Why you might have to retire early
Here are 5 reasons you may be forced to quit your job before your actual retirement age. Are you prepared?
This post comes from David Ning at partner site U.S. News & World Report.
Early retirement is the dream of many people working 9 to 5. But the reality is that a significant portion of the population will involuntarily retire early before the official retirement age.
Here are five situations that could push you into retirement ahead of schedule:
Incur a disability
Disabilities can occur without warning. You need to prepare for the worst-case scenario of becoming so ill that you cannot continue to work. While there is a safety net for people with disabilities, it's still going to be a devastating financial hit if you aren't prepared for it.
Caregiving responsibilities
Some people who are perfectly healthy may become unable to work because they need to care for family members. I recently learned of a husband who quit his job to take care of his wife after she was diagnosed with diabetes. He had a decent job, but the salary wasn't enough to justify him working full time while hiring full-time help to take care of his wife. And he didn't feel entirely comfortable leaving her with a stranger. At 62, he quit his job, even though he never envisioned quitting the workforce, let alone doing it early. (Post continues below.)
A once in-demand skill set is no longer marketable
Legions of manufacturing workers are finding it tough to get decent jobs, as companies are increasingly offloading manufacturing jobs overseas to cut costs. The business world is constantly evolving, and your skills may one day become obsolete. While a complete lack of work is less likely, a common scenario is that you just can't find a job that pays as much as you used to make, which hits many people's finances quite hard.
A layoff late in your career
It's not always easy to see the warning signs of layoffs before they happen. Job loss can be especially traumatic for older employees. It generally takes older workers much longer than young people to find a new job, and some people end up never landing a new gig.
While there are things you can do while unemployed to boost your job prospects, such as volunteering or retraining for a new career, employers are sometimes reluctant to take on people they fear will retire soon. The best way to prepare for a late-career layoff is often to save as much as you can while you still have a job.
Businesses shut down all the time
A dangerously common situation among small-business owners is living the high life while not saving for the future. Perhaps due to their risk-taking nature, many self-employed individuals believe they will be able to figure things out if times get tough. More often, the lack of savings will leave them struggling to make ends meet if the business fails, which happens all too often. You don't want to be forced to shut down your business because of the lack of a cash cushion.
No matter how successful your business or career is and how stable you believe your income to be, an unexpected turn could force you into retirement ahead of schedule. Saving more than you think you will need while you are employed will give you options if you encounter a health problem or job loss.
More on U.S. News & World Report and MSN Money:
Make up my mind here. It's becoming nuts to get old. I'm 65 and retired. Here is a view point for you olders. Young people take heed to, you will be here someday.
1. All this talk when to retire was 62, 65, now 66 talk about 68, 70, whats next 72, to never.Younger generation crabs about paying a couple pennies more in taxes that they will benifit from later.
2. Old folks need to retire so younger people can move up the ladder, we're holding you back by working longer. we also hold up anymore hiring keeping unemployment high.Keep raising the retirment age and the more Old Folks are going to keep holding you back and on unemployment. The Baby Boomer groupe is very large.
3. Tell me what you want! Heck I've been in Damnd if I do,damnd if I don't situations half a dozen times through out my life. The last place I thought I'd find one would be at Retirement Time.
I retired ( quit my job) this year also, at 49. Saved at least 60% my whole like. Worked like a dog to pay my mortgage off in 5 years ( on an affordable within my means house). Then worked like a dog to purchase 3 more rental properties at dirt cheap foreclosure prices ( thanks all you min wage earners who thought you could afford a 300K house because the big ole bank said you could).. One of the properties i purchased had (3) yes three mortgages on it when it was foreclosed on. ( thanks refi'ers for using your house as collaterial to pay off your credit cards for useless consumer goods)
Do not need ss , however would really like to be able to collect at 62, after all it is 6.5% of my earnings they took and I would like it back.
Common sense and living below your means.
Retirement ? What is that ? Oh yeah, that's when you die. Might not be that way if the crooks in Washington didn't steal OUR Social Security funds. You know,the ones we have paid in all our working lives just to have them vanish before our very eyes !
The "Experts" say a 75% payout by 2035. They all lie. I'm betting on a 50% payout by 2025. Of course "Our Congress" won't fix the problem they created. Why should they. They don't have to live on SS. Too bad people in this country don't rise up and revolt against this Government the way people in other countries do. That's what it will take to make any REAL change.
OBAMNEY 2012 : Either way, WE are screwed.
A person can prepare for the worst, seek expert advice, and play by the rules, but there isn't a real viable way to prepare for an unknown future. How many seniors set monies aside in retirement plans, to wake up one day broke because Wall Street stole their nest eggs? One cannot and should not live in the past or in the future, but live life in present. Before a lot of people get their shorts in a wad, that doesn't mean irresponsibility. If one spends all his time worrying about things that may never happen, then he is not living! If you think for one moment that you can forecast your future, then you need to sit down and talk with a person who became disabled. You can be a wealthy person with all the insurance in the world, but if you become disabled, the system will bleed you dry. The only people that disability doesn't affect are the extremely wealthy; everyone else is a statistic waiting to happen. Older people in the U.S. are becoming to most discriminated segment of society, and disabled elderly people are even more discriminated against. The best defense for retirement security is a large family of which shoulders the moral responsibility of caring for their parents. The second, less attractive option is to commit a white collar crime and let the prison system take care of you. While such alternatives should be taken "tongue in cheek," one should appreciate the thought that there are no perfect solutions especially regarding retirement.
What a poor article! First, don't you think it's premature to deem certain skill sets- inept? We will need manufacturing, we may not need button pressing. Second, tons of 55+ year olds are still working the same job they had at 18. Prison sentences are shorter. Bank analysts recommended job cuts and the big corporations shipped jobs overseas. As those jobs return, kids with devices aren't going to do well in them, so skill sets who consult and oversee will be critical. Job blockade has been rampant. It was very clever to shift job postings online and send resumes into a Black Hole. Now that skills are needed again, there is no portal for recruitment. The BEST advice for all is to gain self-employment skills and to form a business entity. America will need millions of new businesses to wipe-out these platforms that crashed the nation. I suspect the future will not be so much politically charged as progress charged. It makes too much sense to not tolerate political agenda and reform every bastion of buffoonery where wealth manipulates without equality.
Not only are they retiring earlier, many are adopting the Smith and Wesson Retirement plan. Nice yeah? No, suicide is not generally reported in the news unless its a celebrity.
My nephew is in law enforcement and he says, they are getting twice as many suicide calls as opposed to just a few years ago.
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