I was right in the tail end of that category. I closed down my private business and went back to the corporate world.
If I were a black female at that age, with my experience I would have gotten about twenty job offers (because most of the jobs I did not get went to 40+ year old black women.)
Being an old white guy is tough. It took almost a year of full time looking to get a job. It is a job I would have gotten when I was 25. The pay is about 1/3 of what I was making when last in the suit and tie world.
I am not bitter about the job I DID land. I like it and the people are great. But don’t kid yourself, finding a job after 50 was akin to an Irishman trying to find a job in Protestant Boston back in the 1840s.
Here in NJ those black females are toxic; companies hire Hispanic females instead. Less legal hassles, better work ethic; basically both groups have the same language issues while one seems much more interested in working.
I know a pair like you (and me) and their solution to this was to buy a good size convenience store and operate it between themselves. The long days are divided by two and they have put together a good team of mostly older white people as staff. The two younger children working the place are family members of the staff.
This is true. It is nigh impossible to find a job over a certain age, especially for men. Especially for white men.