I'm in the midst of going through the application, testing, interviewing and hiring process for a pair of government positions. One of which is a federal position that allows for flex time and telecommuting allowable for 80% of the work load, and another for the county at the courthouse.

The federal position would potentially allow for the opportunity for me to accept both, if things improve medically over the next 6 weeks. The salary of having both would be nice, but the real payoff would be in 20+ years in having a pair of pensions. Has anyone held 2 full time positions for an extended period 5+ years) of time? I have myself for 18 months and also held a pair of positions which totalled 72 hours a week for 38 months.

It will depend on the position and agency. My wife worked for a state and county agency at the same time no problem. My agency frowns upon any outside employment due to the safety sensitive nature of our business.

In reply to Wall-e:

IT for SSA and accounting for the county. The IT position could lead to me potentially working for another federal government entity for whom I previously worked for in the field where no other employment is allowed, but that wouldn't be for years and based on the ability to double dip with SSA, I'm not sure that I'd be looking to make that transition.

good luck capt ... hope A) the health continues to come around, and B) the employment opportunities pan out

Other than having no time for anything else in life but work, what's the downside?

In all sincerity, that really is the rub. No, I've never held dual full times jobs. I have worked things that required similar commitments. Having no time to even mow the lawn, let alone cook dinner or deal with getting the propane tank filled truly sucked.

What kind of masochist wants to work two government jobs at the same time?

In reply to foxtrapper:

Agreed. It looks like I'll be away from home for an extended period for work. I'll be riding the per diem train, which if done properly could net me a fair amount of extra cash. However, all work on my house and cars will essentially come to a halt (vs. the current snail's pace). I still haven't figured out snow removal and lawn care while I'm away.

In reply to wbjones:

The one nice thing about the county position is that it's less than a half mile from treatment. In all actuality I'll likely accept that one if offered. As has been noted, even with flex time, I won't have time for living if attempting to juggle both positions. The thought of 70+k a year in pension from between the pair upon retirement was tempting though.

if you survive to retire.. I have done the whole 80+ hours a week for a few months at a time.. you turn into the walking dead after a while

you might as well try ... like you said, the retirement IS tempting ... especially if you have anyway to retire early ... retirement in you 50's with that sort of security truly is tempting

good luck on all fronts

I feel like your health would improve, then you take those two jobs, and working those hours would then negatively impact your health. What good is a cushy retirement if you wore yourself down to the bone getting there?

I've worked 70-80 hour weeks before, when I was 20. I'm not sure I could do it now at 39 much less later.

I really think it would depend on what was expected out of the extra work time ... it's not like he's going from one construction job to another 8+ hrs each day

look very carefully at what would be expected, and make a quality decision

health first

In reply to wbjones:

Definitely health first. One of the concerns I have about the idea is even though I'd be able to take the time for proper follow ups and screenings once I beat this, is scheduling them and doing it opposed to kicking the can for another month or 3.

One thing that you may be able to relate to is that when your sick time seems to stand still. When your not working towards something, either projects at home, objectives at work, a project car, etc, it's like being in a suspended reality. Strangely being in this vacuum is what made me think, 20-30 years of working, eating and sleeping wouldn't be too bad considering the payoff on the back end. Looking at it now though, I have a project car and ideas for at least 2 more, I want to rallycross and hopefully do rally sprints again. I want to be able to kayak. And I think that the quality of job that I'd do would be compromised.

wbjones wrote: ... retirement in you 50's with that sort of security truly is tempting

Yes, but is it worth skipping your 30's and 40's for?

yes to the suspended animation ... I'm headed into a couple of months of treatment with no real info to be gained ... treatment for a couple of months, before any actual look and see if anything has changed ..

the only way I'll know if there's any change, will be if I can back off the pain meds any ... if I can do that, I can "ASSUME" that the larger of the tumors has shrunk enough to come off the nerve head that is causing all/most of my pain ... really looking forward to knowing of some improvement before my Oncologist knows of any change

good luck dude

foxtrapper wrote:

wbjones wrote: ... retirement in you 50's with that sort of security truly is tempting

Yes, but is it worth skipping your 30's and 40's for?

again it depends on how the 30's and 40's were/are going to be anyway

captdownshift wrote: In reply to wbjones: Definitely health first. One of the concerns I have about the idea is even though I'd be able to take the time for proper follow ups and screenings once I beat this, is scheduling them and doing it opposed to kicking the can for another month or 3. One thing that you may be able to relate to is that when your sick time seems to stand still. When your not working towards something, either projects at home, objectives at work, a project car, etc, it's like being in a suspended reality. Strangely being in this vacuum is what made me think, 20-30 years of working, eating and sleeping wouldn't be too bad considering the payoff on the back end. Looking at it now though, I have a project car and ideas for at least 2 more, I want to rallycross and hopefully do rally sprints again. I want to be able to kayak. And I think that the quality of job that I'd do would be compromised.

