By 59 he should have saved enough so that he could retire.
Or
By 59 he should have developed a useful skill that employers would want and be willing to pay for.
Too bad, so sad.
A while back, I heard Howard Ruff on one of the radio call-ins. A fellow called in to ask a question, his basic position was that he wanted to know what to do to be able to retire.
The guy was 46 years old, and had been able to save 3 or 4 thousand dollars.
He night be able to retire if he like goes to India and sells his kidney!
He might have to sell 'em both!
The first option is what I am working for. I want to be finaially set to retire at about 55. Any work after that will be gravy. There are a lot of fish that need caught and I want to be the guy that does it while I still know what they are.
My second option is to sell some piece of crap in my cellar on ebay for $ga-gillions. Unfortunately, most of my cellar crap is actually crap.
Actually, at 59 you may have the skills folks want - but not get the credit for having them. Particularly in fields like engineering and IT, you can find plenty of companies who assume anyone over 30 is behind the times on cutting technology.
A friend of mine getting out of the military, after working for years developing cutting edge equipment, repeatedly heard "You're military - you don't know about modern technology".
His qualifications didn't matter. His age and military background did.
He obviously has the skills. But unlike when he acquired them, there are bunches of younger folk, both in the US and India who can be had for much, much less. He's probably a better worker, has more skill and experience than they do, but the bean counters don't see that, all they see is a "widget" that they can procure more cheaply elsewhere. Which is fine as far as it goes, until the company goes into the ditch because all they've got is an inexperienced, qualified on paper, workforce.
...By 59 he should have developed a useful skill that employers would want and be willing to pay for. .....
A better course is to search the years for something he learned and train up on that or look for something entirely different. To expect to be able to keep on keeping on in the world of today is delusional. The bottom of a rut is a bad place to be.
Whining they don't need me is counterproductive. You are ok, your skills are what's no longer needed.
I started a new business at 55 and it is doing ok. I have another new business in process based on totally new skills.
No one should be out of work. If all else fails, there is a terrible dearth of truck drivers. TI guys driving a truck? why not. It's not 1985 any more.
Too bad, so sad.
The same could be said for a certain occupant in the White House.