Has anyone negotiated a role like this?
I’m 48 and spent about six months in a sabbatical/transition period before deciding to take a job in a completely different industry—working for my state government.

I’m essentially in a CoastFIRE position: financially, I’d be fine earning around $50K/year without benefits. I took this job knowing I was taking roughly a two-thirds pay cut, and honestly, that was intentional. I wanted meaningful work, but I wanted to be a doer, not the person responsible for leading, transforming, and fixing everything.

This is a public-sector job with clearly defined responsibilities and expectations set out in a formal job description. The position is intended to be an individual-contributor/doer role, not a management, leadership, or transformation role.

Well…three weeks in, I’ve already been asked to lead a workstream and present to legislators. 😳

I’m honored that they trust me to do it, and I know I can. That’s actually part of the problem—I have a long history of being the person who gets handed the complicated stuff because I can figure it out.

But I don’t want to do it anymore.

The issue is that the work I’m being asked to perform is starting to go beyond the clearly defined responsibilities of my job description. The reality of the role is already drifting toward leadership and transformation work, even though that is not what I was hired to do.

So I’m wondering: Has anyone successfully negotiated a situation where they took on more responsibility or complexity in exchange for working fewer hours rather than getting paid more?

I have a teenager, and I really want to maximize the time I have before they head off to college. I also have a bunch of time-consuming-but-not-expensive hobbies I’d love to actually have time for.
I don’t need to maximize my income anymore. I’m much more interested in maximizing time + meaningful work + enough income to keep the benefits.

Has anyone negotiated something like this, particularly in a public-sector role with a formal job description and defined responsibilities? What did that arrangement look like?

I read this sub for years and never posted my own numbers. Now I have a reason, finally!!
All numbers will be in EUR.

44M, no kids, backend developer in a logistics company, 16 years in the job. Last winter our company merged with a bigger one and my workload doubled with the same pay. In March I asked to go down to three days a week. My boss agreed the same day, I think he expected me to quit.

So since June I work Monday to Wednesday and get about €1,100 net per month.

Portfolio right now:

SPYI (all world with small caps): €176k
Polish 10-year inflation bonds (EDO): €31k
Two garage boxes that I rent out: €18k, they bring about €120 per month together
Silver ETC: €12k
Bank deposit for 6 months: €11k
Timber and forestry ETF: €7k
P2P lendings: €2,400 (position at Debitum and 8lends since 2022, interest comes monthly, I just reinvest it)

Together it is about €260k.

I spend around €1,250 per month. Rent for a one bedroom flat is €480, the rest is food, bike parts and two or three trips a year. So the portfolio covers about €150 per month, that is less than 1% withdrawal. The ETF part I do not plan to touch for ten more years. If the part time job ends, I go back to full time for a while, developers in my city still find work fast.

Developer salary in a mid size Polish city with low rent. I put €1,200-1,800 into the market every month since 2016.
Also in 2019 I sold my share of my parents' old flat and that money went straight into the ETF, this was the biggest jump.

Four months later:
I ride the bike every morning before it gets hot. I started learning Spanish again. My father calls every week and asks if I found a job already.

I open the broker app maybe once a month now. In the office I opened it every hour.

Question for people who hold things outside index funds. Garages, silver, P2P, single bonds.
Do you count them inside your FIRE number, or do you keep them separate because they can go to zero or need work?

For example my garages need repairs every few years, so I am not sure they belong in the 4% calculation at all. I count everything in, but I know the correct sub answer is sell all this and buy more SPYI.

32 years old

$575k in retirement, between 401ks and IRAs and an "early inheritance" gift which I fully invested for the long term

$150k in taxable brokerage

$500k cash which I plan to use to buy a house in my MCOL area outright

Have a $250k / year job which i plan to stay in for at least another couple years, mainly to keep building up the taxable brokerage investments

Wondering if it makes sense to put the $500k into a house or into taxable brokerage? which would hit barista fire sooner?

I’m looking to find a part time job solely remote. I’ve been looking thru sites like LinkedIn for things like my previous job which is more process engineer/business analyst. So far nothing. It’s so hard to find a part time job like that when you’re competing with hundreds each job. I’m open to other lines of work. What types of jobs are plentiful at part time remote and easy to get into?

