 80 weeks of working extra, all to retire 104 weeks early.  Doesn't seem like a good trade to me.  Especially since I have small children.  I'd rather spend time with them now.

Really?  I'd think anything break even or better is a good trade (I.e. 80 now to shave 80 later is even, with your example you gain 24 free weeks).  The young kids thing does skew it.

It does actually skew it.  But it depends on what they are doing.  I don't want to miss out on a lot of team stuff or opportunities to teach them. 

This comes from someone who is currently working two contracts so effectively am working two jobs.  I'm also interviewing for a consulting job that would require travel (not sure I would take it even if they make an offer).

That said, put the extra hours in now, since I work from home and can manage them and spend time with the kids.  In 3-4 years?  I probably will not be so willing.

[travelbug]

Yep. We have done this pretty much all our lives.

We have our own business, so it's a given to get ahead.

I understand the life balance, but FI is a goal and, especially before we had children, we worked a lot to gain this independence.

For me it was worth it.

[happy]

When I was in my 20s I worked a lot of overtime. Wasn't frugal, didn't think about FIRE.  But if I knew then what I know now, I would have stashed like crazy.

If I work many more hours than I do now, then the taxman will keep 45c for each dollar I make... I judge that not to be worthwhile for the extra angst involved. But if I were in my 20s again I would do it and go for FI before I had kids.

[MrsPete]

I haven't run the scenario on your particular hours and such, but in general my answer to the question is yes.

(For example, my wife and I, as teachers, tutor after school, do Saturday school at times, teach Summer School, etc. etc.)

One of our sayings is that we "work hard now to be lazy later."

Also a teacher, and I'll say no.  I just had an opportunity to pick up an extra, after-hours class, and that extra two hours a day killed me.  I was exhausted by the time I reached home.  I was glad to finish that project and drop back to just my regular job.  Also, I've taught Summer School, and it made the next school year seem sooooo long. 

I've decided I'll gladly take on a seasonal job here or there, but "more of the same" isn't a good choice for me -- it seemed to sap my creativity and made me less effective in my classroom. 

I think one big question in this issue is, Do you have children?  If you're working extra hours for yourself, that's one thing.  But if you're coming home and taking care of your children, it may well be too much. 

[mcneally]

I don't have the option to work OT at my job but wouldn't want it and haven't really sought other opportunities for two reasons. 1) Marginal taxes- I'd be paying ~38% (including state & FICA). 2) Marginal utility of free time- Personally I don't really even have an interest in ER because I'd get bored, but ESR is very appealing. I do have the option to work part time at my current job and working 3 days a week would more than cover my expenses. My tentative plan is to cut down to 3 or 4 days when I'm 35 and have a few hundred $k saved up and I'm sure I don't want kids. If you have plans that require huge chunks of time (e.g. long-term travel) or want to get FI before kids it may make sense to work more hours when younger so you can retire earlier, but otherwise it seems sub-optimal.

[b4u2]

I am working overtime now to pay off debt and get to the point to start saving for FI. Sad part is I have been with this company for 15 years and worked a lot of overtime off and on and have just about nothing to show for it.

Since finding this forum I have new resolve and new goals. So working more overtime now so that I can enjoy more later on.

[nereo]

Let's say you have a projected retirement date of 10 years.  Would you work an additional 8 hours a week to cut that down to 8 years or 7? Let's assume you are working 40 hours a week. IOW 9 to 5 type job.

Personally, I would work more than 40 hours under the following conditions:
1) i received overtime pay at the standard 1.5x (working for the same company)
2) if I could work the same 5 days/week (starting earlier and/or finishing later). 

Under those circumstances I'd happily work 48 hours/week in order to get closer to FI faster. By my calculations I would see >25% increase in takehome pay, but the reality is I  could putall of that increase into savings (since I would keep my spending constant).  I'd imagine I could cut more than 3 years off my FI timeline, in this hypothetical scenario.

[Hotstreak]

I absolutely put in extra hours when there's enough work to be done.  I'm on salary so don't get extra pay at the time, but by doing higher quality work and more volume of work I get a bigger Y/E bonus and am in a better position to be promoted.  I want to go ahead and put the extra hours in now, while I am young and no family, and I plan to then dial things back when I have other priorities.