The Question:

This morning, my SO and I had a good conversation about our goals over the next few years. It basically boiled down to: do we want to continue working regular( ) hours to support a higher savings rate to RE in a shorter period, or work fewer hours to enjoy a more flexible life and push the 'full' RE to a later date. I thought it would be worth putting the same question to ya'll mangs.

The Context:

I'm a freelance writer. Over the past few years, I've worked 50 hours each week to get us out of student debt, save an EF, keep things afloat as we had our first child, etc. In the same period, I've increased my hourly rate fourfold and have more work than I know what to do with. We can now meet our month to month expenses with about 10 hours of work each week. Or I could work 20 hours a week and save ~$25k a year. Or I could work full-time and save $50k a year.

At the same time, our daughter is 18 months old and we're in the process of adopting another child. We also have a high school student living with us, who we're committed to supporting as mentor figures through college. Do I really want to work 40 hours each week when I have the freedom to spend more time with my family while we're all young? Maybe, since now is the best time to save. But I'm really thinking the answer is no.

Thankfully it's a spectrum, not an either/or decision. We're just in the process of deciding where we want to land.