Posted on 10/16/2006 4:26:06 AM PDT by shrinkermd
"...He’s not alone. According to a 2005 study by the Boston College Center on Aging and Work, traditional retirement where employees totally stop working may never happen for most baby boomers. Instead, the study suggests that 50%-66% of retirees will be vying for bridge jobs, parttime or short duration work for at least five years after retirement...
(Excerpt) Read more at epaper.investors.com ...
Who has changed? The Boomers? Or the Economy?
I retired 15 years ago, then found I was in demand part time from many sources. I have a valid CDL permit and employes are begging for drivers. They love people who are mature and dont destroy their equipment. Older workers show up on time and dont mind working, and dont hand them any crap. So far my biggest problem has been that after a while they keep wanting you to work more and more hours until part-time work becomes almost full time.
The biggest complaint I hear from employers is that todays kids dont seem to have a good work ethic. I have cut back now to working very little, only a couple of days a week,but even at that there are jobs available.
YEA!!! A NEW BUZZWORD!!!
Who has changed? The Boomers? Or the Economy?
Neither really. Its a matter of demographics. There are an awful lot of boomers, and as they get older (as we get older, I should say) then theres going to be more of a strain on hospitals, care homes, etc etc. Also they form a larger than normal chunk of the workforce, so if they all start retiring at the same time, then theres going to be fewer younger people around to pay the taxes to support it all. Ergo, the only choice is for the boomers to retire later, or do temp jobs, to shore up the economy.
Clever boomers (I dont like to blow my own trumpet, buy hey, who else will?) have forseen all this and countered by making exceptional pension arrangements when they were younger...
I bet the author knew all that, but his bosses need to divide, for political purposes, older American into a group being victimized with "Bridge jobs."
I retired 15 years ago, then found I was in demand part time from many sources. I have a valid CDL permit and employes are begging for drivers. They love people who are mature and dont destroy their equipment. Older workers show up on time and dont mind working, and dont hand them any crap. So far my biggest problem has been that after a while they keep wanting you to work more and more hours until part-time work becomes almost full time.
The biggest complaint I hear from employers is that todays kids dont seem to have a good work ethic. I have cut back now to working very little, only a couple of days a week,but even at that there are jobs available.
The pay isnt great but it keeps a few bucks in your pocket and keeps you busy. Why waste time on a golf course when there are parts to deliver and people to enjoy speaking to. Tractor-trailer rigs to be taken to the garage for maintenance ,and wrecks to be hauled in.In the meantime there are always volunteer Rescue Squads who need drivers, no pay, but very rewarding, and between jobs popping in to Free Republic. There are tons of jobs waiting to be filled. You dont have to be a Walmart greeter. The nice thing about retirement income is if you get bored or you can look for another. You belong to the KMA club.
You can always tell the employer Kiss My Azz. and leave.
Don't knock the Wal-Mart greeters.
I have a neighbor who will turn 80 next week. She works as a greeter two days a week for a few hours a day. Two other days a week, she goes square dancing. She's almost 30 years older than I am and she gets around better than I do. There's a lot to be said about keeping active, even if it's work.
Actually, this is part of my plan to retire a bit earlier. I'd like to work part-time in a gun store.
The economy is doing fine, so I would have to say it's the "Boomers" (of which I am one). Many of my age cohort have NOT made the necessary savings/investment choices to have a sufficient retirement "nest egg.
I do have such a retirement fund, and could retire tomorrow. I choose not to, because I've found a job niche that I really enjoy. Someday that may pall, and I will actually "retire"--but, even then, I'll probably work at "something" (at least part time).
I wonder if any private schools could use a part-time chemistry/science teacher???
I figure that I can retire on $90,000/year (including SS) at age 62. (I have no mortgage or other debt.) Would I like part-time work to keep busy? Depends on the job.
Basically, I would be working to pay my grandkids college tuition.
There are two old guys where I work that "retired"..both for about a year. They both said that they about went nuts...so contacted some of their younger collegues and went back to work full time.
As for me...I'm pushing 70 and still working with no plans to "retire". I need the mental and physical activity that my work provides, as well as the income. I would have to have millions invested to produce the same income....which I have never accumulated.
Besides, we make important stuff where I work...we make amplifiers for communications and to aim big guns and for radars to see better...we are helping the troops kill muzzies....and I like that.
Don't knock the Wal-Mart greeters.
Not at all, I hope they have a place for me in my Golden yrs.
Depending on where you live, part-time teaching may be an option. I sub several times a month. I could do it every day, but I only do it for one school. There are some schools I would never even consider.
Yep. You gotta put away more than you think you could ever possibly need. Live comfortably, but not extravagantly, while you are working, and you can live comfortably, but not extravagantly, when you are retired. But if you drive the Mercedes 500 SL while you are working, you might wind up driving a bus when you're 65.
Don't know the size of your town(?) but you could most likely make some very nice pocket change as a tutor or sub teacher.
Good! Keep the Boomers working so they don't leech off of us Gen X'ers!
:-)
Industry has changed. Ten years ago, they were doing their best to get rid of aging workers, now they're doing their best to keep them.
According to some executives I know, it's because they are better educated than recent graduates and because they have a well-developed work ethic, they understand how business works, and they complain less.
We've been hearing a lot of complaining from certain Gen-Xers about the cost of Social Security which will result from so many people retiring in such a short time period.
But as we know, a lot of Boomers haven't put together a proper nest egg, and many will continue to work years longer than anyone previously expected. That's what corporate HR departments are hoping anyway.
So soon we may see a shift from Gen-Xers complaining about retiring boomers to complaining about the ones who DON'T retire and vacate their high-paying jobs at the top, making advancement harder on younger employees.
In fact, not too long ago I heard the same compliants in the same discussion from the same individual.
I reommended he look into "Hooked Phonics".
Good explanation and good post!
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