I am planning from next year something different (having 4 mortgages gives a bit of perspective) - switching to 90% employment.

Now I couldn't care less about having half a day off once a week (even 4 days work week ain't something spectacular to me), but instead I will work 5 days a week as always till now, but reaping cca 25-26 paid days of vacation on top of current 25. If done smartly and combined with public holidays, it can net 12 weeks per year, while sporting pretty decent corporate career. For cca 7% drop in net income, thats a massive benefit to me.

As a parent of young kids and also a keen adventurer this may be a massive improvement in QOL and happiness, we'll see.

I work 6 days not 5, because the civil world is so unbearable.

I won’t list the problems because it would get political quickly, but some people like me are easy to adapt to logic, but difficult to adapt to the illogical requirements of the social world.

I am deeply unhappy, have had several psychologists for a few years each, it barely helps… because the social world is still illogical.

I’m the kind of boss you may have ;) but honestly my employees are happy, as I strive to make people shine around me. But me… I’m deeply envious of people who can have 3 days off per week and not want to commit atrocities.

I’ve never really been a fan of the concept of “retirement”. It feels very much like a Silent Generation/ Boomer idea that has run its course (for reasons both good and bad).

I watched grandparents on both sides retire and their mental decline tracked their decline in active engagement with meaningful activity.

The way I have always looked at it is that want to “retire from _having_ to work” and promote myself to working on things that I _want_ to work on.

Having said that, I like your “5, 4, 3, …” approach. I’d just be switching out “have to work” days with “want to work” days.

>I watched grandparents on both sides retire and their mental decline tracked their decline in active engagement with meaningful activity.

It's difficult to know which way the causality goes in those situations.

Anyway you don't need to disengage from meaningful activity just because you retired from work.

I agree entirely, by retire I mean “from needing to work” but at that stage I will still be building stuff daily :)

Already at 4 days, only 4 to go!

> The way I have always looked at it is that want to “retire from _having_ to work” and promote myself to working on things that I _want_ to work on.

But this is exactly what retirement is!

Is it? Not the kind of retirement I have seen with grandparents (and parents). Retirement in that sense is stopping meaningful work altogether and doing “leisure”. I feel like that is a rapid pathway to senility.

If I retired right now in my 30s I would be doing more meaningful activity - Game development, spending time with my lovers, reconnecting with my family, taking care of my own health and my house, traveling...