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Old 06-03-2019, 05:09 PM   #21
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From my extensive research on this topic it seems that the only jobs available for the silver hair (or no hair) brigade are greeter at Walmart, food sampler server at Costco or politician.
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Old 06-03-2019, 05:15 PM   #22
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My last day was May 31st. Been watching mega push out older employees for decades. I'm kind of an outlier on this forum in that I was a tradesperson that supervised other tradespeople in a retail environment (there's a riddle for you) lol. In other words no collage. Physical work. 10+ hour days on my feet. At 58 it's my time. My company has an ESOP and a 401k that thank goodness I took full advantage of. Saving, investing and LBYM came easy for me. I had a good example. My DF did the same thing.
This forum has been an inspiration. Kind of surreal. Retired at 58 with 1 1/2 times my spend rate available to live the life I want. Life is good!
Congratulations!

How have the first 72 hours of freedom been?
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Old 06-03-2019, 05:16 PM   #23
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From my extensive research on this topic it seems that the only jobs available for the silver hair (or no hair) brigade are greeter at Walmart, food sampler server at Costco or politician.
Or sometimes if one is super high up in the Megacorp, then they get protected too.
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Old 06-03-2019, 05:17 PM   #24
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My husband did his own handymen work for people for a few years but by 55 his knees couldn’t take it. A friend of mine did the Costco food samples for 6 months. People are horrible, kids are always puking and long hours of standing. She always had to work weekends. Not fun.
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Old 06-03-2019, 05:33 PM   #25
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Our retirement was planned, but mine came something like half a year early when the company shut down our group. Got a severance package, which was better than just quitting at least. FI wasn't that dependent on the last half year, so never looked for another job (at 55), which was great.
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Old 06-03-2019, 05:36 PM   #26
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I commented a few months ago that instead of planning for retirement, what people should be planning for is an age 50-ish UWS (unplanned work stoppage).

If it doesn't happen the rest is gravy.

Exactly! Heavy outsourcing and offshoring started a few years into my career. I figured I couldn't beat them so I joined them. I made my living training and transferring technology. I planned for an out at age 52-55 at latest. Got lucky a few times and exited at 45.


I tell young kids to save at least 15% and max out their 401K's so that they have options when employment tightens in their 50's, maybe even 40's for them. Maybe a few will listen.
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Old 06-03-2019, 05:52 PM   #27
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My husband did his own handymen work for people for a few years but by 55 his knees couldn’t take it. A friend of mine did the Costco food samples for 6 months. People are horrible, kids are always puking and long hours of standing. She always had to work weekends. Not fun.
maybe it varies some by store, and by personal preference. My friend is well into her 80's. She has a stool, or a chair, and seems to like the work. They give her short shifts The pay is not too bad either. I think $12 per hour. She does need the extra income. She has done it for several years.

I think this type of work is okay if you find something you actually like and meets your physical abilities.
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Old 06-03-2019, 05:56 PM   #28
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+1

Plan for FI. Once reached the decision to RE can be at the discretion of you, your employer, or your health status.
That's exactly how it happened to me. I had planned to keep feeding the kitty for another 10 or so years. But I got blindsided and that took the better part of 10 years to recover from. Boy was I glad I had played everything close to the vest all those years. It wasn't The Ritz but I never feared for the rent or where my next meal was coming from.
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Old 06-03-2019, 06:13 PM   #29
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Congratulations!



How have the first 72 hours of freedom been?


They’ve been great!! My plan is just to be for a while. Lots of things I want to accomplish but these first few days have just been relaxing. Right now I’m just hanging out on the patio with the cat lol.
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Old 06-03-2019, 06:32 PM   #30
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They’ve been great!! My plan is just to be for a while. Lots of things I want to accomplish but these first few days have just been relaxing. Right now I’m just hanging out on the patio with the cat lol.
Hanging out with the cat and "just being" sounds perfect to me! That's my entire plan for my retirement when it gets here in 18 months!
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Old 06-03-2019, 06:51 PM   #31
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I am very appreciate of topics like this both here at over at bogleheads.

