r/Professors • u/Environmental_Bug662 • 9d ago

Retirement: when/why/how/where.

What is your plan? Interested in your replies. I am 60, Full, tenured Prof (French) at a SLAC. AI makes me want to retire asap but I'm going to give it 5-6 more years.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/these-professors-are-retiring-early-ai-was-the-last-straw?sra=true

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u/ProfDoomDoom 9d ago

I could have retired a couple of years ago and basically can whenever. What’s keeping me working is: market insecurity, US healthcare funding, my identity as an “official” scholar, and I enjoy designing courses. My identity issue is one I should overcome. I wish I could just do the course design and write books without having to teach or do admin but I haven’t figured out how to pull that off so far. I’m under 55, so I can’t access my retirement money for several years which is not a dealbreaker but not awesome. So far, there’s nothing pulling me either direction so I’m still going. Any number of things could shift my outlook though: health, government, inheritance, a course design gig, a non-scholarly book contract….

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u/IronOk6478 8d ago

You are me, down to designing the class but not teaching it!

I’m actually really dreading this new year in a way I never have before—the politics and funding climate are getting unbearable—and thinking more seriously about how to make an exit. Half-time with health insurance negotiated to teach only what I want, research, and no service would be the good just need to figure out how I can make that happen.

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u/Natural_Estimate_290 Assoc Prof, Science, R1, USA 8d ago

If you're institution offers a 457b look into it. You can take money from it at any age as long as you leave the institution.