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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Losing a job at your age does not mean forced retirement. I was 57 when the recession hit and I lost my business of 16 years. I didn't retire, but started looking for a job, and in 2009 started here at a level somewhat lower than I would have hoped for. Within 18 months I had been promoted twice, and now have much better income and benefits than ever before. At 66 now, I'm still working because I enjoy what I'm doing, making more than ever before, with great benefits including a pension. Finding work in 2009 was hard, in fact we had layoffs two weeks after I started, but the jobs lost were considered "non-essential functions." Today the job market is turned more in favor of the worker, at least from what I see as a hiring manager.
Losing a job at your age does not mean forced retirement. I was 57 when the recession hit and I lost my business of 16 years. I didn't retire, but started looking for a job, and in 2009 started here at a level somewhat lower than I would have hoped for. Within 18 months I had been promoted twice, and now have much better income and benefits than ever before. At 66 now, I'm still working because I enjoy what I'm doing, making more than ever before, with great benefits including a pension. Finding work in 2009 was hard, in fact we had layoffs two weeks after I started, but the jobs lost were considered "non-essential functions." Today the job market is turned more in favor of the worker, at least from what I see as a hiring manager.
Living in metro Seattle is entirely different math than most of the country. Most places aren't creating jobs that quickly.
Happened to me in 2011 (seems to be a common year here) @57 yoa and I haven't looked back! Due to the financial crisis, employees with seniority were offered a buyout. I looked it over, crunched the numbers and took it. I have a modest pension from this position and luckily had all my ducks in a row. Though a bit tight at times (splurged on a few vacations), I haven't needed to tap any retirement funds. We recently downsized, have zero debt and are fully comfortable going into our medicare/social security years. We're fortunate, so far so good!
I was 56 when I realized my name was at the top of the list for the third round of "Reductions In Force" within a two year span. I made the top of the list simply on basis of seniority since I started working for that automotive manufacturing company at age 18.
I decided I would rather retire on my time schedule than theirs, so I gambled that I would be able to find a similar job at similar pay and announced an April effective retirement date in November. This long lead time provided two benefits to me: it took my name off the list since I was leaving anyway; and it provided me an opportunity to find a new job while still working.
I eventually had a six-week period without any income but otherwise things worked as planned (or hoped). I will be retiring in January of 2020 for the second, and final, time.
Qualifications for your next job are critical. I had a Masters in Engineering, a Professional License to practice in one state, and the certifications necessary to move that license to any other state via comity. I now work in Nuclear Power, a career with LOTS of older workers. One guy retired at age 80, for the fourth or fifth time, a couple years back.
The icing on the cake was learning the Director who had targeted me, and other high seniority high age employees, was demoted for Age Discrimination and became a victim of RIF herself. Karma wins again!
Yes, in 2015 my lucrative job of 9 years ended unexpectedly. DH's biz had been downsized too, so we were at the same spot. We both looked for work (at age 60) for over a year with no results. We had relocated to TX and even entry-level jobs wanted bilingual. We were pretty disheartened after all that time, so sat down with a financial advisor and decided due to low COL here, we could retire.
Sooner than we thought, but it turned out for the best. I couldn't handle my physical job anymore, anyway. DH's biz involved ladders so we were both glad to be done with that.
I'm glad, in hindsight. But now, I really wish I WAS bilingual!
You can't afford to retire. Mortgage and health insurance would eat you alive. Crank up your job search. If you think finding a job now is hard, wait until you are unemployed. You don't want to start draining your 401k for at least a decade.
One other surprise with my job search. I had numerous design companies as clients, so I naturally assumed one of them would hire me. All my contacts were very interested in me finding another job, but at companies for which they were also clients so as to help build their business. OK, help is help, but not what I had expected.
One of the design companies eventually brought me on-board as a contracted worker assigned to a utility's Nuclear Power Plant. After four months, the utility made me an offer the engineering firm could not match and here I remain today.
In the city where I used to live rents kept soaring. $100-$200 increases a year were not uncommon as gentrification took hold of my neighborhood. Trying to stay ahead of the game, I kept moving to new sometimes smaller apartments each time getting rid of more and more "stuff."
By the time I relocated to a more affordable city I thought I was through downsizing. Nope. I landed in a large apartment but then moved to a much smaller one so I could be in an independent senior living complex and had to get rid of more things.
Now I'm down to pretty much just a bed, couch, chair, a few electronics, kitchen utensils, some knickknaks, pictures, cat toys the cat and me. And that sounds like a lot. Maybe I'd better start taking inventory again.
This happened to me in 2015 at age 55 after almost 30 years with the same large government contractor. I worked on my resume with a good friend who was an HR manager and began applying for jobs a few months before I was to be let go. I ended up interviewing with a head hunter firm that specializes in senior corporate accounting types (no cost to me) and they sent me on an interview and I was hired within a week. I ended up with a 10% salary increase and I'm working for a small company (less than 50 employees) and I'm hopeful that I will be here until I decide to retire. The new company has a great working environment and there are people here of all ages. I know that I was really lucky to land on my feet. The biggest thing is to get moving on your resume and applying to jobs ASAP.
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