I know this isn't the answer for everyone, but I'm excited about "retirement money" and like to share. Please don't take offense and think I'm telling you how to live, but here's how I do it. I save as much of my income as I can while still enjoying the time I have. I am counting on no pension or social security because I hope to be retired before those would even come into effect. Right now my wife and I are saving 50% of our take home pay. That's nuts, I know, and the baby has slowed that down a bit. But bear with me - save as much as you can and put it into income producing assets and you'll be retired while you can still enjoy it. You're paring down on what you need to live on by training yourself to live on less money and also building up assets to live off of later.

I put 100% of my savings into the stock market, Vanguard VTSAX - broadly diversified and very low cost. Yes this week has been painful but I know in 10 years it'll be back higher than today.

You can put it into the market or you can buy rental houses (maybe find good property management or you're buying another part time job for yourself) or what have you. But putting it into expensive cars and toys means it's not working for you. I still play plenty but instead of $70,000 cars I'm playing with $4,000 cars. Instead of racing SCCA, I'm racing the 24 hours of Lemons. Kayaking is free once you own the kayak. Fishing is cheap and fun. Cooking is rewarding and saves you money and helps your health and lets you connect with your family at meal times. Stuff like that.

Instead of working 70-80 hours a week, spend less and save more from one job. The result can still be a comfy retirement but you've also enjoyed the interim.

That's my opinion, worth what you paid for it. Unless it resonates with you then it's worth a couple extra decades of retired life. My only regret so far is I didn't find this financial advice sooner. I wasn't making bank in my teens and 20s, but I know I could have saved some then and it would have added a lot to my financial progress by now.

a real work/life balance means that you wouldn't mind working into your 80's if you were lucky enough to be alive & healthy. I would be bored crazy without at least a part time job. If I hit the lotto tomorrow I would still work. Maybe not the 40 hrs plus, but more than 20 per week.

But on the OP question. two full time jobs is not sustainable. Personally, sounds like hell on earth. Go ask someone 30 years older than you (or anyone on their deathbed) if they would have given up a couple of decades in the prime of their life for a larger house today.

if it's anything like working full time then going to school full time after work every day plus a 4 hour saturday morning class, that kicked my butt for 4 years.

in your position, i think it might be detrimental to your health and recovery. thats first priority over anything else.

I'd worry about your health first and foremost..

Check with SSA and see if you can hold another position. Once a fed employee, some fed agencies will want to approve any outside employment.

octavious wrote: Check with SSA and see if you can hold another position. Once a fed employee, some fed agencies will want to approve any outside employment.

X2.

Also keep in mind working two jobs like this may put you in a higher tax bracket in your working years, and how about in retirement? Uncle Sam always gets his hefty cut of our hard earned wages.

I thought there was at least one financial planner on this site, if so maybe he/she would be so kind as to offer some advice both in your working years, as well as in retirement, under your proposed scenario.

Regardless if you go this two FT job route, the fact that you are seriously even considering doing such a thing, is very telling of your work ethic, ambition and character. It seems most of society is going the other direction in trying to milk everything it's worth while putting in the least amount of effort possible.

I wish you the best of luck.

I've been doing it for 9months, it's exhausting but the money is good. The thing that's been tough for me is the psycological strain. There is no time that is your own, there is no time where you can recover. It's hard. I'm 37 and have a 6 mo old girl. It's hard.

I the 2 jobs for ~10 years. Teach school all day and then go to a part-time job from 4-5 to 9pm. With the wife also working a full-time job it did not make for a good family life or leave much time for leisure pursuits.

At that point both our salaries had increased to the point where I could quit the part time stuff except for the summer. A few years later we were at the point where we decided to try living on one salary and saving the other.

It was a little tough at first but we hung in there. That was 30 years ago and even since we retired 10 years ago we still save half our income. Guess old habits are hard to break.