getting paid to FIRE

[Valhalla]

I found this thread particularly interesting:  https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/5arya5/i_get_paid_to_do_nothing_wondering_about_my/

TL;DR - guy works from home, doesn't have much work to do, so basically paid to do nothing at home all day. 

Is that the holy grail of FIRE?  To be paid and actually have no responsibilities and do nothing?

The guy's story is actually eerily similar to mine.  I get paid a six figure salary, but my work is very lumpy so often times I don't have anything to do.  So I end up doing other things, like traveling (just need access to internet), doing random errands, things that Mr. Money Mustache does, except I get paid a regular salary. 

My friends think I have the greatest gig ever...which is true.  Truth is though if I didn't have this, I could find another gig where I'd make a lot more money, so it's a double edged sword.  At this time in my life I am very content being paid to do this gig, and am perfectly ok living a FIRE life while being paid a salary.  However if circumstances change, I'd FIRE or I'd find another gig and make even more money doing what I really enjoy.

I'm curious how many here are actually in this similar situation, getting paid to be FIRE'd...

EDIT: this story is also from the reddit comments, quite hilarious to read as well:  https://sites.google.com/site/forgottenemployee/

[BFGirl]

It's great if you can get it, but I really resent a co-worker who is eligible for retirement and doesn't give a fuck anymore.  Unfortunately, I am her backup while she basically only works 20 hours of a full time job, works from home fairly often, gets hair, nails, botox, fills, peels and all manner of stuff done on company time.  I wouldn't care what she did as long as it didn't impact me, but I have to deal with all the emergencies and phone calls that come in on her stuff while she is off gallivanting around and making six figures.

She can see that my desk is overflowing right now, but has made no offer to help with any of my work.

I'm just grousing, but it really pisses me off sometimes.

[Valhalla]

It's great if you can get it, but I really resent a co-worker who is eligible for retirement and doesn't give a fuck anymore.  Unfortunately, I am her backup while she basically only works 20 hours of a full time job, works from home fairly often, gets hair, nails, botox, fills, peels and all manner of stuff done on company time.  I wouldn't care what she did as long as it didn't impact me, but I have to deal with all the emergencies and phone calls that come in on her stuff while she is off gallivanting around and making six figures.

She can see that my desk is overflowing right now, but has made no offer to help with any of my work.

I'm just grousing, but it really pisses me off sometimes.

Very sorry to hear that!!  I don't have any work to spill over anyone else, as I'm a department of one. 

I hope you let management know about her lax work ethics and get them to reward you more.  No harm getting credit for work you're doing.

[mathlete]

It's great if you can get it, but I really resent a co-worker who is eligible for retirement and doesn't give a fuck anymore.  Unfortunately, I am her backup while she basically only works 20 hours of a full time job, works from home fairly often, gets hair, nails, botox, fills, peels and all manner of stuff done on company time.  I wouldn't care what she did as long as it didn't impact me, but I have to deal with all the emergencies and phone calls that come in on her stuff while she is off gallivanting around and making six figures.

She can see that my desk is overflowing right now, but has made no offer to help with any of my work.

I'm just grousing, but it really pisses me off sometimes.

Ask for a 50% raise.

[BFGirl]

It's great if you can get it, but I really resent a co-worker who is eligible for retirement and doesn't give a fuck anymore.  Unfortunately, I am her backup while she basically only works 20 hours of a full time job, works from home fairly often, gets hair, nails, botox, fills, peels and all manner of stuff done on company time.  I wouldn't care what she did as long as it didn't impact me, but I have to deal with all the emergencies and phone calls that come in on her stuff while she is off gallivanting around and making six figures.

She can see that my desk is overflowing right now, but has made no offer to help with any of my work.

I'm just grousing, but it really pisses me off sometimes.

Very sorry to hear that!!  I don't have any work to spill over anyone else, as I'm a department of one. 

I hope you let management know about her lax work ethics and get them to reward you more.  No harm getting credit for work you're doing.

Management knows...the boss even complained to me about it...wtf????

I did get a higher percentage raise than her last year because of extra time I put in on a project. 

