Part time work or cold turkey?

[Upstate NYer]

I plan on finishing up with full time work by the end of the year. If part time work is an option, do I go for it, to ease the transition? Or do I just say the hell with it, and take the plunge? Financially I can swing it...

[Cassie]

You might want to take some time off to decompress & then see what you want to do. That's what we did & within 6 months we were both consulting p.t. in our professions.

[mandy_2002]

Are you FIRE'ing because you can or because you want to?  Do you have a plan for goals or tasks post-work? 

Your retirement is yours (or your family's) and you need to make the post-FIRE plans based on your priorities and desires.  I personally plan to do extensive volunteer work and some part time work outside of my field, but that's how my plan is working out.

[Upstate NYer]

The only reason I would work part time--money, and paid for health insurance. Maybe a more gradual transition to FIRE, too--I wouldn't have to draw down on my assets right away. But that's it--I don't love my job, the people I work with are nice but I'm sure I could find another social outlet...

[dess1313]

If you are 100% sure your reserve of money can handle early retirement and any big bumps go for it.

If you would like to practice and make sure you're set, or still earn some monies and not have to start withdrawls, keep part time.  You might find the reduction enough to cure your itch while you check things over and see how things are

Could you transfer to a P/T job where you'd be happier at, and maybe take a hit in pay, so you'd have a chance to see life on the other side of the fence? 

The paid benefits/heath insurance are considerable to some.  depends on what sort of program you'd have otherwise

[Daisy]

I was wondering the same thing recently - part time work or cold turkey?

I am currently working full-time, but have an ample number of paid days off. I have around 30 days - although this is vacation and sick time (barely use it for sick time).

This summer I started giving myself 3 day weekends to use up some days since I don't have any big trips planned, and I refuse to let any vacation time not get used and then lost in our annual rollover limit. I'm really liking these 3 day weekends and 4 day work weeks. And I'm still getting paid full time and full benefits!

I've thought about asking for 4 day or even 3 day work weeks starting next year. I am really close to FIRE but have a big home expense later this year. So I thought if I tapered the hours down and get paid 80% or 60% my salary and still full benefits, that maybe I can coast on along a few more years until I turn 50.

I'd still accumulate paid time off, but proportioned to my work schedule (so either 4/5 or 3/5 of the 30 days). Either way, it works out to 6 weeks of vacation I can take per year. If I stay full time, I wouldn't be able to take the full 6 weeks as week long time off if I wanted to do my 3 day weekends over the summer. So by going for a 4 day work week and less pay and time off, every weekend would be a 3 day weekend and I could still take 6 weeks off.

I'd probably make around $20,000 less per year (which all goes to savings anyways) by going for a 4 day part-time schedule. So I was wondering if it was better to just work another year or two, save up $20,000-40,000 more, and then fully FIRE, or ease my way to FIRE for a few years with more time off with a part-time schedule. I think a 4 or even 3 day work week (if they'd even let me do 3 days - 4 days more likely to be accepted) would be very tolerable.

I keep going back and forth on what's better. I guess delaying FIRE would mean more time for my stash to recover from some bad investments over the last couple of years. I learned my lesson and am now moving towards index funds. But going full-force full time to FIRE would mean I'd get to have 100% free time sooner. Another going part-time and slowly getting to FIRE advantage is that I don't need to worry about healthcare coverage.

Decisions, decisions...

[deborah]

I don't think that part time gives you any idea of retirement. Of course, if your idea of retirement is to have something (volunteering at the library perhaps) that you have to do 3 days a week, then part time may give you some idea of retirement. But otherwise - nope!

It has all the bad things about working - office politics, the job you hate (if you hate it), the horrible commute... And none of the great things about retirement - the lower cost lifestyle, being able to do what you want to when you want to do it (saying, it's just the right temperature to go to the beach today).

It doesn't give you any idea about what you may miss about not working - the company of your team, the accomplishment big tasks may give to you, the perks that work supplies. NOTE: I didn't miss any of these, but others have said that they do.

[patrickza]

I had an unexpected consulting opportunity pop up on my very last day in the office.  Having an interview with the project managers in about an hour.  For me, this particular thing is interesting/too good to pass up, and since it is very part time (roughly 30 days of work in the next 12 months, for around $22k in compensation), seems at least worth talking about. 

