Many of us here are able to decide when to retire.
The people in this article are not as fortunate. Unexpected and serious health issues (our own or our loved ones) can derail any of us, too.
These Americans were forced to retire well before 70. Here's why..
For my Fidelity 401K, the online form has only simplistic entries available beneficiary(s) and contingent(s).
Looking at Schwab, there is quite a bit of flexibility on beneficiary setup. Next week Iāll study our situation further to see if there is possibility to do the beneficiary setup with sub-account granularity.
Some of those stories are absolutely heartbreaking.
With regard to corporate layoffs, if you are over 50, with a 25-year badge, you are a target. Ageism is real. However, one can discern two other common traits from the photos of those impacted by the layoffs mentioned in that article. I wonāt be specific lest my post get flagged.
Often times, āup or out,ā policies preclude people working as long as they would like. It is rare (in my experience) when corporate folks are laid off to be given the opportunity to take steps down to lower-paying roles. I think many (certainly not all - egos could come into play) would gladly take them, and companies would benefit by keeping seasoned employees.
Of course even more complicated than I knew.
That article on people forced to retire early was a real eye-opener.
It reaffirms the value in max-saving during those last, few, high-earning years of a career.
And thinking about a feasible Plan B for earning money post-main job that wouldnāt be impacted by ageism, as much. Iād thought my Plan B might involve writing but maybe some sort of certain/training in AI would be better, the way things are heading!
Thanks for sharing, @rphcfb.
Sad but true. Most of us donāt want to believe that decades of accumulated experience could be negated by a number. I wonder if the health care cost and/or salary expectations for older people are significant factors since they mention those in the article. Would employers be willing to hire older people if they could pay them less? And would older people be willing to take less?
Thereās a big difference between working at 60 and getting hired at 60.
When my husband quit his high stress, high paying job, it took him 2 full years before he felt ok to look for a job again.
Ageism is real. He got an interview with the same type of job, did well but the job was offered to a newly graduated with little experience. We know this because his friend was an insider. They told his friend that besides his age (late 50ās), they were worried that he had too much managerial experience. They were afraid that he would not as flexible to follow the company culture and would be harder to āmoldā.
Later, he switched a field and has worked part-time in a new field. He is happier and has more time for the family.
I did not imagine that I would be a bread winner in my late 50ās. 
. Lesson learned, we all need to be prepared. Started saving early if possible. Who know what future will bring.
In my husbandās case. No issue with salary. Everyone, experienced or not, would be paid the same salary.
I would not be willing to take less pay simply because Iām old. Full stop.
Yeah, this feels like a slippery slope. An ageism tax.
But the gentleman who sent in 1700 applications might. Less $ is still more than $0. Itās all in the perspective. Iām not saying work for nothing. If you cost the employer more on health insurance perhaps that is part of the salary and benefits negotiations.
So age discrimination is only wrong for people who can afford to say that itās wrong?
What if it were a step-down in responsibilites/stress/workload, etc.?
I wouldnāt expect a VP to take less money just because of age. My idea was more of being demoted to a lower level role with pay commensurate with that role.
What Iām saying is that if you are between a rock and a hard place like the gentleman in that article and an employer is offering you a salary that might be less than what you expected would you actually turn it down versus being homeless? Do I think there should be age discrimination? No. Do I think there is age discrimination? Clearly the answer is yes, and itās not just in terms of a lower salary. Itās you are not even offered a job.
If I was in that gentlemanās position and someone offered me less than I thought I should be making I would still consider taking it. Especially given the fact that he has supposedly sent out 1700 applications and still is unemployed.
Employers also have to take into consideration how long the employee might actually be working at the company. The older the person is when theyāre hired the more likely they are to potentially have to retire perhaps earlier than expected, as discussed in the article, because of health or Family issues which is another consideration. Itās all part of the hiring process.
Lesser responsibilities for lesser pay is reasonable, assuming itās not a current employer doing that to someone ONLY because they are old. The guy who sent out so many resumes & didnāt get a job shouldnāt have to do a job for less than others would make simply because he is too old to get a job any other way.
I was discriminated against on the basis of my age when I returned to work after raising my kids. The fact that I had to take a job for less than I earned 20 years earlier was not the issue ā¦ I was away for long enough that I had to start at the beginning & work my way back up. The discrimination was in the hiring process (one rather clueless HR guy basically told me I was too old to handle the work). I found a place that valued my previous experience & hired me. But I was 48 ā¦ THAT was considered too old.
I have two graduate business degrees, and when out of the job market about 5 years they look at you like you have no usable skills. Because I always kept my RN license active/continuing education, I was able to re-enter the job market after 18 years SAHM, and cancer survivor. So short of nurses, that I was able to get into skilled care/rehab with some training money used; also was an advantage to have BSN/RNs working which gave the facility higher ratings. When people in the hospital have to go to rehab, w/o knowing facilities, they look at the star ratings. At least I could get into not ābottom levelā wages, but I was earning what I was 30+ years earlier in medical management for a physician group (administrator and CFO). But it worked as a sunset career. Had I not had cancer at age 53 - with long, extended treatments and subsequent health issues, I might have restarted another career.
I took a job at the end of 2022 that was a big change for me. I took the place of a long-term employee who was retired when she suffered a serious medical issue (she was full retirement age). She made a miraculous recovery and was able to return to work, allegedly to help me. Now she has decided there isnāt enough work for two people and now my boss wants me to job share as work is so important to my coworker. Monday I plan to tell him I am not interested in doing that. With my motherās passing I am in a far more better position financially than before. Thereās a lot more Iād rather do than set up Zoom calls and send out Docusigns!
I settled down to my current job about 3 years ago. I got this job when I was 60. I find I have more time for my job without a lot of distractions of kids. I am less stressed about getting a promotion or raise, so I could focus on doing the right thing. Head of the department often likes to quietly ask for my opinion. He sometimes calls my team as his R&D because weāll give him very unbiased opinions. I feel very lucky, but at the same time I think it is a shame that corporations do not value their more seasoned/experienced employees. I feel like I have a lot more to give than when I was younger.
Iām happy I was always in the military or in a union. No age or sex discrimination, at least after you got the job, as far as pay and promotions. There are positives to being merely a number.
The job I was hired into at 48 was a union job. I appreciated knowing that I was paid what everyone else was paid when I was hired & that no one would receive better raises than I received. Sometimes there is security in knowing you canāt be sc***ed over.