Everyone I know is laid off by age 55

[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.

You need to up college savings. Seriously.

[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.

You need to up college savings. Seriously.

Are withdrawals from 529 for education taxable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a tough thread to read.

+1. DH is being forced to retire early. We’re fortunate to be debt-free but we’ll need to downsize a bit to be comfortable.

It’s even worse if you’re a woman. After age 40, it’s not an easy ride.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a tough thread to read.

+1. DH is being forced to retire early. We’re fortunate to be debt-free but we’ll need to downsize a bit to be comfortable.

It’s even worse if you’re a woman. After age 40, it’s not an easy ride.

Past manager level it's all about being a bully, and women has disadvantage in that department.

Executives and Juniors are about performing the job/delivering impact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The current unemployment rate for hose 55 and over is 5.3%, so no, not everyone is laid off at 55 and then can’t find another job.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS14024230

Ha, ha, ha, ha. Those numbers underestimate because they do not count the “long term unemployed.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DH is in medicine and I’m in the educational field ...not a teacher. This doesn’t happen in our lines of work. Sounds horrible!

This ^ situation factored heavily into my choice of new career after divorce in middle age. Getting a new (not online) degree in my late 40s was draining and felt expensive but I am certain I will be employable as long as I have a pulse, into my 80s if I wish.

Lightly abused on the job and underpaid maybe, but I’ll have a job anywhere I want.

I am so sorry for OP and PPs though- the lack of safety nets in the US is ridiculous

PP, what do you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both have been laid off in the past 5 years, he at 48, then a few years later me at 46.

We both had a 6 month period of trying to find new jobs and it was rough. We both know it could happen again, not due to our performance, and it’s scary.

We each make 110 and 160, so obviously not poor, but it’s harder to switch careers at this stage.

We are also aiming to retire by 60 with the house paid off and the kids done with college, but I worry about health insurance between that time and 65, how expensive it will be and what if something catastrophic happens.

Also, laughing at the person who said $140k per kid isn’t enough for college. Of course it is. We will have enough for our kids in public state schools

Just coming here to say, I feel ya!

I have three kids and budgeted $750k total which is average schools with some merit aid. It is not just school. Dental, doctors appointments, food, cell phone plans, on your car insurance, birthdays, Xmas. A kid in school will cost you 60k each. It you are working won’t notice. I will have a 15, 19 and 21 when I turn 60.

Plus colleges nearly doubles every ten years. We already hit some schools that are finally 100k a year all in for undergraduate. Soon that will creep to average schools by 2030.

My daughters two colleges plain to really jack tuition and costs Post Covid

Plus hard to downsize when they live with you at winter break and all summer and may move gone after school for 1-2 years

Most people are not child brides with college done by 60. To do that you need to have them young and not have many. I say that as my mother and grandmother had last kids in early 40s. But they had 4-8 kids.

And to retire at 60 you need two houses paid off. My friend who have done it paid off primary then bought retirement home and paid that off. Other issue is kids off your health plan. It is family policy that is expensive.

I'm the $140k/child for college poster. My kids are 13 and 16. We are in our early/mid 50s. Even if $140K is not enough we have enough saved outside our retirement accounts to pay an additional $60K per child. We aren't planning for an expensive private university unless there is good merit aid.

As for the other stuff like presents, cell phone, and what not, IMO, that's not related to college costs. That's related to just having a kid irrespective of college. And that's already in the monthly expenses.

As for healthcare costs, we already pay for private insurance. Again, that's already baked into our monthly expenses.

When the kids are in college, some expenses will go up, but others will go down. The $ just shifts around. I am expecting the car insurance to go up, though.

I'm budgeting about $8k to $9k/month for ALL expenses until the kids are out on their own, and in about five years, we are expecting to pay off the house, which will save about $1400 in mortgage costs. We talked to our financial advisor who has stated that this is totally doable with the amount of money we have saved ($2.6mil right now).

Is the $2.6 in retirement accounts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The current unemployment rate for hose 55 and over is 5.3%, so no, not everyone is laid off at 55 and then can’t find another job.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS14024230

That doesn't include discouraged workers who are no longer actively looking. It also doesn't include people who took much lower paying jobs (or working at a Starbucks for health insurance when you used to make $100k).

The labor force participation rate for those 55-64 was 65.3% in 2019, and the this statistic has been creeping up over the past couple of decades. So the majority in that age bracket were working.

https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables/civilian-labor-force-participation-rate.htm

Underemployment statistics are harder to come by, but a 2019 survey by AARP found that 14% of people 45 and older reported being underemployed.

https://www.aarp.org/work/working-at-50-plus/info-2020/underemployment-age-discrimination.html

I am not denying that there are people 55 and over experiencing un/underemployment, or that un/underemployment at that age doesn't have it's own challenges. But it's just silly to say this is happening to everyone you know. The numbers say otherwise.

