Outside Looking In

I am also 52 years old and have spent most (but not quite all) of my career working in hospitals -- having flirted with teaching and academia a few times before. I am seriously exploring teaching as a way to ease into retirement.

In my current hospital education/management role, part time employment is not usually an option. But I doubt I will need to work full time until Medicare kicks in. I know I won't WANT to work full time that long. Teaching can often be done on a part time basis. So, I am thinking that a part time teaching career may provide me with a good bridge to retirment. My sister (a school teacher) has done that. She taught a college course for a few years while she worked full time as a public school teacher. Once she qualified for retirement benefits, she quit teaching 2nd graders full time. She now teaches a couple of courses at the college (part time) and does some substitute teaching of little kids when it is convenient for her -- and plays golf a lot at age 54.

I'm hoping to do something similar to my sister. So, I am teaching an online course now (in addition to my full time hospital job) in the hopes of developing that into a more lucrative part time gig in a few years when I am ready to cut back, but still need to work enough to support myself and get health insurance.

Teaching in addition to my hospital job is grueling this semester, but at least I can do most of it at home at night and on the weekends. The money is terrible, but I hope it will pay off in the long run.