When I got out of grad school in 2010 at age 28 I had about $3000 in retirement income saved. I remember my dad and an older cousin (he was probably 40 or so at the time) told me about how around age 40 it became much more difficult to find a job if you were out of work. I figuratively rolled my eyes and was excited to start my career as a newly minted MBA from a top-30ish program. There was no way that would happen to me.

I remember sitting at my desk at my first job out of grad school, before I had really settled in and had enough to do on a daily basis, and ran spreadsheets estimating how much money I would save for retirement. In those projections I used age 68 as my retirement date. I think I used a 5% 401K contribution and a 5% employer match as my contributions, and probably a standard rate of return somewhere between 8 and 10%. The other assumption I used was a 3% increase in salary every year, and every 3 to 5 years a 10 to 20% jump in income. My plan was to change jobs every 3 to 5 years for that big raise until around age 40, and then at that point I figured I would just keep getting promoted for these big raises.

Fast forward a little less than 9 years later. I spent the last 4.5 years of my career (prior to June 2018) in a dumpster fire of a job where the management I was under at megacorp was so dysfunctional, it was proving impossible to find a job outside of the department I was in because it was so toxic. I spent 18 months job hunting at age 35 and 36 and talked to countless employers who didn't want to pay me the same wage that I was making for lateral moves. I had done enough research in the industry and market to know that based on my experience, my salary requirements were not out of line. On the high end yes, but not enough to disqualify me from contention (in most cases).

Point being, I was miserable during that time and went on countless interviews, had a number of potential offers dangled in front of my face only to end up stuck in a bad job much longer than I ever anticipated. At the same time I watched the ugly side of corporate politics take over with many people I worked with. Good people who were great employees found themselves reorged and all of a sudden they were no longer valuable to the organization because a boss didn't like them for political reasons. I've seen people let go for similar reasons.

I have come to realize that the corporate world is not what I thought it was at 28, and I would be foolish to think I would be able to hold on until age 68 (let alone want to hang on until age 68). So instead I've focused on LBYM and tried to build up as much savings as I can.

My wife and I have about $330k in our retirement savings (split between traditional 401k, Roth, and HSA), 4 to 5 months in an emergency fund, and are about 1 year away from having my student loan paid off (this in an off itself costs more than our mortgage on a monthly basis). We unexpectedly had to buy a new car three months ago, but could write a check tomorrow to pay that loan off if we needed to. My wife is going back to school to become a nurse practitioner, but between employer reimbursement and paying as we go, we should hopefully be positioned to only have to pay her student loans back for about a year after she is done with her program (if even that).

All in all, stories like these about the harsh reality of the corporate world, and the experience of people here and over at bogleheads have really helped motivate me to try and fortify our financial life. We aren't quite where we need to be, but we are in much better shape to avert disaster than we were a few years ago.

