Reduce hours... how much or not at all?

El_Torro

I’m surprised this hasn’t been said already but at least it gives me an opportunity to say it:

You’re 31 years old, why reduce your hours at all? You should be maximising your income for the next 20 years or so and then look at retiring early or reducing your hours. If you don’t need the money now there’s plenty of things you could be doing with it. Paying more into your pension or moving to a more expensive property being two of the options.

The future is very uncertain, how long before your job is replaced by AI? Best to earn what you can now to give yourself more options when you are older and less flexible to retraining.

Just one way to look at your situation, you can either take heed or not. I don’t mean to come across preachy or anything like that, you just asked for opinions and here’s one 🙂

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81901873#Comment_81901873

To add to this - For most people in full time employment at age 31, they want to be seen as reliable, keen even.

To be looking to reduce hours/ go to a 4 day week would likely be a bad move career wise, even in a relatively low level job.

For sure there will be some special cases, but normally if you have any sort of ambition at all, I would not be going down this route.

fringe9434

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81901900#Comment_81901900

you see I have zero ambition at progressing in this department or company whatsoever, it's an absolute !!!!!! at the next level up due to beavis and butthead being our director and senior director

fringe9434

well, that and the fact I have the above finances. I have zero ambition to give more of my time to a company for a salary that is useless in terms of it's power compared to the capital I currently have

El_Torro

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81901919#Comment_81901919

Any money you earn from employment is far from useless, at least until the point that you become financially independent. You're not there yet.

It sounds like the issue is that you don't like your job / the company you work for, rather than the number of hours you are working.

fringe9434

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81901958#Comment_81901958

Na my job is actually ok, the next level up is far from that though. Ye I'm probably being a little bit hyperbolic there but I actually think there is merit in it, I mean my ISA s at a point where the avg interest I make exceeds what the top level scientists make over me per month and I don't even have to do anything, I'd say that's pretty damning.

QrizB

Don't reduce hours

my ISA s at a point where the avg interest I make exceeds what the top level scientists make over me per month and I don't even have to do anything

Per your opening post you've got £141k in a shares ISA. This isn't making interest, it's seeing investment growth.

Depending on the investments you've chosen, next month it could drop 50% or more and stay there for a decade. Those of us who were invested through the dot-com bubble and the GFC have seen it happen.

I suppose I'm channelling my inner Han Solo -"don't get cocky, kid".

fringe9434

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81901979#Comment_81901979

Na i completely understand but I've had it invested for 5 years and I have never once thought about removing money (it dropped 22% back in april and I just laughed it off). I know for a fact even if it halved I would wait it out, got all the time in the world.

Andy_L

What's your commute like? If you've got, say, a 60 min train journey, then dropping a whole day & avoiding that time & cost is better than reducing 2 days hours

fringe9434

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81902030#Comment_81902030

20 min drive in morning, about 25 on way back. Do have quite a nice car for the drive as well so it's significantly better then standing at a bus stop i the !!!!!! rain etc