[Luck12]

I'm sort of in this situation, come in 95%+ at around 915-930, leave at 4-4:15, walk around for 45-60 min after eating for 30 min.  Most days, I go to the park and read for at least an hour.  Get to work from home twice a week and often I'm cooking, doing laundry, reading on my balcony, going for long walks, lifting weights, biking, running.    I'm logged in no more than 25 hours a week.

The funny thing is many of my co-workers often work weekends and nights, I don't get it, maybe I'm just more efficent? 

I'm essentially FIRE'ed at 3.8% withdrawal, but want to get to at least 3.5%.  This deal isn't bad, but still 5-10% of the time, routine gets interrupted by work and I can't do personal shit during work hours.  Plus I only get 5 weeks vacation, I'd rather be able to go hiking and camping for like 3 months straight. 

[Valhalla]

I'm sort of in this situation, come in 95%+ at around 915-930, leave at 4-4:15, walk around for 45-60 min after eating for 30 min.  Most days, I go to the park and read for at least an hour.  Get to work from home twice a week and often I'm cooking, doing laundry, reading on my balcony, going for long walks, lifting weights, biking, running.    I'm logged in no more than 25 hours a week.

The funny thing is many of my co-workers often work weekends and nights, I don't get it, maybe I'm just more efficent? 

I'm essentially FIRE'ed at 3.8% withdrawal, but want to get to at least 3.5%.  This deal isn't bad, but still 5-10% of the time, routine gets interrupted by work and I can't do personal shit during work hours.  Plus I only get 5 weeks vacation, I'd rather be able to go hiking and camping for like 3 months straight.

wow pretty sweet situation.   I'm trying to get to 2% withdrawal rate, right now about 4% so I'm going to keep "working" while I add on to my stash.  I'm totally spoiled though... working from home with no responsibilities... I'm not sure if I will have the fortitude to do a regular job after so many years of being paid to FIRE, but I'm willing to give it a shot if necessary.

[BFGirl]

I have a fairly flexible schedule, so I guess I should quit griping.  I mainly get mad when my work and life are impacted by my co-worker's lack of time in the office.  I think maybe I'll just quit worrying so much about whether I am around to cover her ass.

[Valhalla]

I have a fairly flexible schedule, so I guess I should quit griping.  I mainly get mad when my work and life are impacted by my co-worker's lack of time in the office.  I think maybe I'll just quit worrying so much about whether I am around to cover her ass.

I think you're right. If your boss won't do anything about your co-worker slacking, then they won't do anything if you slack as well.  Why work yourself to death and stress over it? Take advantage of the situation and relax more.

[PoutineLover]

EDIT: this story is also from the reddit comments, quite hilarious to read as well:  https://sites.google.com/site/forgottenemployee/

I like this

[Luck12]

wow pretty sweet situation.   I'm trying to get to 2% withdrawal rate, right now about 4% so I'm going to keep "working" while I add on to my stash.  I'm totally spoiled though... working from home with no responsibilities... I'm not sure if I will have the fortitude to do a regular job after so many years of being paid to FIRE, but I'm willing to give it a shot if necessary.

Yeah I am totally spoiled too, I figure if I don't enjoy this job even with all of this, there's no way in hell I can work anywhere else, and that it is time to FIRE soon.   

I often to say to my close friend co-worker:  "You know, work isn't so bad when there's no work".  But reality is there usually is at least some bullshit work to do even if it is only 15-25 hours worth. 

[Trudie]

EDIT: this story is also from the reddit comments, quite hilarious to read as well:  https://sites.google.com/site/forgottenemployee/

I like this

LMFAO

[fattest_foot]

The Art of Not Working at Work was a pretty lengthy thread on these forums for a while. You should check that out.

I'm currently in a job where I probably screw around on the internet for 80% of my day. If not for meetings, I could probably get that up to 90%.

Sometimes it's nice, but most of the time I'm just bored and get resentful of the job. And like above, I have coworkers that seem to need to use every hour of the day to accomplish their tasks. I imagine they just say that and they're not as busy as they claim.

[Altons Bobs]

Years ago someone told me that it was impossible to get fired from UPS (or was it FedEx?). Some guy didn't show up for work for weeks, nothing happened. He was trying to get them to fire him, they wouldn't. So he found another job and was working both the UPS (or FedEx?) job and the new job and got paid by both companies. Craziness!!

