# Have you reached a point in your career where you just want to ride it out until retirement? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 8, 2019, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197 "2019-06-08T02:04:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/41 "2019-06-09T21:24:33Z")
I’m just biding my time waiting to die. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/42 "2019-06-09T21:38:46Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Can you create a project for yourself? I had times when I didn’t have much to do, so I poked around, found some gaps, and wrote some code for them. Some of it worked, some of it didn’t, but it was a lot more fun than sitting around. I work for a very large Canadian company with locations around the world and I was hired by a group of people who badly wanted my skills and experience. A number of reorgs later and that completely changed. I know, Voyager, that you weren’t asking me your question, but my company has a charge-code system that makes it really hard to work on big-picture/global things which are actually necessary. To the OP, more or less. I just turned 60 a couple of months ago and after a couple of brilliant back-stabbings by a coworker who apparently can do no wrong, I’m done and will coast for another five years while preparing for an emergency exit in two if necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Tempe\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tempe_jeff/32/7328_2.png) [@Tempe\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tempe_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/43 "2019-06-09T22:26:36Z")
“I am 50 and just left my job of 12 years yesterday, to start another job in the same field at a much higher salary on Monday. I’d like what I do (immigration law) much better of we didn’t have the current Federal administration that we do, but it’s been sucking the life out of me.” I agree, it’s MUCH easier doing Immigration Law with a pro-illegal alien Administration. How do the poor migrants afford your services? Or, are you paid by a benefactor? ---
**Author:** ![Tempe\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tempe_jeff/32/7328_2.png) [@Tempe\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tempe_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/44 "2019-06-09T22:28:31Z")
In other news, I’m 57 work in a warehouse in the Shipping Department. Only complaint, other than management; is 30 year olds complaining how tired they are at the end of the day. Kinda sucks not playing on your phone all day.Eh, kid? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/45 "2019-06-09T23:12:14Z")
Not that “coasting” is really an option in medicine, but there are mindset changes that occur as the retirement light begins to glimmer at the end of the tunnel. Will health insurance companies find a new, sleazy way to deny reimbursements for services rendered? Is this the year Congress will finally decide not to override the automatic pay cut for Medicare at the last minute, thus triggering 10%+ cuts for doctor fees? Will my medical staff “colleagues” continue to do stupid shit that makes my day unnecessarily onerous? I find it more and more difficult to summon up the usual angst. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/46 "2019-06-09T23:57:28Z")
I’m putting my coasting gear into overdrive (underdrive?) for the final one year non-sprint beginning Wednesday. Fifty years of pretty much always having a a job is about my limit. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/47 "2019-06-10T00:24:12Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I have mixed feelings. > > Educational administration in NC is pretty bad. It’s so politicized–the board of education is a constant political football, and our state superintendent is an ambitious, dishonest weasel. Yesterday on the last day of school I got two glossy flyers with his face on them that I was supposed to send home with students; they were barely-disguised campaign flyers and included a URL to a website that provides very distorted information about the public education budget in NC. (I made them available to students who wanted to take them, and encouraged my third graders to read what he said, and then to Google responses to what he said. Any more than that, and I figured I’d be crossing the same line that he was tapdancing over). > > Also yesterday he announced the end to a major K-3 educational policy, which involves his signing all K-3 students in the state up with a different private corporation for testing. It’s unclear how frequent the testing will be, but folks who’ve worked with this company in other states report literal daily testing of kindergarteners using this online system. He announced it only to principals, but some principals reposted the announcement online. None of us had any idea this change was coming, because we sure as hell weren’t consulted. > > * * * > > And I love my job. > > We ended the school year in chaos. On Wednesday, we planned to hold our capstone economics project (a Tailgate Market where third graders sold real goods and services for real money, with proceeds going to our garden program and field trip scholarship program, as a way to learn about economics and entrepreneurial ventures). But a broken water line meant that we left school early, because please believe me that nobody wants to be in a building with 500 children and no flushing toilets. We returned on Thursday to a boil water advisory (awesome for our kids selling lemonade), to a school community that hadn’t been reminded to bring money for a second day given the postponement, to unannounced EOG testing in the building that required modified movement through the school, and to a FREAKING BEAR wandering through our parking lot. > > And we ROCKED that market so hard, earning far more than we had in any previous year. > > I was so exhausted on Friday (which due to the early release on Wednesday was unexpectedly turned from a noon-release into a 2:45 release). So tired. But I told my students what an amazing year I had, how proud I was of each of them both academically and in terms of the support they showed each other, and I gave and got all the hugs and sent them home. > > Am I coasting? Hell no. I’ve learned to devalue certain things that the state wants me to prioritize (EOGs can suck…an egg, let’s say). And I can roll with the day-to-day craziness inherent in the profession. But so much of the job is amazing. > > I hope I never coast. werent you guys having a strike vote or was that another teacher on here ? ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/48 "2019-06-10T10:02:08Z")
