We are all supposed to have an elevator pitch for who we are and what we do. At least that’s what the entrepreneurial community I blog in fervently advises. And I get that, because one of life’s most common, awkward, “getting to know you” questions is, “What do you do?” That is a tough one for me, maybe for you, if you have walked away from the 9 to 5 world too. Sometimes I say I’m retired, sometimes I say I am a consultant and sometimes I find myself giving a detailed answer to what was a polite social question from someone who does not want all of my details.
Maybe it is because as an engineer I have an overwhelming addiction to precision, making me uncomfortable implying something that is not accurate. Retired, that implies I stopped working for money. That is not true. I’ve made twice the median income each of the three years I’ve been “retired”. Consultant, that implies I’ve got a job. Jobs consume something like 40 hours a week, often even more. I work maybe 12 hours a week, or 20 hours one week and then zero the next. That is not a real job. Most accurate might be to say, I work part time. But part time sounds like I’m an associate at Walmart (no offense Walmart nation). It also sounds like somebody who did not save enough money and is barely scraping by without resorting to cat food sandwiches (My generation is not sure exactly what Ramen noodles are.)
I have experimented with things like, consulting is my “hobby job” but people look at me like I’ve lost touch with reality when I say that. Apparently, the concept of a hobby and the reality of their jobs do not intersect. I’m sure if my retirement side gig was mountain rescue or photographing super models it might resonate with working people but technical consulting, a hobby, really? And it is not really a hobby. My hobbies are tennis, distance running, hiking, fishing, off roading, downhill skiing, watching sports, reading and blogging, in no particular order. Hard to explain what my side gig work is to me, even now as I try to express it to you. Even calling it a side gig is wrong, it is my only gig.
Last week I went to a part of South Louisiana miles and miles away from anything remotely resembling civilization (no offense Cajun nation). I spent three days there at a facility reviewing drawings and information about a new expansion they were building at the site. I had lunch everyday at the only restaurant within driving distance and ate take out in my motel room every night. I’ll spend a day or two more on that writing a report and probably hosting a conference call to explain it to their engineers and they will send me a check for five days of work plus expenses.
I had fun doing that project, but not the skiing down Birds of Prey at Beaver Creek Colorado kind of fun. And the money, well it is nice to earn six figures. Most people never get to do that, especially for a part time gig. But I saved a high percentage of my income for decades and invested it well just so I would never need a paycheck after I retired. And it worked, I do not need to earn any more money. But it still feels good to get paid.
Which still leaves me with the question, why work if you do not need the money? Unfortunately, the answer is one of those overly detailed ones that doesn’t fit in an elevator pitch, but here goes. The things my consulting part time hobby job work gives me that I enjoy are these:
Being an expert. I was never a great athlete in school but I had a very bright mind. It was easy to see early on in life that most of the time I was one of the smartest guys in the room. That got me nowhere with the girls in high school but once I made it into the business world it paid off. I was quick, clever and intuitive and I liked it when people recognized that. It got me promotions good pay and lots of responsibility at work, in political circles and in all kinds of volunteer endeavors. As a consultant I still get to enjoy being the guy who can walk in with his leather backpack and rescue people from their problems.
Expenses paid by others. My awesome computer gear, cell phone, software, travel costs, fine dining, entertainment, hotels, airline tickets, gasoline, etc. are all paid for by my clients. Sure, I could afford to buy a lot of that but everything is more fun when it is free, or part of the job. I like my tech toys, I like travel and I like eating out. Even take out in swamp country is kind of fun. The alligator was not bad!
Keeping my brand alive. Most people who were connected while they were working find that network falls apart pretty quickly after they retire. I still work with the same business and government leaders I worked with before so I’m still in the game. The fact that I only do it a day or two a week is not obvious to them. If I ever needed to rejoin the rat race I easily could (no offense rat nation). I’ve turned down some great job offers every year since I retired and expect to keep doing that because my network doesn’t see me as a retired guy.
Some of you do not like your jobs, maybe most of you that are in the 9 to 5 world do not. And I know your version of life 2.0, after pulling the “financially independent and retire early (FIRE)” trigger, imagines nothing but travel, hobbies and passion projects. I have hobbies, we travel around this country and around the world as much as we care to, and I do some very worthwhile volunteer work that helps people in ways I can see with my own eyes. But it is not enough for me, just doing those things. None of that gives me what work does. Work gives me an identity and a feeling of significance, of being useful. Work lets me do things I’m excellent at, and that is very satisfying to me. And because my work involves lots of different people it provides me a social experience that I know is good for me.
What about you? Do you think you will work after you no longer need to?
Or maybe you are already financially independent. If so and you still work, why do you do it?
If you would like to leave a comment just click on the title of this post!
i always enjoyed that area of cajun country. i did some work in lafourche parish back in the day and those guys were no b.s. i’m still working for wants money like a few luxuries and i have enough time as it stands to do the things i want to do. if my close friends were within 20 miles i would keep working a long time the way things are now.
i could see doing something so long as my body allows, but maybe an on-call or seasonal thing with an extremely loose schedule that allowed for saying “no thanks.” sometimes. i like being around people.
