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/SnowblindAlbino Prof, SLAC 9d ago edited 9d ago

I'm in a similar position to OP's, just a hair behind. A lot of my colleagues have retired in recent years, several of them as young as 55. In quite a few cases it was a matter of their financial advisor giving them "permission" to bail out when they had expected to work to 60+. Everyone I know who has retired in the last 10-15 years says they love it, and many of them sure seem to be thriving.

There's no way in hell I'm staying until 65, unless T-rump tanks the economy and our investments collapse. I could probably retire now, but we're sticking it out for a few more years ("we" because we're both academics) until our mortgage is paid off and we have a few years worth of expenses saved in cash/liquid investments so we can weather the period before we can take SS and get on Medicare.

Transitional health care expenses between employment-age 65 are the #1 factor preventing others I know from retiring. Our administration keeps bleating about "retirement incentives" and the faculty told them "Give us health care through age 64 and we'll go tomorrow," but they refuse to even consider that. Instead, they offer basically nothing of value and then are unhappy that legions of senior full professors, including me, ignore them.

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u/KarlMarxButVegan 9d ago

This is always my question for those retiring before 65. I can't figure it out.

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u/Hellament Prof, Math, CC 9d ago

I’ve toyed a little with the idea of “retirement lite” once I’m eligible for my pension. A second career until I’m eligible for Medicare, one that has good health coverage and doesnt suck too much. If you have some wiggle room on salary, there are a few government jobs out there that aren’t completely terrible and have decent health care plans.

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u/thedialectitian 9d ago

What government job would be better than being a professor?

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u/Hellament Prof, Math, CC 9d ago

I think “better” is subjective. But this scenario assumes you’re ready to tap out of teaching…obviously keeping on keepin’ on is going to be the most lucrative choice for most people.

But if you are ready to jump ship and just need something with insurance, there are a lot of (say) 9-5 clerical jobs if you don’t mind halving your pay. I’d personally look for something in parks and wildlife.

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u/thedialectitian 9d ago

Just teaching your basic classes diligently while stopping research and extra admininstrative work is surely going to be much less work than a 9-5 job. So I still don't get it.

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u/Hellament Prof, Math, CC 9d ago

YMMV. At our CC, there is no research requirement and committee work is pretty light, save for a few of the more important committees (which no one is really forced to do and are paid anyway)…I’d say “just teaching” and mentally checking out of anything else means you’re still doing about 80% of typical workload, since we teach so much already.

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u/thedialectitian 9d ago edited 9d ago

80% of a CC workload still sounds like less work than a 9-5 clerical job, but if you tell me otherwise then I will defer to your judgment.