Forced Exit.
I am a person that has been studying the reality around retirement for some time now. This exploration has led to another dimension of retirement that most of us haven’t considered and that is forced retirement. Most early retirees do not do so by choice yet we only present retirement from the perspective that you get to decide when you want to sail into the sunset.
Some of the usual culprits include disability and serious health issues as well as having to care for a loved one. But what about being forced out of work near retirement age? Even though businesses cannot discriminate due to age, there are ways around it and tactics that can be utilized to force the hand of the older workforce.
One such story came up on my news feed about being ‘invited’ to retire as part of budget cuts. of the 58% of retirees that had to prior to what they originally planned, 43% of them cited job loss, organizational changes and buyouts as the reason they were forced out of the job market.
One of the great things about this article is a section on the 4 phases of retirement outlined by Dr. Riley Moynes. The Vacation Phase, The Lost Phase, The Trial and Error Phase and the Reinvest and Rewire Phase. These can be helpful ways of emotionally processing where you are at and they can carry added significance if you are forced out or “invited” to retire.
Only 21% of workers retired because they were financially prepared for it. The rest face a different reality. Those closest to the age of a possible “invitation” from their work to retire have less than $200,000 saved on average which can be a scary proposition if it is hard to find work.
Anyone that has gone through a period of unemployment knows the stress that comes when the income is turned off. That stress compounded by age and staring at the potential of 20 or 30 years to work to figure out.
This is something to take serious especially if you are approaching the retirement age range. Retirement may come for you and not the other way around.
Take a look at the story I mentioned here.
https://apple.news/AupQuwVWaQcaXnScRWdtAFQ
As always, if you come across a financially related article you’d like to send my way please do!
Best place to send them is to me.
More next time!
Jonathan