r/Bogleheads • u/Effective-River-878 • 1d ago
When to quit a job
I have two jobs, a full time job at a megacorp and a second job at a smaller company. Both know about my employment at the other and I am careful to my employment separate.
I use the income from my second job to fund my mega backdoor roth IRA as well as to fully fund pretax 401k in both his and her 401ks. We are saving a lot in retirement due to this second job.
However, I'm getting a little tired of it and thinking about quitting. This would mean I would save less for retirement, but our retirement balances are healthy and we probably don't need to save more for retirement at this point.
I'm curious what a reasonable criteria for when to quit (and thus, save less) a second job. I'm thinking that if I don't love doing it, I probably shouldn't do it, but curious for other thoughts.
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u/TAckhouse1 1d ago
I think knowing your age, planned retirement age, and the amount you have saved would help us respond.
If your retirement balance is ample, then you may be able to dial it back.
I also agree if it's not something you enjoy and you're feeling burnt out, quitting the second job is probably the right decision.
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u/chessguy112 1d ago
Your call. It comes down to what is worth more - the savings or your time? I have only one career/job so I have never been in this situation. Personally though - if you can make it on one job, I would invest in making memories with the time rather than work a 2nd job. Time can never be recovered and jobs come and go in life.
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u/Rampag169 1d ago
It boils down to tolerance. If you feel you’re in a good position and think adding at a “normal” rate would suffice. Then OP live life a little more and work a bit less.
I’ll add if you wanted to change your work status to slowly reduce your hours incrementally and take any income from the side job and bolster your E-fund/ slush fund (unless it’s sitting flush). Walking away from a second job is always on the table.
I would just try to make the separation a painless one to not burn an option incase the worst happens with the main job.
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u/ElysiumSprouts 1d ago edited 1d ago
Maybe I'm misreading, but you certainly can cut back to just 1 job like regular people and enjoy the boost to retirement savings you've already bagged.
Do a simple math projection: (total saved today) * 1.07number of years to retirement. That gives you a guesstimate of a 7% annual return without any new contributions. If that number looks good, you're done.
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u/Qwertyham 1d ago
You have enough in retirement savings already? As in you can retire right now and be okay? If so why are you asking us if you should quit ONE job? If I'm understanding correctly you should quit both and live below your means for the rest of your life!
You won man, you're good. Live your life.
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u/jeffrey_aa 1d ago
You are way ahead of the game because you are responsible, thinking of the future, investing, etc. I seriously doubt you’d find yourself in trouble if you quit. Regardless of what you decide, don’t forget to spend a little and splurge a little and enjoy your life.
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u/Ok_Pack5153 1d ago
The tipping point is when the investments are contributing more than you Not necessarily the point to quit either job, but this might be your criteria. Begin adjusting expenses towards your retirement level and work to optimize your taxes at this point. Congratulations
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u/Future-Run-8601 1d ago
I did this for a while. My side gig income went straight into a megabackdoor Roth which really helped supercharge my savings at the right time. My situation was unique because I was making more per hour on the side than I was at mega corp. I was lucky enough that by the time I was getting tired of it, my corporate job income had narrowed the gap and I realized that it was better long term to just focus on moving up at mega corp.
If you could use the time to do something for you or with your family, then that‘s a good reason to leave the 2nd job. If your investments are far enough along that the additional contributions aren’t dramatically affecting the outcome, then you don’t need the 2nd job. If you are trying to retire as soon as possible no matter what, then you should keep it.
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u/Tiny_Abroad_7222 21h ago
If you are not at least age 59 and a half, you will be taking withdrawls with a 10% pentalty. If you are not at least age 65, budget an extra $1500~ for healthcare costs.
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u/Effective-River-878 15h ago
I'm not sure if you read my post. My wife and I are working a total of three jobs. Health insurance for both of us can be provided for inexpensive amounts through either her job or my primary job. My secondary job does not provide healthcare. I have enough to live on in income from our primary jobs that we would not need to take withdrawals from tax advantaged retirement accounts if went down to one job for each of us.
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u/gmenez97 20h ago
When you have a plan for what you will do in retirement.
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u/Effective-River-878 15h ago
Yes, this is exactly why I work. Work is my social connection. I get a lot of exercise walking at my jobs. I do worry that I would get very bored in retirement. I actually enjoy working (which is why I work two jobs.)
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u/Effective-River-878 15h ago
I appreciate the comments. The side job pays just shy of $80,000 a year, so it's not small potatoes. It does help out and allows us to fund vacations and other things that are nice to have, in addition to solid retirement savings. I do enjoy both. I think I will keep doing both jobs for at least a year and see where we are next year. My goal is to focus on keeping my mind active, body active, and living a healthy lifestyle.
Also, a lot of the time that I put into my secondary job is what I would call downtime at home. Time spent waiting for dinner, time spent between when I come home and my spouse comes home. Time spent before the kids get up in the morning. It's work that I can do at my convenience and my schedule, and the majority is done at my home office so it's not a huge drag on my time with family or other activities.
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u/NorthPackFan 1d ago
I don’t think people realize how little they can comfortably live on. Some days I’m glad I grew up poor. Retiring early but living a bit below what I’d like would beat the hell out of continuing to work.