Excellent rate for very little time. If I was given that offer I'd take it and can my full time job asap!

[Upstate NYer]

Talked to my boss...I'm going half time in January.

Not RE, but getting there....

[Cassie]

Deborah, some p.t. work can have all the freedom you talk about. I consult so work from home, make my own appts, etc so am definitely in charge of my schedule. Lots of free time to do what I want.

[deborah]

Deborah, some p.t. work can have all the freedom you talk about. I consult so work from home, make my own appts, etc so am definitely in charge of my schedule. Lots of free time to do what I want.

Agreed - and that is usually one of the biggest differences. However, as a taste of what retirement will be, it still has most of the problems I talked about.

[johngoes45]

Talked to my boss...I'm going half time in January.

I talked to my boss in February to ask if I could go part time - he said, "no, we need everyone fully productive for the new project." So last month, when tasked with a stack of new assignments requiring steep ramp-up I let him know that I'd be retiring in September after my stock options vest. Two weeks later HR called me in and offered a "Transition Assistance" package equivalent to the stock option value. I took it and retired last week. I'll be doing some non-engineering contract work (kitchen rehabs and a house flip) while our investment cash flows ramp up. Outside the investments, we have enough savings to go two years without working but I would prefer to work and keep the savings for future investments.

It seems not every boss is pleased with part-time requests...

[Exflyboy]

If you do part time work you get teased horribly on this forum... This painful experience is detailed on my journal link below..:)

[deborah]

If you do part time work you get teased horribly on this forum... This painful experience is detailed on my journal link below..:)

But you don't do part time work - you work seasonally full time (or more) - and the seasons you work seem to include Winter, Summer, Autumn and Spring.

[dess1313]

people may not like the idea of PT work, but for some it may be necessary.  My job requires a magic 80, before getting a full pension without penalties.  Ive just recently found MMM but have started making goals such as saving even more and cutting costs to be able to eventually go from full time to .8eft.  After starting at full time, even working .8eft i can gain a lot of pension years and accumulate benefits, while enjoying more time off work.  Amounts to about one week off per six week schedule.  Not a bad deal to me!  Near the end of my magic 80 i'd like to go to .5 and finish it off that way.  Work can pay me to travel, play and enjoy semi-retirement and i'd still have my benefits.

[deborah]

What is a magic 80?

[dess1313]

For me to qualify for a full pension my age plus my years of work must be equal or over 80. For example I'm 30, and have worked 6.5 years already.  80-6.5-30=43.5 means that i have to add another 43.5 years of work and age together before i can retire.  that's basically 22 years of work and for me that means i could retire at about age 52.  If i had started at 40, i'd have to work until i was 60 before i'd hit my magic 80 number.

I can work past it if i choose to build up my savings.  Other wise if i end work early i taking some significant penalties.  Its not just age 55 or 60 or something like that.  People who start early, can end early, and people who start late aren't so bad. 

[deborah]

That's very generous! The nearest they come to that here is a scheme that no longer exists for public servants called 54/11 (meaning you can collect it when you are 54 + 11 months old - but you still needed to have worked for 30 or so years to collect the full amount).

[Upstate NYer]

Johngoes45--that's my backup plan. If for some reason part-time work falls through for January, my last day will be December 31. But she seemed open and receptive to the idea, at least. I will check back with her about it in the fall.

I've been working on FIRE since I was 23 (divorce at 38 sort of set things back a bit). I've always wanted to be able to travel, at a slow pace. Pick a city, stay somewhere for awhile. But I have a late-teens kid who isn't quite independent yet (special circumstances) and needs me to stick around a bit for awhile. Weekends away ok, weeks away not so much. So I thought I can do a lot of what I want other than travel (kayaking, cycling) with half days free. Plus it eases the transition between ft work and RE, allows my money to grow a bit more, etc.

[Mrs.LC]

I would rethink this question at a different angle. If you are financially set the income from PT work is just gravy. What other reasons are there to work - fear of boredom, guilt, feeling useless, need an excuse to get out of the house, etc. The beauty of FI is that you can take a PT job and then quit at anytime if you want to. There is no pressure to make the almighty buck.