[Valhalla]

The Art of Not Working at Work was a pretty lengthy thread on these forums for a while. You should check that out.

I'm currently in a job where I probably screw around on the internet for 80% of my day. If not for meetings, I could probably get that up to 90%.

Sometimes it's nice, but most of the time I'm just bored and get resentful of the job. And like above, I have coworkers that seem to need to use every hour of the day to accomplish their tasks. I imagine they just say that and they're not as busy as they claim.

I found that thread and am reading through it.  I think I have a friend like that, who shows up to work and has to be at a desk, but have virtually no work.  My situation is that I'm actually living a life of FIRE, for the most part, and still getting paid for it, which is pretty awesome. 

The only sucky thing is most of my friends are still working so I can't socialize with them much, just like most early retirees.  Guess I'll have to join up a group of retirees and start playing chess / checkers with them on a daily basis, lol.

[Valhalla]

Years ago someone told me that it was impossible to get fired from UPS (or was it FedEx?). Some guy didn't show up for work for weeks, nothing happened. He was trying to get them to fire him, they wouldn't. So he found another job and was working both the UPS (or FedEx?) job and the new job and got paid by both companies. Craziness!!

I read a few cases like that:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/man-skipped-work-for-6-years_us_56c1d32ae4b0b40245c72512

https://pilotonline.com/news/government/local/a-no-show-for-years-worker-in-norfolk-still-paid/article_6525d212-fe0b-5afe-9369-f873d747275e.html

Pretty crazy, but things happen.  Very much like Milton in Office Space, lol.

[Valhalla]

EDIT: this story is also from the reddit comments, quite hilarious to read as well:  https://sites.google.com/site/forgottenemployee/

I like this

LMFAO

I read that story again for the 3rd time, and I couldn't stop crying from laughter, lol.  People should seriously take the time to read that masterpiece... the writer should get a Pulitzer Prize, lol!!!!

[thenextguy]

I have experience with the opposite. I used to do consulting for a municipality that had an employee that had been employed for over 40 years. At the time he started, there weren't any caps on service length for his pension. This resulted in his pension annual payout being worth more than his salary. But he liked to work, so he did. In effect, he was losing around $5,000 a year by working instead of retiring and taking his pension.

[HogFin]

I'm curious what types of jobs a lot of you have that allow you to either work from home with very little responsibility and/or have very little responsibility while in the office, yet still make a good salary?

[DebtFreeinPhilly]

I'm curious what types of jobs a lot of you have that allow you to either work from home with very little responsibility and/or have very little responsibility while in the office, yet still make a good salary?

Can't speak for others but in my experience its been government (state, local, federal) employees that get paid the best with the least amount of responsibilities. Many of my fellow employees joke about that if you removed 75% of the staff, the government wouldn't miss a beat.

[Valhalla]

I'm curious what types of jobs a lot of you have that allow you to either work from home with very little responsibility and/or have very little responsibility while in the office, yet still make a good salary?

Without going into specifics much, I'm an engineer of sorts and sometimes work around patents and patent law.  I have some pretty cool patents out there that have made me some money and my employers a lot of money, all side projects I did for fun.

Now that I'm known for being a genius, I get free rein to do whatever I see fit for work, and as long as I contribute a great idea or two a few times a year, I'm left alone and told to knock myself out doing whatever I want.

Since creative work and being a genius means I get to work whenever I want (such as sending emails at 3am, or sleeping in until 11am if I wanted to), no one questions my schedule and I can work from pretty much anywhere there is internet access, and the occasional conference call.

I have worked from the beaches of Hawaii, the great state parks like Yosemite, Yellowstone (internet can be a challenge at times)... so now I'm basically living the life of a retiree doing whatever the heck I feel like, when I feel like.  It sucks that others in my social circle are still cubicle slaves and tied to their desk, and can't get out to do stuff like I can.

I have refrained from talking about my situation too much, because it can be perceived as bragging by others, or stir jealousy among those who don't understand what I do or how I even got here.  So most people have no idea what I do, all they know is I'm always traveling and on "business trips"... my relatives / distant friends think I do PC tech support, help desk type of stuff, LOL.  They call call me when they need some help with their computers... the downside of trying to "hide" what I do in reality.