> [@sjankis630](#): > > This is my predicament. > We do these engagement surveys every year (they are supposedly anonymous) and then based on how we scored upper mgt (they want to see that they improved every year) we are punished with “roundtables and discussions” until we cry uncle. > There are no ways that we are told how to make more $$ because apparently engagement means you don’t want to get paid more. > Meanwhile they use these “scores” to advertise the company as great for work environment because it is so engaged. They also use the inclusion push to make sure they hire any and all … as long as you are under 38 years old. At my salary review early this spring I discovered the following: Every co-worker, lead, and manager for whom I’d done work wrote effusive praise. In _every_ case, they stated that my software was not only vital to the completion of their programs, without my contributions schedules would not have been met. I’ve had several good years, but this was by far the most praise I’ve received in my career. My managers recommended the highest ranking (and raise) and my senior manager agreed. When all this was submitted, the next suit up the chain quashed it, removed most of my raise, and lowered my rating to average. The reason? I hadn’t shown enough “engagement”. Apparently I didn’t attend enough employee cookouts or something. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/49 "2019-06-10T11:59:24Z")
> [@MoonMoon](#): > > I reached that point the day I entered the workforce. _shrug_ This. Occasionally something comes across my desk that’s academically interesting (i.e. I’m interested in working on it for reasons other than being told to do so), but the rest of the time it’s stuff that I wouldn’t consider doing if they didn’t pay me. My job is primarily just a way to gather money to pay for the things I do when I’m not at work, and this includes saving aggressively for retirement. When I reach a point where I have high confidence that I will more than enough money to live well for the rest of my life, I’ll retire. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/50 "2019-06-10T17:51:11Z")
Having just submitted my 2 week notice, I am definitely in coasting mode. To be honest, I pretty much made up my mind back in December, so I’ve been riding it out for the last 6 months. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/51 "2019-06-10T18:08:05Z")
Very much so. I had my previous job for 25 years. At one point, a few things had just fallen into place such that I thought I might be eligible for a promotion. When I pressed the issue, my boss told me for promotion I needed to “Hope lightning strikes.” I said, “Wait a minute,” wrote that down on a large post-it, tacked it to the wall behind me and said, “Sounds like I should be spending more time on golf courses in inclement weather!” 😃 Shortly thereafter, a completely different job fell in my lap. For the first couple of years it was very new and challenging. Then a couple of years in management brought new challenges and rewards - but ultimately proved that the organization really wasn’t interested in improvement - or even real quality. In another thread, I posred about applying for a couple of promotions, and not receiving even a “hello, goodbye, or go to hell” from TPTB. So 8 years in and at age 58, I’m just putting in my time. Job pays very well, is very convenient, but I get ZERO satisfaction from ANY aspect of my job. So we’ll just see how the $s work out, and how soon I can quit. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/52 "2019-06-10T19:34:36Z")
Definetly not. I am only 50 and have got a long time until retirement. I just applied for a new type of job, for new challenges. (I came close, but didn’t get it ☹ ) ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/53 "2019-06-10T19:57:28Z")
About three more years until I can collect full Social Security. The Lovely and Talented Mrs. **Shodan** is doing that already, as well as receiving a life-long pension (I will continue to receive it if she pre-deceases me, which she won’t), and is now making more than when she was working full-time. The plan was to retire and get an easier job, part-time, but but they keep putting me on projects and my manager called me in for a serious talk about where I wanted to go with the company. (There’s an FTE position opening up). We will need to talk $$$ if they want me to take it. So, not coasting yet, but we will see in a couple years. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/54 "2019-06-10T20:32:31Z")
I’m 55 and plan on retiring at 62. Not really costing yet, but definitely planning for post retirement life! I have worked full time since I was 15, that should be long enough, right? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/55 "2019-06-10T20:32:55Z")
I tuned 62 last week and have been coasting for about a year. I figure I will retire in 2-3 years. I actually like my job but loathe the organization. I make good money, have a good director, and pretty much do what I want. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/56 "2019-06-10T20:53:01Z")
I was. Had been a auto insurance claims adjuster for coming up on 20 years, knew I didn’t want to be in management and so was sitting on top of my personal ladder. No problem, the money and benefits were good and I had a fair amount of respect in the office and with local attorneys on both sides of the bar. Smoove sailing–get those claims paid fairly and quickly. And then the whole company philosophy changed and I started to not be comfortable with the direction things were going, my management retired or left the company and I became the faceless problem for someone on the East Coast who had no idea what Colorado was like. Eventually I was given the task of monitoring other adjusters’ handling of the simplest claims. Not reporting, advising, or strategizing. Just monitoring. As in, making sure the automatic sprinklers come on. And then I heard the company’s arch rival plaintiff firm was looking for experienced adjusters. Now stuff is new & exciting and I may not be ready to hang it up in 2035 as previously planned. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/57 "2019-06-11T00:22:10Z")