It is more of an issue with highly educated professional class people. They may not be so eager to work for Costco, so they “consult.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen this a lot with friends in marketing/PR/media jobs. Same for consulting/finance type jobs, though the best can keep rising in those fields. Medicine and law value experience.

Yes!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am 57 (female and person of color), soon to be 58 and work in-house for a non-profit. I make 315K and have been in my position for 19 years. We have people in our organization who have been with the company for 30 to 40 years. If I can, I will work another 10 years. You can do the math. It depends on your position. I am viewed as key personnel and have a lot of institutional knowledge and subject matter expertise (law). The key is making yourself as critical to the enterprise as you can. I have $1.5 in retirement. I want to add another $500 - $750 if I can. My husband is retired and we have twins starting college in the fall. It can be done but you have to find your niche.

Will you get a pension? I’m surprised you don’t have more in retirement. We’ve never earned as much as you alone earn, yet we have $2.6 in retirement funds. Same age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Canada. Thank goodness health care is not something we have to worry about with regards to timing of retirement.

Sadly, the US is the only rich/industrialized country that ties healthcare to employment. This needs to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both of us were pushed out, 51 and 54. Techies. Had a 10 and 12 year old. Outsourced to India in one case and new younger hire in another. Took DH a year to find something at 30% lower salary and I haven’t found anything yet.

I’m so sorry, pp, but I agree. Anything 40s and up is a target in start-up, tech, and corporate worlds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both have been laid off in the past 5 years, he at 48, then a few years later me at 46.

We both had a 6 month period of trying to find new jobs and it was rough. We both know it could happen again, not due to our performance, and it’s scary.

We each make 110 and 160, so obviously not poor, but it’s harder to switch careers at this stage.

We are also aiming to retire by 60 with the house paid off and the kids done with college, but I worry about health insurance between that time and 65, how expensive it will be and what if something catastrophic happens.

Also, laughing at the person who said $140k per kid isn’t enough for college. Of course it is. We will have enough for our kids in public state schools

Just coming here to say, I feel ya!

I have three kids and budgeted $750k total which is average schools with some merit aid. It is not just school. Dental, doctors appointments, food, cell phone plans, on your car insurance, birthdays, Xmas. A kid in school will cost you 60k each. It you are working won’t notice. I will have a 15, 19 and 21 when I turn 60.

Plus colleges nearly doubles every ten years. We already hit some schools that are finally 100k a year all in for undergraduate. Soon that will creep to average schools by 2030.

My daughters two colleges plain to really jack tuition and costs Post Covid

Plus hard to downsize when they live with you at winter break and all summer and may move gone after school for 1-2 years

Most people are not child brides with college done by 60. To do that you need to have them young and not have many. I say that as my mother and grandmother had last kids in early 40s. But they had 4-8 kids.

And to retire at 60 you need two houses paid off. My friend who have done it paid off primary then bought retirement home and paid that off. Other issue is kids off your health plan. It is family policy that is expensive.

I'm the $140k/child for college poster. My kids are 13 and 16. We are in our early/mid 50s. Even if $140K is not enough we have enough saved outside our retirement accounts to pay an additional $60K per child. We aren't planning for an expensive private university unless there is good merit aid.

As for the other stuff like presents, cell phone, and what not, IMO, that's not related to college costs. That's related to just having a kid irrespective of college. And that's already in the monthly expenses.

As for healthcare costs, we already pay for private insurance. Again, that's already baked into our monthly expenses.

When the kids are in college, some expenses will go up, but others will go down. The $ just shifts around. I am expecting the car insurance to go up, though.

I'm budgeting about $8k to $9k/month for ALL expenses until the kids are out on their own, and in about five years, we are expecting to pay off the house, which will save about $1400 in mortgage costs. We talked to our financial advisor who has stated that this is totally doable with the amount of money we have saved ($2.6mil right now).

Is the $2.6 in retirement accounts?

$2.3 mil in just retirement accounts.
~$500K outside accounts, including 529
$550k home equity
$250K coming from DH parents in a few years

We will still have income coming in the next two years, minimum. After that, who knows. But we feel fairly comfortable retiring with that in our mid/late 50s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a tough thread to read.

+1. DH is being forced to retire early. We’re fortunate to be debt-free but we’ll need to downsize a bit to be comfortable.

It’s even worse if you’re a woman. After age 40, it’s not an easy ride.

Past manager level it's all about being a bully, and women has disadvantage in that department.

Executives and Juniors are about performing the job/delivering impact.

Executives by and large is an old boys club, not delivering impact. There have been 3 female black CEOs, ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The current unemployment rate for hose 55 and over is 5.3%, so no, not everyone is laid off at 55 and then can’t find another job.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS14024230

Ha, ha, ha, ha. Those numbers underestimate because they do not count the “long term unemployed.”

Yeah, b/c people give up take their forced retirement and cut back their lifestyle dramatically. They would work, but won’t tell a random survey that they have been unemployed for 2 yrs.