Luckily I have long service leave.
Thanks to working for the same employer for nigh on 30 years, this is my second round of long service leave.
At first, it was really precious and I was taking a day off every fortnight. But then no one including me took it seriously. So if it was going to be a busy week, I’d skip the day off. In the end, there was no pattern and it was too ad hoc for my brain.
After the horror of a very stressful January (when Omicron struck), I decided that from February I would take a day off EVERY WEEK. That is, I would only work 4 days a week and take Wednesdays off, no matter what. I told all my colleagues that my day off was not negotiable and that I needed it for my mental health.
I can report that I absolutely LOVE working 4 days week, every week.
I spend Wednesdays reading on the couch, writing a blog post, sometimes doing laundry so I don’t have to do it on the weekend, meeting friends for lunch, running errands, getting a haircut …
There is NO ONE at the shopping centre on a Wednesday. Who knew??
And thanks to long service leave, the day off is paid. So my income is still the same, working 4 days.
I would try every possible option to keep working part time and still retire at 55. If you get to a point where you’ve tried all the options but can’t make it work, I’d try to see if I could make it work by only delaying retirement by a year or something while only working part time. It doesn’t sound like it’s worth being miserable until you’re 55 just so you can retire.
It’s all a trade off, isn’t it? I do think there’s no point in getting to 55 and fully retire but in a state where I’m physically and mentally exhausted. But yeah, I also don’t want to delay full retirement for any more than one year after 55.
Could you do what I’m currently doing?
Retire when you choose, but then after a long rest, pick up a few days’ casual work here and there? It’s a whole different way of working when you’re only there on a casual basis. Not nearly as stressful.
I’ve been following your casual work progress with much interest, FDJ 🙂 I will definitely keep my registration going for a few years after retiring, just in case. And in order to do that I will need to work a few shifts to have some hours. But I can’t retire just yet – still need to build up that ‘bridge the gap’ fund.
Great questions and as you and I are in similar financial positions, excl mortgage paid off I have been pondering this as well. In your position, I would ease up on work, reduced income or not. If you are that stressed you are doing harm to yourself. It may not be visible yet, but your heart is impacted by the level of stress you experience. The recent deaths of people in their 50s has shaken me to the point where I see stress is not worth the higher income. As to lower wage, you will adjust. It may be a challenge, but I have faith that you could still make a fantastic life with a reduced wage.
Please, please, please consider easing up. You may find that you reach your target with only 1 year of working beyond 55 with the reduced hours.
Stress is 100% detrimental to our health! I have experienced it myself 🙂 Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I’m leaning towards the work less part but it may change tomorrow, haha. Maybe I have to learn to deal with stress better in my old age. I was certainly more capable of dealing with stress in my younger years. If it only delays full retirement by one year, I can live with that.
I’m doing something different from your two options! I too am now coast FI. I started filling up my ‘bridge the gap’ fund 14 months ago, planning to work about 6-7 more years and then quit.
Buttttt I’m tired NOW so instead I am going to take a year off. This will let me find out what it’s like to not work (what will I do with myself?? unclear, though I’m making a lot of travel plans), how much I really need to live on/how big my bridge fund needs to be, and MAY mean I get some insight and inspiration for the last part of my working years. Otherwise I’ll go back to a job similar to my current one (I have a recognizable job title, a good network, am very good at my job, and it’s a pretty robust employment sector right now).
The down sides: I’ve been saving money forever and it feels so strange to plan to spend quite a lot of it in one go. And I’m fairly sure I will not be excited about going back to work (though perhaps structure will feel good), and I fully understand that this will likely mean I have to work a year later than my initial plans.
But all in all, I’m tired now, it became very clear to me in the last year that life is not guaranteed, and I really want to have some adventure.
Here’s hoping Future Me isn’t wildly furious about these choices!
Ohhh, you are so brave! I so relate to your being tired NOW and wanting a decent break. A year is a good time to work it all out and you can always go back to work before the year is over if you want to.
I’m with you that if I don’t do something about my stress, there may not be much of ‘me’ left in 5 years when I fully retire. There are no guarantees in life.
Thank you very much for sharing your plans and perspective – I have much thinking to do (and work on some numbers which I’d been loathed to do)
Hi again Latestarterfire,
Coast FI is such a wonderful accomplishment, but at the same time, it sounds like full FI is what you really want/need right NOW. It’s great that you get long service leave until June, and it’s also great that you’re thinking ahead for what to do when it’s over.
May I suggest something that could be life-changing? (I know you probably won’t like it, but I’m suggesting it anyway because you’ve already done all the things and still want to reach FI earlier!)
In 2018, we pulled some of the equity out of our home and invested it. Doing so shaved at least four years off of our FIRE plan.
I see it this way: the equity is just sitting in your house, being rather unproductive. But you can pull it out and make it work harder by investing it in the stock market, thus helping your reach FI sooner!
Here in Canada, there’s another benefit—we can deduct the interest on the loan since it’s being used for investing. This lowers our taxable income, which means we pay less in taxes. (I’m not sure if it’s the same in Australia.)
This strategy can be risky and isn’t for everyone. But if you can educate yourself and understand how it works (and possibly seek out professional help to implement it), you may find that it’s not as scary as it seems!
I know you gained a lot of security and peace from paying off your home, so feel free to disregard my suggestion if I’m totally off-base! Just thought I’d throw it out there in case you wanted another tool to reach FI earlier. 🙂
Thanks for your suggestion, Chrissy 🙂
I think what you’re suggesting is called debt recycling here – and yes, the interest on the loan would be tax deductible here too.
Because of my age, banks are not keen to lend money for investment properties – that was back in 2018 so I’m not sure if that has changed or whether it’d be different if I were to use it to invest in shares.
Knowing myself though, I want to be debt free when I retire. I have been largely unconcerned at the moment with all the talk of rising interest rates because I don’t have a mortgage. But if I did? I’d probably not sleep well at night 🙂