[Schaefer Light]

EDIT: this story is also from the reddit comments, quite hilarious to read as well:  https://sites.google.com/site/forgottenemployee/

I like this

LMFAO

I read that story again for the 3rd time, and I couldn't stop crying from laughter, lol.  People should seriously take the time to read that masterpiece... the writer should get a Pulitzer Prize, lol!!!!

I about fell out of my chair the first time I read that.  This is classic:

"Bad Sign #4 Standing in front of the stained dry erase board, was the nemesis of all forgotten employees - The Director of People Services - AKA, Human Resources Nazi. I was a Warsaw Jew, face to face with Himmler."

[Valhalla]

EDIT: this story is also from the reddit comments, quite hilarious to read as well:  https://sites.google.com/site/forgottenemployee/

I like this

LMFAO

I read that story again for the 3rd time, and I couldn't stop crying from laughter, lol.  People should seriously take the time to read that masterpiece... the writer should get a Pulitzer Prize, lol!!!!

I about fell out of my chair the first time I read that.  This is classic:

"Bad Sign #4 Standing in front of the stained dry erase board, was the nemesis of all forgotten employees - The Director of People Services - AKA, Human Resources Nazi. I was a Warsaw Jew, face to face with Himmler."

LOL!!

SPOILER WARNING - do not read if you want to read the story from fresh eyes:

This is also one of my favorite lines: 

I sat back, smiling. A puppy for a hand job, and the preservation of the American Dream.

All in all, a wonderful trade.

This story should be a mandatory read for MMM'ers.  :)

[scantee]

I'm curious what types of jobs a lot of you have that allow you to either work from home with very little responsibility and/or have very little responsibility while in the office, yet still make a good salary?

Can't speak for others but in my experience its been government (state, local, federal) employees that get paid the best with the least amount of responsibilities. Many of my fellow employees joke about that if you removed 75% of the staff, the government wouldn't miss a beat.

I know a few people with jobs that require almost no work and they all work remotely for large corporations doing web development.

[RyanAtTanagra]

I'm curious what types of jobs a lot of you have that allow you to either work from home with very little responsibility and/or have very little responsibility while in the office, yet still make a good salary?

I work in tech.  Specifically I'm in charge of my company's networks and servers.  It's a smaller company and I have a near-zero budget, so basically if everything is running smoothly and there's nothing that needs fixed, then there's nothing for me to do.  To make it worse, I try to spend my time finding ways to minimize server/network downtime (read: high availability, disaster recovery), so when things DO happen I can fix them quickly and with zero stress.  Add to the fact I've been doing this for a long time, so when something does go wrong, I can generally diagnose and fix it in 5 minutes.  This all adds up to 95% of the time there just being nothing for me to do.

The only problem with this current setup is I generally have to be at my desk, and it's an open office floor plan so people can see my screen, so I can't just do whatever I want to pass the time, I have to look like I'm working.

[bacchi]

I did the whole "remote job with little responsibility" thing. Inevitably, some shitstorm would occur and there goes an otherwise great day. (i.e., it's beautiful and I'm planning to take out the kayak on the river but, then, I get a text about some mysterious error. Afternoon ruined.)

As someone above noted, it was probably only about 5-10% of the time that events made me cancel plans but it sure seemed like more. "Resentful" is a good word for it. Not only because of the many "red alerts!" but also because my time was not being used well.

[Luck12]

I'm curious what types of jobs a lot of you have that allow you to either work from home with very little responsibility and/or have very little responsibility while in the office, yet still make a good salary?

Sorry for the late reply, I was reading, then napping in the park :)   

I'm an actuary. 

[Valhalla]

I'm curious what types of jobs a lot of you have that allow you to either work from home with very little responsibility and/or have very little responsibility while in the office, yet still make a good salary?

Sorry for the late reply, I was reading, then napping in the park :)   

I'm an actuary.

LOL!!!

Actuary is one of those awesome jobs that many know about, but very hard to get because you have to pass all those tests and be great at math.  Congrats on your accomplishments in this area!!  I really thought actuary was one of the top 10 jobs in the world... where else could you make great money while working at home doing what you want?