Posted on 10/05/2001 11:02:39 PM PDT by B4Ranch
If you were 53 years old and hadn't worked in 25 years, then your husband died, what would you do.
I have a dear friend whose husband is significantly older than she is. He is 71 and in good health. The cost of life insurance for her husband is more than they can afford. Consequently, he does not have any. Her previous employment was in the fashion industry as a model. She has lifetime healthcare insurance from this employment.
Her income would be 70% of his Social Security, $1200 a month. His retirement payments stop upon his death. This is frightening, isn't it.
Currently, they live in a nice home with nice furniture and own one recently manufactured car.
Her eyesight will not allow her to drive on the Freeways or on heavily trafficked streets. She has a very pleasant, cheerful personality and is well spoken. She would be great as a secretary, except driving to and from work would be dangerous for her.
What type of education should she get to pursue work from her home earning $3000 a month? Is this possible. Do large companies hire employees to work from home. I am thinking of steady work not contract employment.
How poor is her eyesight? Can she handle a computer, or learn how? If so, she can consider working for non-profit organizations, which would let her work from home.
It's been my experience that most businesses don't want to make the non-trivial investment in telecommuting unless you're a minor god. Instead, she might consider doing some kind of transcription work, if her eyesight is good enough for reading.
Thank you for pinging me! I'm flattered!
You are welcome. Thanks for your response. All options are appreciated.
She became a yard/garage/estate sale queen with a 20% rule: She would only buy something that was priced at least 20% below fair market value, and would only sell for at least 20% more than she paid for it. When she passed away 17 years after my grandfather, she had quite a bit of money saved/invested, and lived without financial worry.
This does NOT mean moving into a dump on the wrong side of the tracks, but it might if she does not take action now to get ready.
She should start now to study areas where the cost of living is much lower, and get ready to move into a nice but small house or apartment.
It is going to be much easier at her age to control the outflow of cash, than to replace her husband's inflow.
Good Luck!
It seems that this person is likely to have a number of strikes against in her in this slow job market. 1) Large companies generally are reluctant to hire people over 50 years of age, even if they have skills. Right or wrong, they are going to feel the person is not going to have the same interest and drive as a younger person. They also may feel that the individual will be a bigger drain on corporate benefits (health care inititally and retirement later). 2) They are going to be reluctant to hire someone who hasnt worked in 25 years as they may not have even the most basic of job skills such as showing up on time day after day or relating to other people.
Why does she feel she has to work from home? That cuts down on her already poor job prospects. People who are going to be working from home are going to have more entrepreuerial type jobs or perhaps contract work where they are paying for the output and not the hours of production which they can not verify or control.
What happened to their savings? If her husband is in good health and 71, he probably hasnt been retired for more than ten years. Where is his nest egg? If they blew it all in less than ten years, then she should have been out working during that entire period, if not longer. I cant understand her passivity.
Could she take a bus to and from any job she might get?
May I say, "Thank you for the Freeper mail", those who have responded.
If you buy insurance, get it from an agent with a CLU, from a company with an A++ Best rating. I asked a Zurich Life agent how he could sell insurance with such a lousy rating. He said, "You must be an agent." I said, "CLU." He gulped.
Some good companies are Northwestern Mutual Life and Colonial Life. Mass Mutual is also good. Avoid the TV pitch policies in general.
To make more money late in life, without undue stress - get trained in computer science. I started 3 years ago and can now make $25-35 an hour. There are many areas. In general women seem to like programming and Oracle (database). It really depends on aptitude and inclinations.
Unix is even better as a fast starter. I believe this is reasonable - take Unix and some related subjects for a year as a part-time student, get a Unix job. Two years of experience at the lower levels will get you bids of $65k as a Unix administrator.
Yes you can make a lot in sales but most people do not last in sales. The drop out rate in insurance sales is about 90%. Count me as one of those. It can be very stressful and draining. But some people are naturals. I think life insurance is now extremely difficult for any beginner. Many veterans are dropping out.
Check on the current interest rates, if they are higher than current rates, refinancing would be good. That could lower her monthly payment. Also, provide enough capital if needed for her new business!
Someone suggested relatives moving in to share the rent. A member of our church died two weeks ago. His widow has a sister who lost her husband earlier this year. They are planning to sell the house of the sister and have her move in with the newest widow. That will give them cash and only one mortgage payment and one home for utilities instead of two.
Besides having each other for company and sharing meals. My Mother had talked about moving in with her younger sister, but they both are in their 80s and need help so they are in retirement homes.
We have a widow lady up the block who rents out rooms to college students. It is a good deal for all of them!
The other thing if she is good with kids would be to provide day care. I think the average cost/kid in this area is at least $125/week and up. Just 6 kids at $125/week would bring in $39,000 /year if done 52 weeks a year. People would probably line up to put their kids in a nice home with only 6 to 8 kids total. If she did 8, she could hire a lot of minimum wage help, like nice ladies in her church wanting some fun money and something to do! I don't know what state these people are in and the day care laws/rules.
The one difference was that he never "produced" much and she struggled like a saint to raise us kids (babysitting, paper routes, etc.).
Within a year, she was blessed with a new husband (I could never believe it!). She is finally living a happy life, although he is older than her like my father was and I fear she will be alone again soon.
I don't know if I have a point, other than after he passes on, things could end up considerably different than you or her would ever imagine.
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