Covid effect on retirement rate

[Rustic23]

DW and I were talking, well I was talking, she was politely quite, will the entire net rate increase when this is all over with. We have friends who could retire, but have not. (Restaurant owner). He has had to close. He has not said if he plans to reopen. As he has a second home in a retirement area,, the urge to just say to heck with it has to be strong. I figure there will be a lot of folks like him that will retire.

 

[Dawg52]

Some will probably retire due to being laid off and not having a choice.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

And others who were planning to retire may decide they cannot afford to with the market slump.

 

[badatmath]

We were talking about it today and some of my coworkers are literally afraid to go back to work. We have little space and at this age and risk of getting sick vs retiring well. . . . We have another week at home I believe

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

With all of the restaurants and bars ordered closed, I should imagine that a lot of people [owners and employees] are thinking about their options.

 

[Ready]

I think a lot of restaurants and other small businesses will not reopen when this is over. Some of those people will go on to earn income in other ways, others will not.

 

[jled317]

I was hoping to retire before summer, but, being in public health, we are extremely busy right now. I couldn’t leave my staff in the middle of this mess. Working seven days a week and up to 12 hour days, depending on scheduling. Plus, all of those medical appointments one likes to get in before they lose their benefits are now on hold as the dental and optometrist offices are all closed. Thanks, COVID-19! I guess I have to be thankful that I am still working, with no shortage of hours, and still well enough to work.

 

[RxMan]

With the huge spike in unemployment filings I wonder if some of those people will just never make it back into the workforce or at the least have an extended period of not working. I can also see some of those that are working who had plans to retire make the decision to delay it because of the downturn in the markets.

I was at least five years out from retiring anyway so I have some time to ride this out. It might add a year or two to my working career just to recover some of the balance lost in this downturn.

 

[nhcycling]

I’m still working and was going to retire in the next couple of years as were dozens of my peers at my MegaCorp. We are fortunate in that the company will be minimally impacted by COVID and most of our jobs (8000 employees) are busy as ever. Folk that were going to retire have put it on hold and are now thinking they’re going to work for at least another decade.

 

[Midpack]

With the huge spike in unemployment filings I wonder if some of those people will just never make it back into the workforce or at the least have an extended period of not working.

It’s well known that many gave up trying to find work in the years after the 2009 meltdown, many say our unemployment stats since haven’t been comparable to pre 2008 because so many stopped looking. I’m sure this recession will be the same, especially for older well compensated employees. Managers who have to reduce force will once again favor younger employees with more current skills and lower salaries over older employees who’ve resisted new skills while making higher salaries. I remember how age (and other) discrimination laws are pretty easy to work around or bend.

 

[Sunset]

DW and I were talking, well I was talking, she was politely quite, will the entire net rate increase when this is all over with. We have friends who could retire, but have not. (Restaurant owner). He has had to close. He has not said if he plans to reopen. As he has a second home in a retirement area,, the urge to just say to heck with it has to be strong. I figure there will be a lot of folks like him that will retire.

I could see a number of restaurant owners needing to work after this, as some will certainly lose a lot of personal money when they go bankrupt or close down a restaurant.

 

[Music Lover]

One of my friends owns a body shop. He's been affected a little but not severely...with people driving less he has less accident claims coming in to his shop. He was planning on working for 4 or 5 more years but now his plan is to wait until things hopefully return to normal and then sell his business.

 

[Music Lover]

I could see a number of restaurant owners needing to work after this, as some will certainly lose a lot of personal money when they go bankrupt or close down a restaurant.

And those who are able to sell and retire will likely see that their restaurant is no longer worth very much.

 

[Montecfo]

It’s well known that many gave up trying to find work in the years after the 2009 meltdown, many say our unemployment stats since haven’t been comparable to pre 2008 because so many stopped looking. I’m sure this recession will be the same, especially for older well compensated employees. Managers who have to reduce force will once again favor younger employees with more current skills and lower salaries over older employees who’ve resisted new skills while making higher salaries. I remember how age (and other) discrimination laws are pretty easy to work around or bend.

