If were paid by the hour and could choose how many hours per week you worked, how much would you work?

I do choose and it’s about 80 hours per week.

As a communist, I am entitled to the fruits of my labor and only giving me a few dozen bucks per hour when I produce hundreds or thousands of dollars of profit (profit is theft of the work done by the workers) for my boss is unjustified. Workers need to unionize and strike before wall street turns America fully into a dystopian society.

I would go 6 hours a day, so 30 / week. Laws setting part time/ full time just force companies to have people work the arbitrary 40 / week, even though some people would be more productive with less.

I would go something like 8:00 - 2:30. I could roll out of bed and not worry about an alarm. And I could leave work early enough where the sun will still be high for a run, and I would have time to so stuff afterwards.

I'd aim for about 3 days per week, around 18-24 hrs. Enough to keep me productive and contributing to society without consuming my life.

Now I'm poor so can't afford to work less than 40h p/w. Otherwise I would aim for 34h (7 and 6 on Friday). I think it would actually be great for my employer. I get less productive the later in the working day, so they would be paying just for my best working hours

I would probably do an occasional stretch of extra time, maybe 60 hrs/wk for a few weeks just to pay for something fun or indulgent.

However, when my kids are done with college, my ideal "pre-retirement" scenario is to work 4 hours a day from like 10-2. I can sleep in or run or workout in the morning, and then go do something fun or relaxing the afternoon after work.

That's basically how people work now.

The pursuit should be to work for as much money as you can and put in as little time as possible.

Or take your current salary and get your work done quicker with more personal time to yourself.

People gravitate to 40 hour work weeks and employers expect that, but if employees can get the same work done in 30 hours, the employee and the employer would benefit.

The key for me is flexibility. If I got nothing going on all week sure I’ll work 50 hours or so maybe more. If I got friends in town, workouts planned or am just tired/sick I’d like to do less on those days. I wish more jobs operated on this kind of flexibility so LIFE comes before WORK. I think if this was the case people would be a lot more happy and people would be way more efficient instead of feeling like they have to look busy to fill out the day.

I am young-ish, with no kids, I would probably go to 55-60 hr/wk. That would be most nights probably working from 8-10pm and a few hours Sat and Sun mornings.

When I got kids, I would probably move back down, just to have time with them to more like 45 hr/wk.

All that extra money would be money in the bank for me right now, but we all need it in times like this.

My hourly rate is $62.50.

I earn about $75 per hour and I get stuck working about 50 hours per week for no additional pay so I would stick with 50 hours but with pay for all of the hours.

10 hours a day 4 days a week. Why are we doing 5 days a week?

I'd choose this or zero.

It's too late sweetheart.

Sure you do.

I'm doing this right now. I'm the main caregiver for the kids and 20 hours/ week is perfect. It's enough balance to be able to execute everything well and also gives me enough time for me to workout, etc.

Lots of high paying and low paying jobs permit this. Even airline pilot—- 75 hours per month guaranteed of flight time and up to 100 hours per month allowed via “overtime” (25 hours of overtime at a very nice multiple x hourly pay rate bump) per the FAA maximums. Lawyers bill by the hour. Flight instructors, charter pilots, academic tutors, construction workers, consultants, and generally most independent contractor work.

If your field of work is high paying and in demand hourly pay and creating your own schedule is the way to go as you don’t need all those “assurances” of a salaried job as your skillset isn’t easily replaceable and your skill set is in high demand. In this scenario work will always be there for you so to speak and your most valuable asset is your time and that is something you cannot buy more of for the most part however many Silicon Valley executives actually try to do so.

Sometimes the salaried assurances are worth it sometimes they are not. My advice is acquire an “exclusive” and “hard or expensive to replace/acquire skillset” and then work on your terms as the work will always be there when you want and need it….. An investment upfront for an increased quality of life on the back end.

Best jobs for this are: 1) IT, software developement, cyber security basically any thing computer and technology related. 2) Medical doctor and medical scientist. 3) High demand trade skills: i.e. Airline pilot, fork lift operator, electrician, plumber, aircraft mechanic etc. 4) Entrepreneurship: find a big problem and find a way to fix it on a mass scale with your own ingenuity and angel investors.

Best advice I’ve received: “time is your most valuable resource spend it doing the things you love and surrounded by the ones you love whenever possible.”

And this kind of thinking is the problem…when will people start learning that trading time for money is why most people are flat broke, scraping by paying the bills and maybe a little left over for a vacation once a year? Want to own all of your time and create more earning potential? Own something that gives you leverage and passive income. I haven’t worked a W2 job in 20 years and absolutely love it.

Or, you pursue what you love and then it doesn’t feel like work. You could do 100 hours per week and never get tired if you’re doing what you love. Many of us do that.

Business owner?