Semi Early Retirement Extreme?

dot_com_vet · Post by **dot_com_vet** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 3:32 am

Has anyone considered semi-ERE? For example, living below your means, and working part-time in a professional career?
Part-time professional employment is not that unusual in Europe, from my research.
I asked a couple of my colleagues their thoughts. One gave me a strange look, and a few minutes later on a different topic said they can't wait until full retirement. (23 years away.) Another thought my idea was odd, but later said a 35 hour work week was ideal. (They average 50+ hours/week now.)
While not full ERE, I'm interested. Still the possibility of corporate benefits and good pay, but a lot more free-time. To me, it strikes a good balance.

George the original one · Fri Jun 03, 2011 3:40 am

If you can find it, then go for it!
In the USA, the only times I've seen professionals employed an extended period of time at less than 40 hr/week is the final few years before regular retirement. Usually it's been a favor from a boss to someone that wants to keep their healthcare going until regular retirement healthcare benefits kick in.
For the young, apart from piecemeal or project work, I don't think it's going to happen. It's just too easy to find a reasonably qualified person who will work more hours.

dot_com_vet · Post by **dot_com_vet** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 3:45 am

George, those are good points. I worked in a para-professional capacity in college part-time, making close to a full time hourly rate. (High-tech industry.)
I think the trick would be finding a position for a specialized project, or a company that doesn't have a budget for a full timer.
It college it was easy, but maybe they'd look at someone older as an oddball.

mikeBOS · Post by **mikeBOS** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 6:32 am

Would consulting work qualify? Or free-lancing in a professional capacity? If so, lots of people do that.
I'm considering practicing law as a solo practitioner on a very part-time basis (<20 hrs/month at most). Not sure if that's the kind of thing you're talking about or if you mean strictly for working as a part-time employee.

OurLifeInc. · Post by **OurLifeInc.** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 2:08 pm

My wife and I have thought a lot about this. We both work in a professional setting now and are in the process of moving jobs/moving homes so that we are close to said jobs. Anyways, we both have an affection...she to whole foods and me to bookstores (and kind of whole foods too). I think my plan would be to get to the point where we could work part-time stocking groceries and explaining the benefits of eating lots of fruits and vegetables and spend the rest of our time doing what we want! So not part-time in the professional sense, but still part-time.

JasonR · Post by **JasonR** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 2:40 pm

Post by **jacob** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 5:53 pm

Certainly, see ERE book section 7.2.2 and 7.3.1.
Also
http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Witho ... 895629683/
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/my-4- ... -week.html

djc · Post by **djc** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 5:58 pm

Former Commercial Bank Officer and Elected Official who semi-retired @45. I substitute teach for a daily stipend and my wife carries the health insurance. We've never touched our nest egg.
I highly recommend to not waste time exiting corporate America if both the inclination and finances allow you to do so. I read a lot of obituaries of my peers who lived in the future........
djc

akratic · Post by **akratic** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 8:16 pm

@JasonR: it sounds like you have it pretty good!
I clicked on your username and figured out that you do freelance web/ad design. Where do you find your clients/projects?
I've considered freelance programming, but I don't know a good way to find good projects.

JasonR · Post by **JasonR** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 9:20 pm

Post by **jacob** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 9:26 pm

@George - This is something that still puzzles me. A salary can pretty much be considered a retainer. I do 80% of my work in 20% of the time (or something like that). I do not understand why an employer would not be willing to reduce my salary by 80% if it means only reducing productivity by 20%---he could hire 4 others like me and increase company productivity spectacularly. One of the things that annoyed me about my previous career was how boring it had become as I had gotten to a point where I only needed to working 1 hour a day(*) yet had to stay for 8 hours a day. Water cooler talk wasn't my thing, so I just couldn't hack the boredom.
(*) +1 for scripting. It was painful to watch some of the other guys repeatedly (re)constructing their graphs by hand instead of just writing a gnuplot script once.

George the original one · Fri Jun 03, 2011 9:58 pm

I don't understand it, either, but I suspect since most people "need" 80% or more of their regular salary to get by, then it is difficult to find qualified people who will work part-time. Much easier to find a few super-good people who will work full-time and carry the rest of the slacker employees?

Matthew · Post by **Matthew** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:58 pm

@ Jacob & George
I think it has to do with yearly budgets and servantude. Bosses get the budget approved before they know what work is needed. They don't have to defend your salary because it is already in the budget. They would rather keep you bored because they don't want to charge too many of your hours to any project or the finances look bad. Also, they want you around all day because they own you...right? At least this is how it is at my job, because they don't analyze how efficiently they utilize the salary workforce.

