I can imagine a 50 year old white man, getting laid off from his professional job. He can only find work as a clerk or something at near minimum wage. Maybe he gets a divorce or suffers health problems over the pressure, and there goes his life’s savings. Maybe his biggest hope now is when he can collect Social Security and work only part-time. And maybe move into a bigger trailer - this time, one that has hot water in the shower. It does happen sometimes where someone leads a responsible life but bad things happen and it has a cascading effect.
I’m 49 and have a law degree, so re-entering the workforce for me took a little time but I have a well-paying job and I always make myself reliable and useful. I could retire before 60 if I wanted to but plan on working until 75, or unless I can’t anymore.
It helps a lot to have a genuine skill and credential. It gives you options
I picked up on one word you correctly used as you described how and why bad things happen to good people.
Divorce.
In my life and career, I’ve seen countless cases of divorce forever ruing any and all chances of financial stability.
The divorce lawyers make sure all savings are depleted. Then things get worse.
Better to be unhappily married than miserably divorced. Don’t think so? Then look at the millions of old lonely divorced people who no longer lived quite nicely as they once did; but live miserably in a single wide.
Alone.
“I can imagine a 50 year old white man, getting laid off from his professional job. He can only find work as a clerk or something at near minimum wage. “
Happened to me in 2008. Was laid off from my job, then my daughter got sick. I had enough money to retire, but was only 48. The one year my daughter spent in treatment wiped out my life savings My wife’s business took a bad hit in 2009 also. All we had to live on was my unemployment and 30% disability from AF. I couldn’t get a job as a burger flipper, that’s how bad the market was. I even applied to was dishes, but no takers.
We were a month away from losing the house, the cars and winding up on public assistance. Every job I applied for wanted a college degree, which I didn’t have. I took our last $1000 and enrolled in a Project Management workshop to test for the PMP exam. I walked into the exam knowing if I failed it, we were in bigger trouble. I passed. Three days later I had a job.
This year I finished my BS in Ops Management. I swore I would never again not get a job because I didn’t have a degree.