Posted on 05/09/2024 8:04:04 PM PDT by Cronos
Cathy R., 63, has a master's degree and has worked all her life, though she's very worried for her future.
The clerical worker in Minnesota has struggled to rise up the ranks throughout her career. She said she's earning a salary similar to some entry-level positions despite nearly three decades in her current role. She's nervous that even though she's eligible for a pension in a few years, it won't supplement Social Security payments nearly enough to live comfortably.
"I can't afford life while working. How can I even think of retiring?" the St. Paul, Minnesota resident said.
...Cathy grew up in Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota, after which she enrolled in law school. She worked full-time as a legal secretary at the Attorney General's office while in school part-time at night.
She said the job didn't work out, as her supervisor disapproved of her leaving an hour early each day to attend classes. Law school didn't pan out after two years, and she was laid off from her government position. She still had loads of student loan debt, and she took jobs in Minneapolis as a legal secretary at different law firms.
After a decade, she hadn't climbed the corporate ladder at any firm, so she returned to working for the state government to attempt to make more money and not lose benefits. She worked at the Department of Revenue in the mailroom, then got a job as an administrative assistant for the state's college system, which she kept for about 25 years.
Because she worked for the college system, she received free tuition for a degree, so she obtained a master's in public administration shortly before the pandemic.
...Many peak boomers also fall into the growing category of ALICE, which stands for asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
People like this have to leave and go to another company where they're not already established in the minds of leadership.
-PJ
She’s been a public employee for 25 years.
She’s got a pension and likely cadillac health bennies.
All courtesy of her fellow taxpayers.
She won’t be getting a pity party from me.
Wow. Complete insanity.
It will be interesting to see what happens to the bloated education system as the Baby Boom echo ends, and they have steadily falling numbers of new students.
Funny, I am a 63 year old man, working two jobs and I worry about the future. Only because I have investments and am scared to death the government is going to find a way to prevent me from enjoying the fruits of my 40 years of work. I was retiring back in 2023, but even with two jobs, no debt and a six figure income, I cannot retire.
What makes this even worse for me is I have full VA medical benefits so I wouldn’t have to pay $1500 a month for some Obamacare type of insurance.
A College Degree w/o the ambition to use it is useless.
This woman clearly lacks ambition. Three decades in the same role?
Probably music.
I have two degrees that I never used...I got into electrical work and made more than enough.
Absolutely. She evidently bought into the "women can have it all" nonsense.
As a man, I will never understand a woman wanting to have a career over being a traditional housewife and mother. Having the option to get married and stay at home while the spouse supports you in raising the children is crazy to give up. I mean, even if the marriage doesn't work out, and the man drops her for a "trophy" wife, the courts are still going to give her half of everything the man has as well as a lifetime stream of payments.
Women had it made but now they are giving it up for the old 9 to 5 grind.
I’m a peak boomer and a college drop out (after 3 years). I dropped out because I saw opportunities to work hard and earn considerably more than my pears were making when they graduated.
Not having a degree made it much harder looking for work over the years but has also presented opportunities as well. I’ve changed professions 3 times as I saw the world changing around me.
All that said: paid off my college debt before 30, married had 2 kids, owned homes, sent my kids through college, etc...
I make at least 4 times what she does, have savings and equity far above the average and live in a resident unfriendly state (NY).
It isn’t too hard to survive and with skills, and hard work you can thrive. You just need to make some hard decisions along the way. For example I’ve had many opportunities to get an undergrad degree along the way, but didn’t think the benefits would outweigh the financial burden. Time will tell if I’m correct or not, but with 3 - 4 years to retirement the last thing I would do is go further in debt.
Kinda makes me glad my wage is $25 an hour. Not earning much, but not much to give to all the moochers, either.
Got that right. I’d love to be making $85k an hour. It’s still not middle class in many cities, but better than what I’m earning now.
She/they may not be attractive to the available men, to be a house-wife.
In which case, the Church is/was to take care of them. A real failure in the contemporary churches.
Unlike the Federal Reserve and investment banks…
LOL!
She didn’t make herself too big to fail, and red-circled for survival no matter what.
She has only herself to blame !
“I am 62, retired, worked for fed gov for 20 years, was only able to advance two GS levels, GS-04 to GS-06, because I wouldn’t kiss butt and told a top level manager he “was a BLANK BLANK poor excuse for a manager.”
When we get older we figure out that most of the “top level managers” are clowns and keep it our little secret.
The truth can get you in a lot of trouble in the work world.
She wasted her life working for $20/hr for years instead of moving to better positions or she wasnt worth promoting.
typical lib, self entitled, instead of really competing, expecting everyone to act like they do on TV and play strictly by the written handbook.
expecting your boss to let you leave an hour early every day to go to class instead of taking night school.- After 40 years of working low paying jobs, its everyone elses fault.
Doesnt mention her marital situation.
final thoughts, another msm liberal extreme view of the world 10 steps away from reality, designed to illicit a negative slant on your life. Didnt work on me, MSM, try harder, try highlighting the truth about things, not the negative, the REASONS for her situation.
I’ll retire the morning they plant me in the ground
I totally agree
it took her 40 years to get a masters degree in administration services...How hard did she really work all those years?
she could have went to welding school and in 6 months been making 30/hr, or been an electricians apprentice, they start at 15/ hr and journeyman at 5 years making 40-50/hr.
She flunked out of law school. Not a good indicator
She lives in Minnesota........ another bad indicator
Plastic MA.......... not a good indicator
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