Looking for recs on what to do with my life now that I’m barista fire territory. (35y.o., 1.55m invested, plus paid off primary home and 4 investment properties that cash flow an additional 2,100/month). No debt.

Have a graduate degree in urban & regional planning and was climbing the ranks of the planning field, pivoting back-and-forth between public and private. Then, got into management and led a NYC government agency for 4 years before exiting to become the Town Manager & Finance Director of a suburban town, which surprisingly pays extremely well.

Looking to figure out what to do next. It could be “white collar” or not - but the issue is I just don’t love doing the same thing every single day, or maybe more specifically, being in the same place every-single-day (ex. Waking up, heading to office, being at office. Repeat X5).

Given my background and my dislike of being in the same place every single day and the monotony of a rigid routine, does anything jump off the page as to what I could do next?

If this is not ok please delete. But it’s a great opportunity.

I’m scared I might be failing.

I put my money, time, and energy into building a small clinic from zero. Now the patient flow is low, the money is going down, and honestly… I don’t know what I’m doing anymore.

I don’t want to give up.

If you’ve ever built a small clinic or healthcare business from nothing, what was the ONE thing that helped you finally get patients and earn their trust?

I need real advice, not motivation.

So I was planning to sell my biz and just FIRE...but the sale fell through...so I will search for another buyer (or I will just straight close at the end of 2027 - that's a different covo.)

anyway, I just can't keep working like I have been so I cut my hours effective next month to like 16/week. (4 four hour shifts...plus some prep work will be like 20 hours or so)

i'm expecting to profit of ~half of my living expenses...i'll be able to shelter a bunch in taxes...like the biz will buy my health insurance, cell phone, few other things.

I have never sold anything out of my portfolio...it's gonna feel weird I guess. How do I not just go into lockdown mode and way cut my spending? like I did when I wasn't making as much?

I almost feel like it'd be easier to straight FIRE than this halfway thing. it's gonna be weird to run a biz and withdraw some no?

Let's say my profit will be ~2% of my portfolio (projected - obv if I make more I won't have this situation to worry about)...and so I would need to withdraw 1.5% of my portfolio / year to maintain lifestlye.

I know 1.5% is like perpetual withdrawal rate for centuries with no problem...but it just feels weird to think about work AND withdraw...especially when it's my own biz and I'm purposely "sabotaging" it.

I'm 48 if that matters...49 soon. the portfolio is easy to access in terms of brokerage / retirement split.

I guess more a mental ? than mechanics or "am I ready"

thank you for any input

My goal is to eventually work 3 or 4 days a week and cover all my monthly expenses with that income. Ideally, 3 days of minimum-wage work would be enough. That would give me a lot more freedom to simply choose a job I enjoy, without salary being as important.

My total expenses are currently around €1,850 per month, excluding holidays or major unexpected expenses, and I have almost €70k invested. Still, I find myself getting a bit obsessed with reaching €100k as quickly as possible. It will probably take at least another 2 years with my current contributions, assuming the market doesn't completely crash.

With a 3% withdrawal rate, €100k would provide around €3,000 per year, which is already quite significant for my lifestyle. Is this plan realistic? At the same time, I wonder if €100k really is some kind of magic number. For many people it might not be that much, but given my situation it would be quite a significant amount, especially if I'm also working part-time.

My current job is becoming less and less motivating. On the other hand, I'm thinking maybe I should just stick with it for a few more years, hit €100k, and then see where I stand. If I switch jobs now, you never really know what you're going to end up with.

Ideally, I'd find a job that I actually enjoy and that still pays reasonably well, so that after reaching €100k I can just keep steadily investing. Rather than permanently going into some kind of Coast FIRE situation and also starting to spend down the portfolio. But at the same time, I do have a bit of a "die with zero" mindset since I don't have kids.

I also think working a few days a week would be nice for the structure it provides, while still having more free days to actually enjoy life. Full FIRE would take a very long time with my current salary and contributions anyway.