One of my friends, an engineer I worked with forever, just retired early. He plans to do intermittent project work, like a three month engineering project, then take some months off. So I guess there are lots of ways to do part time work after leaving the 9 to 5. I do find the social part of the “work” I do now very enjoyable, probably the best part of it.
If I didn’t need to work, I’d still do some free consulting or mentoring for my old colleagues. Just the fun projects though! That said, I’ve been thinking a lot lately that I might need to work indefinitely for the social aspect. I can envision myself getting very isolated and hermit like without some forced social contact.
The social part is pretty big, I have other outlets like my running group and my tennis buddies but associating with business people and other engineers is a different kind of social that makes my life feel richer. Plus honestly, with all the time I’m home now I think it gives my wife a break when I spend a night on the road!
Hi Steve, Thanks for the thought provoking post! I’m in my second year of retirement, and I also struggle with the “What do you do?” question. I just say tutoring or volunteering, even though that only takes up about 4 hours per week. Because I don’t think people would really get it if I said, “Living and chilling.” Trying to get into my tennis playing more and really look up to how you and your wife compete! Someday I hope to get there myself! Dragon Gal
We are just 4.0 players, the real superstar of the financial blogging community is the Financial Samurai. He is a 5.0 which puts him just below the pro players. Our entire state can’t even field a single 5.0 team that’s such a lofty level! Wife and I head to the state tourney next weekend. If our team wins we can go to sectionals and then to nationals but we are more likely to end up in second place based on looking at who we will be playing. I just hope I behave myself and she is still speaking to me after the weekend. It takes a brave man to play competitive sports with his wife as his partner! As to what to say you do, yeah, I still struggle with that one!
Yeah, I might be a 2.0 on a good day. Ha!
Good luck to you and your wife at the state tourney! Have fun! Keep us updated on your results! 🎾🎾🎾🥇🥇🥇
I broke strings in two of my racquets today hitting with my wife. Fortunately I have a friend who will restring me in time.
I do envision that I will do some consulting type work when I first retire but time will tell. I have a few initiatives in mind that I would like to pursue in the non-profit space, so I anticipate that will be similar to working and provide a lot of features that people get from a job.
I walked straight into some of my gigs without a day off because the timing was critical on the two core ones. But that won’t be the case for you probably or for most people. The nice thing is you have all the time in the world to try things. I did not consult for my former employer for over a year after I left and now they call me frequently. I do a lot of non-paid non-profit work helping to run a small community college and a fairly large local foundation. I spend as much time or more at those places as I do at my paid work and they do offer a lot of the same things my former job did so I think your thoughts are very good along those lines.
Great post. As a retired engineer going on year 8 of my “retirement” (hate that word!), I thought I’d chime in. I have been lucky enough to find the hobby of playing Taiko drums with a group that gives me a wonderful social network, something to gain expertise on, and I have created their website and videos exercising my engineering skills, but doing it for free. That is one example, but I still do engineering things all the time. It’s who I am.
When I first quit, I did struggle more with identity and I still have to say that it takes an effort to build a social network. It has been much more fun since my husband quit his job and we do a lot of things together. I believe this question that you raise here is the essential thing that everyone pursuing FI has to face and figure out. The beauty of it is when you actually do have the money, then seeing how you feel about your work and deciding on your own how to structure it. I think the way you have set up the consulting is really a great match for you. Nice “job”!
You sound like my brother, also slightly early retired. He got very into teaching Tai Chi, maybe I spelled that right, and church planting, and in his case, grand kids. I think what I’m doing is working for me but because I never really took a break before I dove into consulting I may be crediting the work for more than I should. Maybe if I had the same life minus the one or two days a week of work I’d be just as happy? My wife retired long ago to be a stay at home mom and we do a lot together. We both are runners and big tennis players and love our bass fishing, hiking, off roading and travel so it is nice that we don’t have to look very far to find someone to do things with. We do struggle to find other couples that both do the same things like we do. We are always trying to find people to play tennis with or to go on hiking with but often only the wife or only the husband is into the athletic stuff.
That is the great thing about FIRE is you can achieve FI without necessarily doing the RE part.
Your points are exactly what goes through my mind in terms of what will I do when people ask me what do I do after I retire. I think people would think I was nuts if I said I gave up radiology and became a blogger.
I think most people will look at me strange regardless if I say I gave up a high paying job at such a young age (I’m shooting for 53 at the latest (I’m 47 now). But in the end the only person I have to answer to and be happy with the answer I give is myself. Trying to do something so that society perceives you a certain way is how people get in trouble in the first place.
