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    Part-time and reduced-hours options

    Work-optional is two numbers: how many months of your floor your savings cover, and how many hours a week the floor costs. Change the inputs and see which one moves.

    Runs in your browserNot legal or financial advice

    What you need

    Liquid assets are cash and taxable investments. Retirement accounts and home equity are not counted.

    What you earn now
    What you want

    Benefits lost is your figure: health premium, retirement match, CME, PTO. It is subtracted only when hours fall.

    Starting values are examples. Change any input to use your own numbers.

    What would a reduced schedule cost?

    A $8,000 monthly floor takes about 23.5 hours a week at your current effective rate of $96 an hour. Liquid assets cover 7.5 months of that floor.

    What's at stake

    Months of floor covered
    7.5 months
    liquid assets ÷ monthly floor
    Hours to cover the floor
    23.5 h/week
    at $96 an hour, after tax
    Desired schedule
    44 h/week
    clears the floor by $94,160
    Effective net rate
    $96/hour
    after-tax pay ÷ hours worked

    The strongest case for change

    The schedule clears the floor by $94,160 a year, and liquid assets cover 7.5 months. Test it for one quarter before changing the contract.

    If you decide to move forward

    1. Ask how base, bonus, wRVU threshold, call and benefits prorate at the hours you want. Career model
    2. Compare the reduced schedule with staying and with locums. Compare paths
    3. Check whether lower income changes an income-driven loan payment. Loan model
    4. Write down the floor and the date you would revisit it.

    What this is based on (medium confidence)

    • Net pay scales linearly with hours unless an extra loss is entered; proration is usually uneven.
    • Liquid assets exclude retirement accounts and home equity.
    • No investment returns, withdrawals or inflation are modeled.
    • Benefits loss is the figure entered, not an estimate.

    What would change this answerClears the floor at 23.5 hours/week or more (tested 0–55).

    Clears the floor at23.5 h/wkYour hours44 h/wk

    Decision record

    One page that captures the question, the answer, the step you chose and what the numbers assumed, with a date to review it. Kept in this browser only; nothing is sent anywhere.

    ScheduleNet incomeFloorDifferenceClears floor
    Current$252,700$96,000+$156,700Yes
    44 h/week$190,160$96,000+$94,160Yes
    33 h/week$139,620$96,000+$43,620Yes
    27.5 h/week$114,350$96,000+$18,350Yes
    • Lost benefits of $12,000 a year are subtracted at reduced hours.
    • Net pay scales linearly with hours unless the extra-loss percentage is set. Employers rarely prorate base, bonus, call, wRVU thresholds and benefits the same way.
    • Liquid assets exclude retirement accounts and home equity. No investment returns or withdrawals are modeled.

    What this does not model

    • Investment returns, withdrawals or inflation. The months figure is a buffer, not a retirement projection.
    • Retirement accounts and home equity, which are excluded from liquid assets on purpose.
    • How your employer actually prorates base, bonus, call, wRVU thresholds, PTO and benefits. That is a contract question.
    • Tax on selling taxable investments. If the money sits in unrealized gains, the months figure is slightly optimistic.
    • Household tax filing. Enter after-tax pay, so the arithmetic does not depend on it.

    Arithmetic on your inputs, not financial advice. For the contract side, use thecareer model; for the loan side, theloan model.