The Unretirement thread

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Inspired by the Countdown to Retirement thread, this thread is for people who retired and went back to work, or retired and picked up a volunteer “job” that consumes… Oh, maybe 15+ hours a week, or who could retire but decided not to, at least for now.

I retired, and i volunteered for all sorts of stuff i thought I’d like to do. And i did like doing it. But it was lots of unrelated stuff and sometimes I’d have a bunch of deadlines/busy periods all at once, and i was kinda running ragged. My husband said, “you’re working too hard, you need a job”.

As it happened, a job fell into my lap. So now I’m working again. I’m working as an actuary, which is what i did before retirement. It’s fully remote (i work from my den) and it’s part time and hourly. In theory, I’m targeting 20 billable hours a week, and no non-billable hours. But i can take as much unpaid time off as i want, so long as i tell them in advance so i don’t mess up the schedules. And last week a bunch of stuff wasn’t ready for me to work on, and this week i have been racing to get it done before my next vacation, so I put in nearly 30 hours.

So, that’s not perfect. But i do like to keep busy. I enjoy a completely unscheduled day here and there, but i didn’t like having a lot of them, day after day. I had a stack of projected and just kept putting them off because “i have time” and then felt frustrated. I’ve always known that i get more done when i have deadlines, and i get more of my own stuff done when i need to fit it in around other things.

Since going back to work, I’ve played a lot less Minecraft, and spent fewer days watching TV with my TV buddy, but i haven’t dropped much else. I’m still reading (currently reading the Hugo packet, i highly recommend “Automatic Noodles”. And I read more of it because i have a deadline; i want to vote :joy:) I’m still going on 5 vacations this summer. (Went to Germany to square dance. About to go to a puzzle thing in Italy. I have another square dance thing later this summer I’m Montreal, and another puzzle thing in Minneapolis. And a family vacation in New Hampshire at the end of the summer.)

But…i like working. The actual work is often interesting. There’s a decent mix of “straightforward stuff that’s relaxing and i feel I’m making progress” and “stuff i need to think about”. I try to start work no later than 10am, mon-thur, which keeps me on a semi-normal sleeping schedule. I don’t interact very much with my colleagues, but when i do, i enjoy them. I’m working at a place that offers a flexible lifestyle for a lower wage, so it doesn’t attract ambitious assholes. A lot of my colleagues are also “retired” from more demanding jobs, and others have major hobbies or want time to be with their kids. My work is appreciated, and when i pass something off, i always get thanked. I try to make sure to do the same for my coworkers. And I’m hourly, so if i do end up working “overtime”, i feel like I’m paying for my expensive vacation habit, and don’t have to feel guilty about that expensive entree i ordered on tonight’s takeout. I don’t feel like I’m being taken advantage of.

Countdown to retirement
2

I retired last summer after 35 years as a librarian, the last 20 years in schools. I work 3 or 4 days a week, and don’t have to think about work once the bell rings. I can also mostly pick and choose who I work with (principals can move me to a different class if there’s a greater need). About a fifth of my pension goes to health insurance for Ms. P and me, so we kind of need the money if we don’t want to dip into my 401K yet. In a few years we’ll have Medicare and SS, and Maryland won’t be taxing most of my pension. I should get away with working less, or not at all, at that point. If I like it as much as I do now, I may keep it up as long as I have the energy.

3

I retired 3 years ago and opened up my ebay store 2 years ago.

For the past 2 years I’ve been putting about 2-3 hours/day 7 days a week into building the store, obtaining and managing inventory, and handling sales.

I’ve just maxed out my listings limit of 10,000 items, so now it’s time to coast. Going forward, maybe 15-30 minutes a day or less will suffice.

mmm

4

I’m starting back soon. I don’t really want to but I’ll feel better financially. Less than a year ago we moved and all the things we needed to do with the house cut into our cushion.

I’ve been sort of working since I retired 3 years ago. I got picked up by my old department as a part time officer. It basically means working in the courtroom a few times a month and doing traffic jobs when available. But now I’ve been asked to come back and work part time in the office helping with the logistics section. I’m flattered that they would come to me and ask me to come back. It will be up to 29 hours a week.

The thing that sucks about it is since we moved my commute will be longer than I’ve ever done. We will see how it goes. My army pension kicks in soon and then social security so things will change. My wife is 11 years younger so she will be working for awhile. Like P-man I don’t want to dip into the 401k yet. I have a good pension but the state suspended COLA years ago so the buying power will be dwindling unless that changes.

5

29 hours is a lot. I hope you can get away with less than that most weeks.

6

10,000 of anything is a lot. 10,000 distinct things is even more.

That’s an impressive pile of work in itself even before any are sold and shipped.

7

I retired about 15 years ago.

I had been a professional chess teacher and I still have occasional students who want chess lessons.
But there was a real breakthrough recently when a keen player joined our local bridge club. He pointed out that all clubs tend to gradually lose members and finally fold unless newcomers are found.
So he set up training courses for newbies (which I wrote and ran for him.)
I’ve spent the last year doing four hours a week on that - and we’ve trebled our membership! :sunglasses:

8

When I worked I would go multiple weeks without time off. It’s not that big a deal. During the summer I’ll try to work in the office less and take more traffic jobs. They pay 3x as much :flushed_face:

9

Retired after decades of work as an E/M technician. Sat around for a year until Wife told me to get a job. It was great advice. I work 3 days, 18 hrs/week at a local Ace Hardware. Soon after being hired I volunteered to unload the truck that comes 2 times/week. This is physically difficult but it keeps me fit. I take a lot of time off for travel but management loves me because they don’t have to unload the truck and I’m good with customers.

Been there for 4 years now. The pay isn’t much but I don’t need the money, and it about covers my medical insurance premium. I can see myself working there for a few more years.