Would you work if you were quite well off (not multimillionaire)?

[TheExtraGuineaPig]

The chat about being rich/ suddenly having millions got me thinking. What about if you were quite well off? For instance house was paid off and you had a private income of say - 80k. Would you still work? Would that be enough for the lovely plans in the earlier thread? I think for me it would be, but DC are older teens and their dad would be supporting them through uni as well as me.

No! I’d like to think that work wouldn’t see me for dust (assuming the £80k is as guaranteed as it could be and had some inflation hedging, and I didn’t have significant costs of dependents)

Yes I think I would.

I went freelance in 2016 and found it quite lonely so went back to an office a few years later. Since then I've had 2 years of mat leave, with the pandemic in the middle, and am now working from home part time. It's lonely and has certainly made me realise how much I like the social aspect of going to an office. Then also most people I know work so it's not that easy to find people to socialise with during the standard working week if you don't have colleagues. I have two free days a week atm and have tried going to organised groups or whatever but find I'm often 30+ years younger than everyone else there. So I think not working would be lonely and the lack of structure/routine wouldn't suit me long term.

I used ti always say yes I would. Now I am not sure.

A guaranteed £80k per year - absolutely!! Although if that was for the household, DH and I would probably need to both work part-time as it’s below our current income and we have expensive teens. If it was £110k plus we’d probably just cut back a bit and manage on it.

I’ve gone very part time and done the semi retired thing. It felt too much to go from all to nothing when it actually came to it. Spent nearly two years deciding that!

No. I’m 56 and have more enjoyable things I can do than work if I’m that well off.

I wouldn’t work, hell no.

I’d quit work for half that! £40k/pa would be less than my take home pay, but with mortgage paid off I’d break even.

There must be loads of rich people who could well afford to pay off my mortgage and give me a modest annual allowance in order to make me really happy 😆

Not a chance. There’s much more useful and interesting things I could be doing.

I would work if I could dictate my own hours I think, but if I had lots of money I wouldn’t want to be constrained to 9-5

I wouldn’t work, but I would probably volunteer.

£80k a year would actually be a life changing amount for me. I’m 60, and could actually retire and work on my health and fitness by doing all of the things I really enjoy, like hiking, swimming, SUP, cycling…

At the moment, I feel like work is taking all of my energy. I’m always below par physically. I had a week off to do the things I enjoy a few weeks ago, and all of my aches and pains, stomach issues, and stress just melted away.

80k before or after tax? (It’s nearly a 2k a month difference!)

Assuming it keeps up with inflation and £6666 net after tax would stop work.

If it was 80k before tax and/or didn’t keep up with inflation would do a part time low stress job and lots of holidays!

My pension income is nowhere near £80,000 and I wouldn't dream of going back to work now that I've had a taste of retirement.

No I wouldn't work.
I am not one of those lucky people who have a vocation or a career they love. Work to live and nothing more.

My husband comes from a wealthy family and has a trust fund. We could easily live on the amount it pays each year.
We both still work. I have a satisfying, creative job, which is my passion (and for which I gained a PhD), as does my husband. My husband does have a long commute, but we've dealt with this by buying a small property by my husband's work, where he stays for a couple of nights each week (which happens to be in a quiet pretty costal town, so we go during the weekends too).
For me, I like being busy and purposeful. But I also value the freedom I feel, knowing that, if something was really bothering me about work, I could just quit.

Bloody hell I earn less than half that and still gave a mortgage! Damned right I’d give up full time paid employment although I might go freelance and just do a bit here and there to keep my hand in!

Absolutely funking Not!

Why the hell would you? Makes absolutely no sense!

Maybe part time or only on something that interested me.

Not a fucking chance.

As soon as I have enough money to comfortably (and based on conservative models/assumptions) generate a passive income of about £40K, I'm done.

Hopefully by about 48 at latest.

I do.

Work is different when you are doing it knowing you can leave anytime (although my colleagues aren’t aware)

80k tax free? Yep I’d quit work.

No, I don’t like working.

No. If I didn’t financially need to keep on working, it just wouldn’t happen.

If I tried to work, sooner rather than later my alarm would go off on a cold, wet, dark winter morning and I would think ‘fuck that’, turn over & go back to sleep.

@SpottyAlpaca

I would like to think I would but then yeah…. A cold and frosty morning …. 👋.

@SpottyAlpaca totally agree with the cold and frosty mornings! It was an added factor in semi retirement and moving to p/t within walking distance!

I’ve continued to work albeit minimally as I do like the social interaction and much needed routine to my week. P/t gives me 4 days to do as I wish and see if I can fill my days before I take full retirement next year.