Good point, it doesn’t really matter what people think. On the other hand we have a need to connect with others and explaining what you do when you are early-semi-retired-side-gigging is a bit of a speed bump at first with people you meet the first time. My good friends that I get to spend more time talking to seem to universally appreciate my life choice, and sometimes even envy it a bit. I think they think that finding consulting work is easy for me because I’m an engineer but that isn’t really so. I developed some niche areas that aren’t really normal engineering but are technical and rare that make the bulk of what I do now possible and I did that intentionally over the last 30 years because I thought it would be a nice asset when I retired. I’m not sure everyone plans that far ahead but I have been thinking about life after work for most of my career. I guess cause my dad kept some part time work into his 70’s even though he had plenty of money in retirement, plus pensions. I saw that it added to his life.
Excellent write up, Steve. Reminds me of Uncle Daryl’s (@Jump to Consulting) philosophy. One should never retire into a world of do-nothing. Jiro still dreams of sushi into his 90s – retirement unthinkable. I prefer to imagine a retirement where I’m simply my own boss, setting my own agenda, schedule, and priorities. Focusing my energy where it feels right to me.
Thank you Cubert, I love your blog! I think my plan was right for me. I also think there are people who are perhaps less mercenary than me that could find total fulfillment in volunteer work. It just doesn’t push the same buttons for me, or maybe I’m not volunteering in the right spot yet. But so far it has been three fun years! As far as I can tell Jiro is still alive and kicking and I’d love to visit his place someday and see what real (non-Arkansas) sushi tastes like!
Great post Steve!
I am FI but I don’t see myself not working. Soon, when my lay off is finalized, I will take some time to determine how often I actually want to work and what kind of work I want to focus on. I definitely don’t want a set schedule.
Hope your competition went well:)
It isn’t going too well at all but that’s tennis for you. I think most of us will do some work but hopefully on our own terms and with a lot of flexibility. Thanks for commenting Caroline!
As former software techie I don’t expect to work anymore. Partly because my lazy streak is getting the better of me. Partly because skill-sets grow stale so quickly in computer tech. Partly because I’m moving (for family reasons) to a tech desert (my specialty doesn’t lend itself to working remotely). Partly because I want to indulge other interests. And as a total nerd unconcerned with social status, my post work identity is just fine, thank you very much. Because being a nobody is just more of the same.
I disagree with the blithe assumption that white collar workers can work into their 70’s and beyond. Cognitive decline with age is well established fact, so not just blue collar workers affected. Willingness to keep up with eager 20/30 somethings able to put in death march workloads fades. And again, I’m keen to expand non-work interests that got short shrift.
Incidentally, why are comments turned off so soon on earlier posts? They aren’t that dated.
I guess it has a lot to do with knowing yourself and what will make you happy. You seem to have a good handle on that and I think that is the main secret in planning your life at any age. I agree in IT skill sets do fade fast, in chemical engineering not so much. The area I consult in is a process invented during WWII which has been improved but not radically so most of the experts have long since died leaving me in a relatively niche market.
I think it depends on the person, I’ve known technical experts who remained sharp into their 80’s but after 70 it is going to be very individual as to who shows serious decline and who doesn’t. Right now I’d like to keep working at my light, one to two day a week, schedule up to 70 and maybe later. My dad kept working into his early seventies and showed no mental decline but his work was not super technical either. The other thing about consulting is you don’t have to keep up with 20/30 year olds, you simply point them in the right direction and let them do the heavy lifting. It really is an enjoyable hobby to me.
I think all the reasons you give are sound, and the great thing about FI, or not having to work for money, is that you can pick and choose your projects. When you take on projects for pay, it adds to your reserve — you can always choose to give away the fees you earn if you really don’t need it. Depending on your line of work, some of the best projects will be for large, for-profit companies or wealthy individuals, both of whom can afford to pay. So why not collect the monetary value for your work? Again, you can always donate it, and then your work becomes a not-for-profit indirectly.
Good points, we do give away a significant amount of what we earn, always have. And I’m sure my kids won’t mind getting robust inheritances some day to shore up any retirement deficiencies they might have, although I doubt they will need it any more than I needed my parents money when my brother and I inherited it. One of the peculiar things about consulting is that unless you charge a rather huge fee then your advice is not given the serious consideration it deserves. In a counter-intuitive way you are actually doing your clients a favor by charging a high fee so that they will pay attention to what you are telling them.
Oh and by the way, I love Costa Rica. I tarpon fished (catch and release) at Rio Parismina lodge and it was a wonderful experience. We also got to explore the rain forest and Tortuguero National Park. Howler monkeys, toucans and deadly little poison frogs. Just a lot of amazing things to see. And everyone we met was so friendly and so in love with life!
转眼已到年中，时间过的真快，忙里偷闲，看看博客，散散心！
Google translate did not handle your comment very well, but thanks for stopping by!
Hey thanks for noting my post! I do believe that those of us who need some work in retirement for reasons other than financial probably know we need it, if we will stop and think about it. Like most of life it is emotional and not a logic based decision, at least in my case.
thanks for the mention!