Anyone else forced to retire after losing their career (job) in their late 50s or 60s? (55, vacations)
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I was laid off my job a few weeks ago after 26 years in the company. The people at my ex employer told me I will enjoy retirement. But I don't want to retire! I am 59 years old and wanted to work full time for at least another five years, maybe more.
One trouble is that I was paid way over market for my job and had a fancy title with limited responsibility for someone who was paid so much and had a DIRECTOR title. Now I may be forced to retire because few people will hire anyone for another full time job who would have to take a 40% pay cut. (In all honesty for what I did the market would pay me forty percent less than I was making, but I was not complaining when they paid me so much!)
So if you are retired now, can you relate to my situation? Were you forced to retire after being unemployable in the twilight of your career? Or did you go back to work after being fired or laid off at age 55-65 after a pay cut.
Retired? Tell us your story about job loss at the end of your career.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Will be nearly impossible to get that type of high paying employment (at any age).
I was 'downsized' at age 49 (with 32 yrs service) and found it very difficult to enter another field (even after 'retraining / masters degree program). The hiring managers are your kid's age and want to employ / be true to similar aged co-workers. They are often intimidated by age / experience, and there is some truth to us older workers losing our passion / desire to work 70+ hrs / week.
Some sort of self employment will be your quickest path to earnings.
With your 'director' experience, You could look for a company that is needing a succession plan / manager.
My husband and 4999 others were laid off about 7 years ago. He qualified for early retirement. It was challenging but he now works 6 days a week during building season with Habitat for Humanity, Building wheelchair ramps with another group, and delivering food with three other guys for a food bank. He has time for an afternoon nap, gets social interaction and is out of the house.
He did not need the money working could bring in and did not want to take a job from someone who needed it so all his time is volunteer.
Another benefit is the time is there to workout during down time and to take vacations whenever we want.
Same poster, but it really is two different topics on the same problem 1) how do you get employed at 59 to keep working 2) how do you make a forced retirement work if you weren't prepared for it and are unable to secure employment.
my Sister got laid off around 57. They made it increasingly difficult for her as a vice president to do a reasonable job. Piling work on her plate, sending her to london for a quick meeting. They wanted her to quit, but in the end had to lay her off.
Her husband got laid off when the company got bought out. Now they both find themselves forced into early retirement.
I think the company's need to purge the older employees to keep healthcare costs lower, obviously that's age discrimination but they always find a way around it..
I resigned from my job to relocate with the full understanding that I probably couldn't find another job in the same field... heck I didn't WANT a job in the same field.... now I'm just looking for something to fill my time.
After 25 yrs doing new home construction, I was forced to re-invent myself in 2008 with the housing collapse. I tried working in another field for someone but that didn't work. Too frustrating not being able to call my own shots. I was introduced to someone looking to start his own business. After a couple of months we took the plunge. I knew nothing about his industry service yet I was excited and scared to learn. Six months in I took over the business and brought my son in. Two years later my wife quit her job and joined the company. We now have a small family business that can be as busy as we want to be. I can work as many hours as I want or take as many days off as I need. Besides ourselves we employ three other people. I plan on collecting a paycheck till 70 and my wife will till around 65. So far these 15-25 hr weeks are not too rough. I see too many people stuck looking for what they only have known. Sometimes the answer is out there, but they don't see it.
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