Replies

A 60-year-old man with 35 years in management should be debt-free with significant investments in his 401(k), Roth IRA and several rental properties that were paid with cash.

It's nice when all planning goes smoothly. But sometimes, there are bumps in the road, such as the way I had to start over after getting divorced from a man who had run up huge debts without saying anything to me. (I saw they were paid before I left.)

Well, that was 10 years lost. I went on, worked, got laid off a few times, saved as much as I could whenever I could, lived frugally even when everybody else was acquiring cars and McMansions.

So here I am at 60, house paid off, no debts, --and no job. Nobody wants 60 year olds. It doesn't matter how good your recommendations are. It doesn't matter how stainless your past is (one parking ticket). Employers don't want you, and I have searched my brain for something legal I could do on my own. My knees are shot, which limits what I can do physically. Oh, and I have no health insurance.

Be careful about being smug and confident that YOU will never be in a bad place, because one day, you, too, will be 60.