So TL; DR, lots of gratitude for the conversation around stories like this as it has helped me realize (and prepare for) the fact that working until age 68 probably isn't realistic, nor is it something I want to do.
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Old 06-03-2019, 07:25 PM   #32
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Decades ago, when I was in my late 20's, I wasn't married or with anyone seriously. Since I was single and not sure if I was going to meet anyone, I started saving aggressively because I was terrified of being poor and alone (i.e. bag lady syndrome). After I got married, I was used to saving, so we always just lived on one income. I've been home with my kid for the past few years and am entertaining the idea of returning to work part time, just to get out of the house while my kid is at school. I'm approaching 50 now though and I'm not sure I'm really all that employable. I won't be heartbroken if no one hires me, but it's weird to think that it might be all over.
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Old 06-03-2019, 07:53 PM   #33
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Decades ago, when I was in my late 20's, I wasn't married or with anyone seriously. Since I was single and not sure if I was going to meet anyone, I started saving aggressively because I was terrified of being poor and alone (i.e. bag lady syndrome). After I got married, I was used to saving, so we always just lived on one income. I've been home with my kid for the past few years and am entertaining the idea of returning to work part time, just to get out of the house while my kid is at school. I'm approaching 50 now though and I'm not sure I'm really all that employable. I won't be heartbroken if no one hires me, but it's weird to think that it might be all over.
This is a lot like my situation. But then my parents and in-laws needed help with serious health problems, so I delayed again and went thru my 50's helping the older generation while the younger was in school. And I made it my serious goal to make sure we didn't spend any more of my husband's salary than necessary. The kids grew up and graduated from college, the elders with health problems passed away, and at age 61 my husband was laid off from his 25-year tech job. Finally I was about to re-start my career so he could have a much-deserved break. Alas, no one was interested. Funny, I assumed anyone would be thrilled to have my experience and work ethic. We took a look at our finances and discovered that retirement was entirely possible. So far, it's been great, so glad we lived frugally and were prepared.
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Old 06-03-2019, 08:40 PM   #34
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I was told by a very senior HR person in a firm that I was familiar with that this firm hired outside HR consultants such as Mercer and others to do a computer analysis of which employees to lay off based on cost.

The cost? Salary, vacations, and benefits was only a part of it. They included ESOP, options, RSU's, future growing pension entitlements, etc. Also included
was sick time and cost to the company of the the ee and family's health benefits....dental, drugs etc. This was possible because megacorp, like many, actually self insured for these benefits. They paid the insurance company a percentage fee to administer. So they had access to these numbers. This was only done in the US. It was apparently illegal in many other jurisdictions where the company operated. I cannot say for certain if this is so, just relating what I was told by a source that I had confidence in.

Bottom line, names were generated based on total current cost, and projected cost, to the company. They were generally older, long service employees. In prior layoffs directors and managers were given headcount reductions. The off the record inquiry was made when for the first time there was a headcount reduction with some names on the list that were not decided by the particular business unit.
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Old 06-03-2019, 10:10 PM   #35
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My husband’s experience was similar to Marko.
Possible exception for the stellar resume part - lay off at age 50.

Now that I can spell curmudgeon I really work on my bad attitude toward work.



heh heh heh - really grateful for reasonable health thru 2
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Old 06-03-2019, 10:43 PM   #36
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Looking like at 60 he is being hired by the census bureau for 18 months as a supervisor.
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Old 06-04-2019, 02:56 AM   #37
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2008 was a turning.point for my Megacorp when they offered early retirements for.all 30 year and 55+old employees. No reason to work any longer. On the other end,, they also laid off the younger less experienced newbies.I

Somehow life at Megacorp goes on with job tasks subcontracted out. I still question how they can run a $15 billion company without.experienced personnel. But my defined penson is.paid monthly.
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Old 06-04-2019, 04:21 AM   #38
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Many become greeters at Walmart. I would do nearly anything to avoid that.

Hopefully, with a 30 year pension, a decently growing (until recently) 401K, and no debt, we could land on our feet without having to find other work.
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Old 06-04-2019, 04:24 AM   #39
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From my extensive research on this topic it seems that the only jobs available for the silver hair (or no hair) brigade are greeter at Walmart, food sampler server at Costco or politician.
Or Nuclear Power.

It is surprising to me how many 'Nukes' are in their 60's, 70's and even beyond. I do the same job at a Nuke Plant that I did in the Auto Industry for 35+ years - except at 63 I am no longer the oldest person on property.
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Old 06-04-2019, 06:09 AM   #40
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Many become greeters at Walmart. I would do nearly anything to avoid that.

Hopefully, with a 30 year pension, a decently growing (until recently) 401K, and no debt, we could land on our feet without having to find other work.
Even those jobs are going away to some extent. I will never do this type of work either.
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