HSpencer · Post by **HSpencer** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 2:14 am

For a while, it was popular to retire and become a "consultant". Also people just quit their jobs and became "consultants". All you need to do is have a business card printed up calling yourself a "consultant". The word sounds professional and for a long time not too many people knew exactly what it meant. So if your a manager of business, and your having a bad week or month or year, then you call in the "consultant". So, what does the consultant know, anyway? Well, the consultant should have been at one time a successful manager of similar business themselves. They should have done well at the business. The reason the consultant can help (theory), is because the consultant has no capital in the business, could care less about your past screwing up, and in fact the consultant hopes you screwed up big time, so their hourly rate for consulting can be justified by showing "some" improvement in your business. There are all kinds of "consultants". Why not call them "gurus"? Everybody seems to know the answers, that is if it isn't their business future at stake. No risk either. If you come in a loser business person, and leave a loser business person, the consultant can say, "Well, you just don't get it".

So if I have $250,000 tied up in a failing business, I can spend another $300.00 an hour for someone to tell me what to do? I don't think so, Tim! In the real old days, places hired "Time and Motion Study" consultants. This was to eliminate the wasted time in the operation of the business. The "consultant" is actually only a newer and improved version of the same scam. I guess it would be good work, though if you could get it. If anyone needs a "consultant" at $500.00 per hour, I am your guy.

Robert Muir · Post by **Robert Muir** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 2:59 pm

@HS, what's even better is when the principals spend $30k on consultants and then proceed to ignore every single recommendation they made.

I sort of went that way. Instead of a business consultant, I quit my job and became an IT consultant. Most of my clients call me the computer guy though.

Piper · Post by **Piper** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 3:35 pm

> Has anyone considered semi-ERE? For example, living below your means, and working part-time in a professional career? <
I have been doing that for a few years. I started out with the whole "why work" thing. It worked pretty well for a while. I quit my job with a big cushion of savings and hiked the Pacific Crest Trail over two years. I found some part-time jobs in between. Pretty good ones, too. One paid $17 an hour to listen to audio for the presence of bowhead whales. Another was $20 an hour with free breakfast and lunch at random times. Skated along for the last 3 years and could have kept going.
Recently I started working full time again. I found a nice place that is pleasant enough to be all day. I'll save as much as possible and try to stick it out for 10 years. Hopefully my partner can retire next year and I can hold on for a few years providing him health insurance until he gets medicare. It'll be nice to have a happy man around the house even if I have to work. Yes, he did the traditional thing, but I am 15 years younger and have not lived traditionally and I plan to live traditionally only for a little while and then it's back to hiking long trails or whatever adventures await.
When you don't get yourself into debt and don't waste money you really have a lot more flexibility in how to live your life. Not having kids makes it easier, too.

Marius · Post by **Marius** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 6:21 pm

@Akratic "I've considered freelance programming, but I don't know a good way to find good projects."
I just stumbled upon this site. Lots of large and small tasks for freelancers, in the US, EU, or elsewhere. I imagine there must be other sites like this, especially for niches.

http://www.freelancer.com/projects/all.php

dot_com_vet · Post by **dot_com_vet** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 6:25 pm

I do moonlighting IT consulting from time to time. While consulting makes more cash and is flexible, to me it brings a lot of headaches too. (Bill collecting, taxes, travel time, marketing yourself, calls at all hours.) And to me, the point of going PT is motivated by less headaches.
Although, one or two good clients decreases the headaches.
I think I'd almost prefer being a part time W2 employee. I'm still in the savings stage, 40 - 50 hour work weeks now, but some great ideas here, thanks!

Andre900 · Post by **Andre900** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 8:04 pm

Yes, that's my plan exactly. In fact, I've recently started implementing it at age 47. I earn over 100 hours of vacation and 100 hours of sick leave, plus ten holidays each year. I've got over 300 hours banked up. Recently, I've started to knock off early every Friday by an hour or two. I prefer to use vacation leave (and, I'll admit, sometimes, sick leave) to shorten my workday rather than take week-long vacations.
At age 55 (or maybe a little earlier), I plan on reducing my work schedule (and salary) by 10% by taking every other Friday off.
I don't see myself completely not working until age 62. I can afford to, but I think I will want to keep working a reduced schedule. Mostly to keep busy and enjoy some good income working at a skill I've mastered. The work is fairly interesting, not stressful, decent pay, and respected.

chilly · Post by **chilly** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 3:35 am

This is also my ideal plan. I'd like to work 3 days a week in a reasonably low stress job. So far the best I've found is a job paying 60% of my current full time hourly rate. So 3 days a week, I'd be at 36% of my current salary - which is plenty. I may consider this.
@Marius - I've looked at those sites as well. Honestly, I'm little intimidated by the rates people are quoting for some of those tasks. They've got to be either extremely fast, or extremely cheap.
The benefit to the part time aspect is the lower level of stress and reduced footprint on my life. It's just so hard to choose that option when I know I'm choosing to work 3x longer for every dollar I make after I decide to pull the trigger.
@Andre900 - Is that an official program your company offers - taking off every other Friday? I love that flexibility. When I do finally decide it's time, I may at least float the idea of a part time engagement at my current job... I just think it's an extreme longshot given the environment here.