As I wrote two weeks ago, I had a meeting with my boss to discuss what my job might look like going forward. Actually, it was a pretty easy conversation, and all the changes I asked for were approved.
It’s very exciting, if a little scary, to contemplate cutting back significantly. I was able to put off thinking about it for a week, as my sister-in-law’s visit was quite a distraction. (Nothing bad, it’s just time consuming to have a house guest.)
Now I am starting to put the changes in action, talking to people at work about making those adjustments to my schedule and my paycheck.
What changes am I looking at?
I’m pretty excited to have a 3-day weekend every week. Well, every week except when I am working in the hospital, or if I choose to add on extra patients periodically. Still, the principle is there.
In my imagination, not only am I going to visit my mother more often, but Mr. PiN and I are getting away for long weekends at least once a month.
I also see myself decluttering indoors, keeping our front garden tidier, and spending time with friends at coffee shops or museums on the weeks I stay home.
We’ll see how that turns out.
Less happily, I am very certain that my pay will shrink with my working hours. I have a ballpark figure, but will be meeting soon with an administrator to hash this out.
Since I think I am financially independent, and was considering retiring (not too seriously, but Mr. PiN would like it), I need to remember that any income is more than the zero I would be earning if I quit work altogether.
For sure, if the economy takes a dive with all the changes occurring in the US, having active income may be helpful.
Assuming there are no economic disasters forthcoming, I would need to figure out what I want to do financially, once I find out how much smaller my new paycheck will be.
- I could keep along as I have been, maxing out retirement accounts, but saving less (maybe much less) in after tax accounts.
- If we are really FI, then maybe I don’t need to save in retirement accounts anymore, and should just enjoy the extra money–possibly splurging on our long weekends, or taking extra exercise classes.
- Or, I could earmark some of that extra money for projects, à la Frogdancer Jones, who kept working after retirement to fund one project or another. I would have to decide if my savings would just be any extra money after paying for our usual expenses, or if it would be all the money I earn (as otherwise I would be pulling it from savings).
I foresee some challenges as well: I am going to have to deal with patients who want to be scheduled in a shrinking pool of appointments. I foresee a frustrating time for them and me until things settle out.
Nevertheless, I am looking forward to having more time out of the office.
Any words of advice from those who cut down before stopping work altogether?
I cut back to four days a week two years before I retired. It was a very easy transition because it came at the same time as our older daughter graduated from college. Even without that adjustment, we would have been okay. Honestly, we didn’t really notice a big difference despite the 20% pay cut. And that extra day off every week was so wonderful!