Same here – pay frozen, threats of cuts and now mandatory Saturday workdays (Sun& Mon off). Give me back my weekends!

And what about health insurance? Most employers only offer HI to FT (40 hrs a week) staff.

As such, his health care costs, minus prescription drugs and eyeglasses, would be covered regardless of employment.

Tim

I was an administrator, so I had enough income, no debt and no dependents. And it let me pick up a few extra things (like teaching at university) that I avoided before because I had no time. The variety and the free time was just what I needed.

We hired a college kid to pick up some of the odd jobs that had fallen on my plate but I really shouldn’t have been doing (boring and not cost effective).

Since I worked for the school system, it didn’t affect my retirement years (taking that 30% off, worked out the same as not working summers) and my retirement is based on my 3 highest years, a few low years won’t make a difference.

I was happier. I was more productive because of it. And the student was working more like 20-25 hours a week, so getting even more non-relavent work done. So work was getting a more productive happier administrator, getting more work done (me + the student) and they were saving money (even working double the hours I was gone, the student was making significantly less).

Honestly for the job, it would have been better to have had me at 80% time, but I could have handled 60% and probably would have picked up a few more (higher paying) consulting jobs.

And had I still been at 70% a few years later when budget cuts came around, my job might have been a bit safer…

The other problem is if you have a spotty health record you may not be able to get reasonably-priced health insurance on the private market. You have no choice but to work full time for a private company to keep reasonable coverage.

I’m curious if you found this not to be the case. In a few years time I’d like to consider doing things part time, but health insurance is a concern of mine.

My family is currently paying for our insurance independently because I switched from full-time work to being a consultant. We are paying less per month, although we have a higher deductible.

I’m so jealous. Honestly I could achieve the same amount of productivity in my job working 3 days a week instead of 6… but good luck convincing Human Resources to let me have extended weekends haha

Tim, good for you!

Then, after being semi-retired on 80% pay, I offered last year to go to a three-day week with no benefits. The company’s response: “Your resignation is accepted.”

While some employers are forward-thinking enough to allow some variation in the workplace, it’s far from universal.

I was able to retire, effective Jan. 1, because I had planned for it for years. But I had also planned to work until June 1, 2012.

Nevertheless, it all worked out; my pay cut showed me how little I could live on and Social Security is almost exactly what my final four-day salary was.

I was forced to leave earlier than I planned but, as a comment I saw on another message board states: “It’s better to retire a year too early than a day too late.”

I gave up a very cushy PT job where I had both Wednesdays AND Friday afternoons off to go freelance.

I won’t even let myself “go there” when asked if I regret it. I feel that it is certainly a challenge, and although I am older now and busier, at least I am never bored. I still need to earn more though, and I continue to work on that.

Caveat, this was a calculated risk. We own our own home in a very HCOLA (the mortgage is paid off) as well as several rental properties (which are NOT yet paid off).

I guess my answer would be, I’m busier, and earning less, but because I’m no longer bored out of my brain, I’m generally much happier than I was before. I make my own schedule now, which is something that is extremely important to me.

My DS1 is a humanitarian aid worker who works in a danger zone. He arrived home today. I was able to schedule today off, pick him up from the airport, “chill” with him for a few hours, and take him out to lunch. Then take him to get a new passport because he has no more empty pages left on his. I left him there to run errands. He walked home, then crashed.

I did a bunch of stuff I needed to do, then shopped and make dinner for my family (including DS1′s friend). Price? Not sure, it was only pasta LOL. But being able to do that was just priceless.

“Conscious spending”, as JD always says (not the pasta dinner, the day off and the lunch out with DS1 LOL)

Plus, it’s just crazy-making to do the same thing for 23 years, with another 10 years on the horizon. Had I stayed there I probably would have committed hari-kiri LOL.

So kudos to you, original poster, for finding an unusual solution that worked out so well for you!

Any suggestions for that transition? (if it ever occurs…)