Is a Second Act Career Right for You?
Most jobs do not have a mandatory retirement age, which means that, if you are lucky enough to have enough job stability that you do not lie awake at night and worry about whether your job will still be around next year, you spend your nights doing mental calculations to figure out how your financial situation will be if you retire at age 65, 66, 67, and so on. You are grateful to have an employer-provided retirement account, but yours is not one of those careers that is so much fun that you never want to retire, no matter how old you get; we can’t all be Paul McCartney or the Freakonomics guys. The possibility of retirement is near enough that you can feel that making an abrupt exit from the workforce will not lead you to emotional or financial wellbeing. For help envisioning how your financial situation will be if you continue working after retirement, contact a Washington, D.C. estate planning lawyer.
What Does the Greeter at Walmart Know That You Don’t?
Job interviews are stressful when you are young and, if things go well, you could be one step closer to decades of pay increases and employer-provided health insurance, but if they don’t, then next time around, you will be competing with an even larger group of qualified candidates for an even smaller pool of positions that provide job security and health insurance benefits. Likewise, work is stressful when you are young. If things go well, you can qualify for a mortgage loan and give your children a comfortable childhood, but if they don’t, you could find yourself unemployed with no savings to keep you going until you find your next job.
When you are in your 60s, though, every workday is an exercise in gratitude. You get to interact with customers and coworkers that you would not otherwise have met, and your body is healthy enough for an honest day’s work, even though you are old enough for Medicare to pay for much of your medical care. Best of all, you can’t lose. If your job disappears tomorrow, you will still be living in a house with a paid off mortgage. The worst-case scenario is that, at Christmas, you can give your grandson a little bit of money for his college tuition, and the best-case scenario is that you can give him more money.
Taking Things One Year at a Time
The best thing about a second act career is that you can retire at any time. If you work 20 hours per week this year, but next year, your old bones can only tolerate 15 hours of work per week, such is the way of the universe. In a second act career, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Contact Us for Help
A Washington, D.C. estate planning attorney can help you plan for your future if the idea of leaving the workforce does not appeal to you. Contact Tobin, O’Connor, and Ewing in Washington, D.C. or call 202-362-5900.
Source:
kiplinger.com/personal-finance/over-50-workers-in-demand-in-todays-labor-market