> [@Tempe\_Jeff](#): > > “I am 50 and just left my job of 12 years yesterday, to start another job in the same field at a much higher salary on Monday. I’d like what I do (immigration law) much better of we didn’t have the current Federal administration that we do, but it’s been sucking the life out of me.” > > I agree, it’s MUCH easier doing Immigration Law with a pro-illegal alien Administration. How do the poor migrants afford your services? Or, are you paid by a benefactor? I am not taking your bait, sorry (not sorry). The current administration has made almost every facet of legal immigration, including such controversial tasks as renewing a green card when the card expires after 10 years, into a gigantic clusterfuck. It used to take 3 - 5 months and now takes more than a year. Naturalization backlogs are off the charts. A lawyer at my old firm literally got a request for evidence recently proving that the position of CEO is an executive or managerial position. As far as the more controversial aspects of immigration law, sometimes people’s family members (a surprising number of whom are U.S. citizens or permanent residents) help them financially. Sometimes my boss gave flexible payment plans. Sometimes when something is important enough to them, people find a way to pay for it. And every once in a while, someone has a private benefactor (employer, union, etc.) Once a very wealthy guy bankrolled a messy asylum case (which we won, btw) as a way of paying it forward for the way the people of the applicant’s nationality protected the Jews during the Holocaust. Humans are complicated. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/58 "2019-06-11T12:28:37Z")
Three years ago I recognized that one of the people working for me was chafing in his position and we would lose him if he couldn’t advance. I decided to step aside and recommended that he be promoted to my job. He has done spectacularly in the position, doing the job far better than I could. I now work for him, doing stuff that I enjoy, and providing him with support and institutional memory. It’s worked out quite well. I’m 62, so retirement is definitely coming up. I’m not coasting, but I have way less stress and enjoying work more than I did. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/59 "2019-06-11T13:12:45Z")
Back in January 2016 I ran a look at post-retirement income and figured it was a tad short and also could not get things done in a coherent manner by August (which would have simplified going to Burning Man) so I announced that I would retire April 1, 2017. That would allow another 15 months worth of contributions to my current 401-K and get a bump in the Social Security benefits. Then in February we were discovered by the corporate bean counters as a cost center rather than a revenue center. I was working as a help desk agent for a merchant card services LLC that, when I started, was owned 51% by a medium-sized bank and 49% by a Financial Company. Just about the time I started, the bank “merged” with a Very Large Bank (i.e. went bankrupt). The VLB and FC did not get along well together and agreed to a slow-motion divorce. Some of pieces of the LLC went to the FC and some (including mine) to the VLB. Over the years, the VLB started implementing its own policies, some of which were positive – for example, when the vacation policy was implemented mine jumped from three weeks to four – and others not so much. One of the changes was to hold down costs at all costs, even sacrificing the future. Up until February our main metric was first call resolution – stay with the issue until it is fixed for now and on down the line. Furthermore, we were encouraged to spot issues that might cause trouble later and invite the merchant to work on those if they had the time. At 97% my FCR was highest in the center and, while my other metrics were not as high, I got the top percentages of yearly raises that were handed out. Then in February, the main metric was average handle time – get on, get off, and fuck how well you do. The target was seven minutes and since the _minimum_ call was about four what with account verification, one long cal could drag down your average score for the rest of the day. Needless to say, I went from star to mediocre and got no raise that October. The only thing that kept me sane was the ever dwindling number in the corner of the whiteboard in my cube. During my exit interview I told my immediate supervisor that had I been forty, or even fifty-five, I would have been looking for a new job. Probably recognizing the reason for my year-long lower scores, he was sympathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197/60 "2019-06-11T13:19:16Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Can you create a project for yourself? Nope. I’ve been in places where I could, but not this one. Right now I’m out of patience and spending my productive time finding out and documenting the internal workings of a lot of stuff that should have been documented already. I’m also being extremely frustrating to people who thought they had documents and who are discovering that no, a 10-page word document of which 75% consists of those blue-colored “here’s how to fill this section” instructions nobody ever removes is not, in fact, useful at all (the other 25% is the header, the title and the sigs box; no actual description of anything). The closest thing we have to documentation is some training materials which indicate stuff such as “fill in the desired codes” but - ah! Which codes? How do you define those ‘desired codes’? What is the difference between ‘certificate logo’, ‘logo certificate’ and ‘logo for certificate’ (other than grammar)? I’m being very nasty to a lot of people (nothing unnerves a certain type of person more than questions they cannot answer), but hey, all of them are supposed to be my supervisors so fuck 'em. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-reached-a-point-in-your-career-where-you-just-want-to-ride-it-out-until-retirement/835197.md?page=4)