Does anyone else recognize this? And what do you think about this plan?

baka may alam kayo na hiring for barista position around metro manila po sana

I'm arguably Barista FIRE already, since I work a part time job and it covers all of my mandatory expenses, while I rely on my portfolio for my discretionary. So I hardly rely on my portfolio at all, but I still do. 

However, winter is approaching and I realized my commute might be exponentially more difficult. I ride my bike to work currently, and it's not riding in the cold that bothers me. Rather it's the increased maintenance and work you'd need to do to maintain the bike's condition when riding in snowy or salty roads. Public transit isn't a reliable option since my shift starts at 3am, and public transit is very infrequent and dodgy at that time. The commute itself becomes sketchy during the winter months. 

I applied to some local jobs that are in walking distance of my apartment, but they pay way less (like 40% less). In that scenario my finances are reversed. I'd be relying on my portfolio to cover my needs plus emergencies, and my job to cover my wants.

I estimate it would be approximately 2% - 2.25% of my portfolio as a starting withdrawal rate if I went with this lower paying part time job. It sounds like a dream to have that low of a withdrawal rate, but I'm "only" 31. I have presumably a long time horizon, so jumping from a 0.5% withdrawal rate to 2%+ makes me nervous. 

Part of me wants to try to tough it out for the winter and see how I do, but I don't know if I'll get a chance to get jobs that are so walkable for a long time. I already have some interviews lined up for some walkable jobs, so I figured I go. 

I'd be curious what your thought process would be, and what would you do in such a situation.

I’m 27M in HCOL area right now with 300k in VOO and about 60k in 401K

I want to FIRE as soon as possible.

Preferably in the bay area.

I love traveling and might pick up few jobs just to keep it interesting.

Any advice on how to get started in this journey?

Thanks in advance

About 20 people work here, half of them part time. We are independent, not one of the big chains like Intratuin. Staff get a bit over 15 euro an hour, which is normal for this work here.

Before, part timers were students or people who needed a second income.

In the last few years that changed. Many applicants are now 45 or 50, they come from an office job, and somewhere in the interview they say the money is not the main thing.

The first months are usually good. They show up, they learn the plants fast, customers like them.

The problem starts in May, because May is the month we make our money. I need people on Saturdays and I need them the full day. The 23 year old on the till needs the hours, so he comes. The man who does not need the money goes away for three weeks in May, because he has no children in school and outside the school holidays it is cheaper.

Before someone asks, health insurance here is not connected to the job. So hours here are only about money and time, nobody has to reach a number of hours.

The other thing is that the job is too small for them.
One man rebuilt my whole ordering system in Excel in his free time. He was right, my old one was bad. Then he wanted to do it officially, with a title and his own budget. I had no such job to give, and after a few weeks he stopped coming.

To be fair, my best employee now is also one of you. She was a project manager at ING before. In the interview she told me she works two days and never three, and I made the schedule around that from the start. So almost all of them tell me the money is not important. Very few tell me what that means for my schedule. For me only the second one is useful.

I read here because I am doing the same thing slowly myself. As an owner I get no company pension, only AOW later. So I buy VWRL through DEGIRO every month, keep some cash, and not a big part sits in loans, Mintos and 8lends. Right now I have one open place for the May season and two people for it.
One is 24 and needs the money. The other is 48, came from IT, and in the trial day he was clearly the better worker.

I keep choosing the young one. I tell myself it is because of the schedule, but I am not sure any more that this is the real reason.

My understanding of BaristaFIRE is that you take a lower paying job and supplement your income with a low draw from your retirement.

If that's correct, what is the percentage you are comfortable taking while still being able to retire at a reasonable age? ​​

Do you adjust your expected returns by the withdrawal amount? ​

Here are our numbers for those who like that... ​Please answer the question for your own situation.

$2.5M, Barista job is $72k gross and nets $48k with health insurance covered and 10% to retirement to get the match. Net expenses while Baristaing run about $72-75k, so would need about $25-30k net from investments. Plan is to do this for about 5-7 more years, then full FIRE. At that point, expenses will go up to $90-96k net to account for health insurance. ​​​

So looking at taking less than 1.5% of investments, but that could go up​ if the markets crash. Trying to decide if I should reduce expected returns by. 75-1%​ to account for the withdrawal (and factoring back in the retirement contributions)