Scott Burns: The Critical 50’s

This says it all:

"Palmer developed the idea for the event soon after being introduced to the sport of cornhole while living in Cincinnati. “Shae and I got hooked on playing cornhole right after we moved out here. We have wanted to do an event that incorporates the sport for the past few years so we are excited that it’s finally going to happen,” said Palmer. "

Hey, not that there's anything wrong with that! :-X
 
Back to the thread ...

I'm in my fifties, and have now seen quite vividly what can happen to older workers. There is age discrimination clearly, and there are a ton of baby boomers competing for fewer great jobs. These factors throw a curve at many people, at a time when they have very little time left to make FIRE happen. When you're in the thirties and forties, there is a tendency to think the fifties are a time to cruise, and sock more away ... it can be one helluva shock to find out you're not only in a position where you need to save more, but society might not value your skills as much as expected.

We may have personally dodged these bullets, but it was nip and tuck ... many are not so lucky these days. Thank goodness the dot.bomb period has been followed by a bit more appreciation for grey hair.
 
I'm suprised no one brought up the reason they may run into the events Scott Burns brings up is that folks work into their 50's. When I first started at my work place, it scared me watching co-workers in their 50's age 10-20 years, their last few years of their career. It was amazing for me to see at the time. Convinced me early to think and plan toward ER, which I am about to do. The stress build up of a job/life, catches up with folks and causes much of the malaise, and ill health, imho.

Side note. My wife knew a doctor whose job it was to be on standby for the weekends and holidays for the executives of a major corporation. Seems most times they had time off, and flew on vacation to relax, something "hit" them, whether it be heart problems or the like.
 
I'm thinking my answers would be "yes" and "doubtful."

Maybe there should be one more item on that list: Family crisis.

Maybe it's a sign of the times, but I've seen both co-workers and family members delay retirement (or go back to work after retiring) because they're suddenly having to raise grandchildren, or a divorced child is having financial problems ....
 
I think I have told you that I never intended to retire. I had a friend at work tell me about her parents. She said they had ten good years of retirement, then her mom got Alzheimers, and a good retirement turned sour. She convinced me that sooner or later one partner of a married couple will come down with some malady; afterwards everything revolves around doctor's appts, and medicine, and hospitals, etc. We made it thru the 50s, knock on wood, and so far the early 60s.

This was true of my parents. They retired at 62. My mom had a series of small strokes that damaged her memory at 75. Nothing was the same after that. They both died at 82 within 6 weeks of each other. My mother never smoked or drank or did anything that was unhealthy. She was on 12 different medications after the stroke. The previous blood pressure meds she was on apparently contributed to or caused the strokes. I think the medical community had something to do with damaging my parents quality of life. Be very cautious about what medications the doctors tell you to take.
 
Interesting, I don't remember this thread but the original post hits close to home.

Two years ago I was in the 'yes, yes' column. 16 months ago, BIL (age 61, never sick a day in his life) died. I decided to enjoy what little life I had left and ER'd. Yesterday, brother (at age 52, never sick, yada yada) was diagnosed with PPMS

Fortunately, I have only a few month to go before I'm out of my 50's and therefore:rolleyes: out of danger.
 
REWahoo said:
1. Do I have the resources to retire now?
2. Do I have the option of working longer?
Click to expand...

Yes, Yes.

REWahoo said:
“Only three people in 10 get through their 50’s unscathed”, says Burns.
Click to expand...

That's the main reason I'm retiring early. When I was in my mid 40s I was on track for a comfortable retirement by 60 - 62. As my friends and acquaintances aged, the more I became aware of the incidence of health problems for those in their 50s. I saw how seemingly minor ailments kept me away from my favorite physical activities for weeks or months because I didn't heal anywhere near as fast as I used to.

So I saw a choice: FIRE in a country with a low cost of living while my body was still mostly functioning or wait another 6-8 years and probably have more money and less health. In 107 days I get on a big 'ol jet airliner with a one way ticket out of the country.
 
Martha said:
But the percentage divorced between the ages 51 and 61 is fairly low.

Disabilities interfering with the ability to work is a big problem. *
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=6018&sequence=0


CBO found that those men and women who had left the labor force even though they were not yet old enough to receive Social Security retired-worker benefits did so for a small number of reasons: The most frequent reason they offered for not working was that they were disabled--accounting for almost two-thirds of the men who were not in the labor force and two-fifths of the women. Most of the other men said that they were retired. Most of the other women said that they were retired, caring for others, or not interested in working.



People talk a lot about baby boomers working long past 65. After all, people are living longer. Well they are not necessarily healthier and living longer isn't that much longer.
Click to expand...

Man oh man oh man. I have been trying to find this link for the past 6 months and couldn't for the life of me find it. Thanks for bringing this thread back up again!
 
REWahoo said:
According to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, there is a 69% chance of someone between the ages of 51 and 61 experiencing at least one of these events:

A major medical condition - 41.3%
A health-related work limitation - 33.7%
Severe disability - 6.9%
Enter a nursing home - 3.4%
Job layoff - 18.7%
Divorce - 2.3%
Widowed - 7.3%
Click to expand...

Well, I guess if you are already FIRE by age 51(as I hope to be), then #2 & #5 are kind of N/A.
 
I've been thinking about this a lot as I get closer to retirement. I'm 51 I can't take retirement until age 56 at the earliest. What is amazing is how much different my financial status should be within the next 5 years.

If I bailed now there is no way I could live off my investments. However, hanging in there five - six more years should make a huge difference.

It's amazing after working all these years, the critical years are the last five.
 
A major motivation for early retirement for me (as if work wasn't motivation enough, ha, ha) is that I want to get out while I have the health and the energy to enjoy. my retirement. There are just too many things that I want to do. I love to travel and can't see that as fun unless I have both health and mobility.
 
Martha said:
Man oh man oh man. I have been trying to find this link for the past 6 months and couldn't for the life of me find it. Thanks for bringing this thread back up again!
Click to expand...

Fascinating information about early retirees between 50 and 61 years old, in 2001. It brought up the following information for these retirees:

median family income: men $29,600, women $34.500
median net worth including home equity: men $230,800, women $217,600
percentage with an IRA, 401K, or Keogh: men 47, women 33

The size of net worth seems shockingly low, but this was in 2001 so there has been some inflation.
 
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