I hit my retirement goal, quit my job, and loved it – but I’m choosing to go back to work for $450K/year

What would you do if you quit a job, retired early with enough money to live on, and loved your time off — but you got a great opportunity to go back to work and earn $450,000 per year?  This is exactly the situation one Redditor is facing.

The Redditor has decided to return to work, but that may not be the right choice for everyone.

Here’s why the poster went back, along with some tips on how you can decide what to do if you’re lucky enough to be dealing with these circumstances. 

An enjoyable early retirement ends because of a great job opportunity 

The Reddit poster explained that she had the financial means to retire early, but just barely. She said she primarily left her job because of the fact her manager was awful, and that she had a great time being retired, plus the experience was wonderful for her family. However, she’s going to be going back to work now because:

• The new job pays $450,000. Although that is less than what she was making, she said she wouldn’t go back to work for less than $400K, and this amount is obviously above that threshold. 
• She’s going to be working with a friend she spent most of the last decade working with 
• The job scope is reasonable, so she’s not expecting to have to work too many hours.
• She can build a bigger buffer in her savings because she had just barely hit her target when she retired, and this will provide more wiggle room
• She can use this money to enable her husband to retire early, as her going back to work means he’d only need to stay in his position for five more years to earn his pension and then the couple would have enough
• The family could potentially upgrade their home with the extra money she’s making 

She also acknowledged that she could always quit her job if she needed to, so it’s not a huge deal for her to go back.

Is this the right choice?

In this particular situation, it seems clear that the Reddit user is making a good choice for herself and her family. She has some clearly defined financial goals that she’s set for herself, so she isn’t just returning to work for no reason. 

Sometimes, people work just because they like seeing their bank account balance go up, even if there’s no clear purpose for earning extra money. That’s not always a great thing since they are trading their limited time on earth for money they don’t really need and that won’t improve their life. In this case, though, the poster isn’t so rich that there’s no point to earning — she will actually make her situation better and make her family’s circumstances better in a material way. 

In fact, opening up the door to early retirement for her husband may, in and of itself, make the tradeoff of a few extra years at a pleasant job well worth it, so the couple can enjoy life together. 

The Redditor may want to talk to a financial advisor about how best to allocate her newfound salary to ensure she’s accomplishing the goals she has set out to accomplish — and to make decisions like whether to upgrade her home. That way, she can make the most of the money and really see what working for a few extra years could do for her.