That situation is not new. But statistically, older people were working at higher rates after than before the financial crisis. It was in fact the young cohort that was conspicuously under-employed. Of course millions have been coaxed back into the workforce over the past few years that were not considered "unemployed".

But the situation you described has been true for decades, meaning some percentage of older workforce retiring involuntarily.

 

[Ready]

And then of course there are the health care workers who were happily retired and now we are begging them to come back into the workforce because of the shortage.

And the 100,000 employees Amazon needs to hire to keep up with demand. And the 50,000 employees CVS needs to keep their stores going.

No doubt the pandemic will cripple a lot of industries. But it will stimulate others that can provide assistance during this crisis.

 

[jldavid47]

I'm retired and my wife was planning to retire in 2022 once she turned 65. However, in the middle of last month she was offered an early retirement package by her Fortune 500 company (not COVID-19 related). Initially we brushed it off but with the severe economic impact from the pandemic we have turned our thinking around 180 degrees.


(1) One of the main things stopping her from retiring was the need for medical insurance until she turns 65. The package lets her pay employee rates (about 1/10th the cost of market rates) until she turns 65. If she is laid off before then due to economic stress on the company, we'd be screwed.



(2) If we both begin to take our Social Security next year once her separation pay runs out it will more than cover our current standard of living. We do not live extravagantly.


(3) In a meeting yesterday they were told that there could be layoffs or reduction of hours if the economy doesn't pick up by the fall. If she doesn't take the package she could be out the door with nothing.


Given those factors and the fact that we have sufficient retirement assets it seems best for her to take the offer and retire. Besides, from a personal standpoint we get two extra years of retirement to enjoy together. I keep rerunning the numbers to make sure I'm not missing anything and every time we're OK over the long haul (God willing).


It's a bit nerve-wracking to take this step, but as I pointed out to her I took an early retirement package at age 47 with three kids to send to college and no immediate job prospects and it worked out fine. (I went back to work twice). This will work out fine as well. If not for the uncertainty caused by the pandemic we probably would not have taken this step.

 

[HI Bill]

In a meeting yesterday they were told that there could be layoffs or reduction of hours if the economy doesn't pick up by the fall. If she doesn't take the package she could be out the door with nothing.

If I were her, I'd take the package and get out now, while there's still a package to get. My MEGACORP just announced a 10% reduction in hours to most staff, and 20% for senior level management We have more than 150,000 employees world-wide, with some 100,000 in the US. They're planning to use the reduced overhead pay and possibly a reduction in paid time off accruals to fund those without enough billable work.

 

[jldavid47]

If I were her, I'd take the package and get out now, while there's still a package to get. My MEGACORP just announced a 10% reduction in hours to most staff, and 20% for senior level management We have more than 150,000 employees world-wide, with some 100,000 in the US. They're planning to use the reduced overhead pay and possibly a reduction in paid time off accruals to fund those without enough billable work.

I don't think I made it clear in my post but she has decided to take the package. It was 98% certain before yesterday's announcement and now it's 100% certain.

 

[PandaBear]

While my retirement date is not imminent (was hoping for June 2021 abs anticipating June 2022), I’m mentally preparing myself for June 2023. We lost quite a bit with the market downturn. Delaying my retirement will enable me to have the funds I want for travel. If I’m wrong and the market rebounds, well, it’s better to move the date forward than backward.

 

[mountainsoft]

We'll have to see what happens with the markets over the next few years, but I wouldn't be too surprised if we have to postpone our retirement a year or two because of the COVID situation.

 

[mickeyd]

We live @ CCRC and all move-ins have been suspended until this Wuhan pandemic is over. There is no way that new residents could move in and the rest of us (600) would be assured that the new folks would not introduce the bug.

 

[Teacher Terry]

My chiropractor shutdown his practice for 2 weeks and I was sure he was going to retire. He is 68. He got bored and came back to work with a shorter day.