Everyone I know is laid off by age 55

[Anonymous]

... and then can't find another job. Seriously, this is messed up. Gone are the days companies keep someone until they are 60, much less 65.

Yes, people can consult, but then there's no healthcare.

Medicare needs to start at 60, no later.

[Anonymous]

I would love to see Biden's policy of Medicare at age 60 enacted.

[Anonymous]

1) That has not been my experience in the Gov't Contracting arena (experience is valued).
2) It shows why the health care system in the US, where it is tied to employment, is completely broken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see Biden's policy of Medicare at age 60 enacted.

+1 Spouse and I are in our 50s, and we get private insurance.

To OP's point, consulting gig is fine as long as you get paid enough. Both spouse and I consult and have fairly regular income.

If ACA goes away, though, we are hosed . Thankfully, Biden won't let that happen. I'm not even a Democrat, but I voted for Biden.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it happened to my husband.

[Anonymous]

Yup. My DH works in a niche financial sector. EVERYONE gets laid off at 55 in his industry. All the former superstars get to senior management, and a new CEO comes in and cleans house - and they're all fired. The non-superstars get laid off by moving into side roles and then pushed out.

I'm also work and make good money - but we were talking to our financial advisor last year and he was asking us our retirement plan. And we said we want a plan for comfortably retiring at age 55. He said, wow, with you guys and your extremely successful careers, i'm surprised you want to retire that young - most of my clients with those profiles are career obsessed and never plan on retiring. To which we said, we're open to working past 55, but most people we know get fired before then so we had better have a plan to not have to work. Anything past age 55 is gravy. We have so many friends who were making close to 7 figures, spending like mad in their 40s and 50s - second homes, crazy expensive vacations for them and all their grown kids, private schools, colleges , expensive cars, etc. And then when they got fired, they NEEDED to find a new job because they didn't have enough to retire.

No thanks.

[Anonymous]

This isn't the case in the government. Or the academia. Private sector...well..

[Anonymous]

^yep, financial plan is to retire before 59. If we can still get work, we will. But, we assume that we will stop in a few years. We hope to have about $2.6mil in just retirement accounts in about 3 to 4 years. Our mortgage is smallish (less than $200K), no other loans. College will be funded to about $140k per child.

[Anonymous]

Yeah I love working and would love to work until 65 (don't see the point in not working if kids are grown) but I am definitely saving under the assumption I may not be able to work past 55, or at least may not have benefits past that age. I am in private sector.

[Anonymous]

Yes, all of the men in my life (my two brothers, husband, and his brother) no longer work and the oldest is 53. Asset prices for homes and investments have all inflated so much that we are all fine but it is a little bit disconcerting. These are highly educated people who were at one point very successful.

[Anonymous]

Yep, that's why I'm staying in the government, despite getting so many calls from recruiters. I'm 45 y/o and I'm staying until 57.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^yep, financial plan is to retire before 59. If we can still get work, we will. But, we assume that we will stop in a few years. We hope to have about $2.6mil in just retirement accounts in about 3 to 4 years. Our mortgage is smallish (less than $200K), no other loans. College will be funded to about $140k per child.

Little light on college otherwise good

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^yep, financial plan is to retire before 59. If we can still get work, we will. But, we assume that we will stop in a few years. We hope to have about $2.6mil in just retirement accounts in about 3 to 4 years. Our mortgage is smallish (less than $200K), no other loans. College will be funded to about $140k per child.

Little light on college otherwise good

That seems fine for college if you aren't planning on paying full freight for a private school. Keep on mind they can likely pay something out of income/savings towards college if needed.

[Anonymous]

This isn’t new. It’s why the adea was enacted. My father was a professional with over 30 years at a company in the late 80s—they pushed out all the people over 55 at the site in my hometown by telling them they had to take a RIf package or they would be moved to an incredibly remote location. I knew so many people with fathers laid off or who had to relocate. They replaced my father with a guy in his 20s who did not know how to do the work at all.
Incidentally, that company then started to spiral downwards and is a shadow of its former self.

[Anonymous]

Yes it's so true. They need to start Medicare at 60 for sure. Everyone should plan early retirement in case of layoff. It gets even more difficult with kids in school or college that need healthcare.