I've been thinking a lot, lately, about work and income, partly because I realize that if the stock market doesn't bounce back really well within the next 10 years (and who knows, really?) I am going to have to make up for my losses by myself. And for me, that doesn't mean working longer. I'm not ready to give up my dream of semi-retirement at 60, which really means still working, but at a saner clip, part-time, and doing something because I want to, not because I have to.

So instead of a brisk jog toward retirement, I am doing a long distance, all-out sprint.

I've been given more responsibility at work which i welcome mainly because it's a signal to me that at least they don't have plans to let me go in immediate future. I'm now going to be managing our relationship with an outside company that has 4 writers contributing to our website. It'll mean making weekly assignments, editing their work and loading the stories to our site. It'll take significant extra time to do, but the hardest part for me will be coming up with story assignments. If they're good, I'd just as soon write them myself, but I'm gonna have to come up with fascinating fodder on a regular basis, not just for me, but for several others.

I felt a sense of accomplishment yesterday because I wrapped up some freelance work and made a little extra money on the side.

For the past four years or so, I've had just two freelance clients, thanks to contacts I made when I worked f/t for one of them. Each client has many sales offices throughout the state, and over time my original two contacts has grown to five managers who regularly gave me work, really more work than I could handle while working another job. So last year, I told Client #2 I was too busy with my new f/t job and had to stop accepting assignments. They would give me 5 or assignments at a time and it was just overwhelming. (Where were they when I was unemployed?)

But to be honest, I lost about a third of my freelance income to taxes. (I have few legitimate deductions.)

I kept questioning whether it was worth the trouble. I didn't feel I could raise my rates much higher, although the sweet spot for me would be to accept fewer assignments, but higher paying ones. That could be the net result of my raising my rates, although no one has ever objected to my rates, ever. (Maybe they just wouldn't say anything.)

I never told Client #1 to stop giving me work because their assignments were much more irregular and I found them easier to manage. I told them I really just had the weekends and if they were ok with that, I could do it. (No more weekday nights, i am not a machine.)

But now with the new year I felt justified in raising my rates. I have no expenses at all so I can't say my expenses have risen, unless you claim that inflation in general has forced me to raise my rates.

I thought about going back to Client #2 to tell them I'm open for (limited) business again, but I'm afraid of opening the floodgates and getting more than I can handle, and then having to tell them no again, which I don't want to do. So for now I'm content to just do very occasional work.