Mr.LC and I both have side hustles that we do now and then. We are not under pressure to bring in an income but enjoy the social aspect of being with people from our respective fields. We both have a large "NO" button that we push when the hustles have the potential to interfere with other activities we have planned.

Don't stress about the work decision now as you may feel completely different as your end date approaches. 

[Exflyboy]

If you do part time work you get teased horribly on this forum... This painful experience is detailed on my journal link below..:)

But you don't do part time work - you work seasonally full time (or more) - and the seasons you work seem to include Winter, Summer, Autumn and Spring.

So my normal weeks have been averaging 10 to 25 hours.. with very rarely a 60+ hour week when I travel (less than 1 week each time).. Actually the Australia trip will mark my 5th trip in in almost 12 months .. so yeah about every two months I travel... Of course as I am paid hourly (and travel time is paid for) then these trips are highly profitable.

This job which is part time is all gravy and to be honest has given me a lot of enjoyment over this last year. So far it has not been stressful but I can see how it could easily become that way.

It looks like the job maybe going away soon.. like my contract won't be renewed (they are likely want me cheaper than I will give myself for) which is a totally don't care situation, apart from the fact I have enjoyed doing what I'm doing... I will be walking away if they cut the pay rate.

That's the great thing about FIRE.. do whatever makes you happy.

Earning gravy makes me happy to a degree as does doing projects and gaming airmiles and hotel points..:)

[Cassie]

Like many others here we pick & choose what we will do. WE usually work anywhere from 10-15 per week but for the past 6 months I have been working 50-60 per week as I was offered a f.t. consulting gig that I knew would be done in 6 months so just added it to the other stuff I normally do.  It will be done in 6 weeks & I am ready for that to happen. However, I enjoyed it so did it. However, it will be nice to be back to a slower pace. YOu will discover for yourself what you enjoy doing.

[Evgenia]

I had every intention of continuing to work while DH went FIRE, to ease the transition. That didn't work. Then, I had every intention of quitting my job, and immediately starting full or part-time freelance work. After a few days of FIRE, that plan went out the window.

Like other folks on the forums have observed, it took less than a week for me to become accustomed to (more like enamored with) having time to cook a LOT, wake up at whatever time my body intended, tackle house projects that have been waiting for months or years, and so on that I had zero desire to work at all. It just evaporated. (I do have a side/hobby job that I do, but that's it right now, and at that I earn $70-$250 cash a pop, which is great but not critical to anything).

Being able to get health care through Covered California (our state ACA exchange) helped. I started that process weeks before my last day of work.

The nicest surprise is how much less we're spending. We never spent much, obviously, to become FIRE in our late 30s, but without the commute and exhaustion we're REALLY buying nothing but groceries, and not even many of those. We're cooking our way through the many goods that were already in the house and just waiting for us to have more TIME. :)

[frompa]

I had every intention of continuing to work while DH went FIRE, to ease the transition. That didn't work. Then, I had every intention of quitting my job, and immediately starting full or part-time freelance work. After a few days of FIRE, that plan went out the window.

Like other folks on the forums have observed, it took less than a week for me to become accustomed to (more like enamored with) having time to cook a LOT, wake up at whatever time my body intended, tackle house projects that have been waiting for months or years, and so on that I had zero desire to work at all. It just evaporated. (I do have a side/hobby job that I do, but that's it right now, and at that I earn $70-$250 cash a pop, which is great but not critical to anything).

Being able to get health care through Covered California (our state ACA exchange) helped. I started that process weeks before my last day of work.

The nicest surprise is how much less we're spending. We never spent much, obviously, to become FIRE in our late 30s, but without the commute and exhaustion we're REALLY buying nothing but groceries, and not even many of those. We're cooking our way through the many goods that were already in the house and just waiting for us to have more TIME. :)

Wow, all of the above makes me jealous.  Evgenia, it sounds like you all are doing it very well.  Nice!!!

[Evgenia]

Thanks, frompa -- just don't take anything I type too seriously. I took a part-time (12-18 hours/week) freelance gig because it's my favorite kind of work to do, so there goes my "zero desire to work at all." Apparently I have SOME desire, if the work is right. But that's the point of FIRE, I guess - the freedom to evolve, the time and space to even be able to THINK on it.