Encore Careers in Unlikely Places

Monday Morning Pep Talk

Working past the age most people retire improves the chance that you won’t outlive your money. 70 is the target age to stop working according to a study from the Center for Retirement Research and was reported in the most recent issue of Money magazine. One of the big questions I am asked both online and at presentations is, “who will hire me at 64 (insert any age 50+)?” Actually there are jobs for older workers and as the economy continues to improve more and more people who dropped out of the workforce are finding there way back. Here are suggestions and if you know great careers for experienced workers, please share. I would love to hear about them.

• Work for Yourself: You don’t have to begin Kentucky Fried Chicken like Harlan Sanders did when he was 65. You could turn a hobby into a business or use your business expertise to provide consulting. I know a couple in their mid-50s who quit their corporate jobs to start a promotional item/event planning business that carried them into a more secure retirement over the next 15 years. If you have the good health, energy and risk-tolerance to start a big business, go for it! Remember my friend chronicled in this post who began a vineyard after a 25 year career in medical sales?     http://workinglater.blogspot.com/2011/11/turning-your-passion-into-career.html   I’ve heard real estate, professional organizers and home stagers are new favorite encore careers that will require certification and/or licensure to be competitive.

• Teaching: Yes teaching! It is not what it used to be. There are so many options. With a Master's degree you can teach at the community college level in your area of expertise. Many time your students are also non-traditional, so you are interacting with people who want to be in class hearing the knowledge and experiences you have to share. You can also teach online in your bunny slippers and no one will know. One of my “retired” neighbors teaches a few days a week at a preschool and she loves the interaction. Visit ccteach.org to learn more about teaching at higher grades.

• Health Care: While some positions in health care are being downsized, there are entire new health care job functions being created. Jobs for patient navigators or patient advocates are worth looking into if you like the idea of helping people and have an interest in health care. There are certification programs to make you more competitive. You can learn more by visiting the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants.

• Government Work: Am I crazy? No, I am not. Check USAJobs.gov to see which agencies are hiring in your area. I met a woman who mid-career decided that a government position would provide her the pension that none of her corporate jobs had offer even thought she spent 18 years in the workforce. So, she transferred her corporate training skills into a position with a federal agency and transferred to the Department of Homeland Security when we met. That agency didn’t even exist when she moved into the public sector. Since its inception in 2002, the Department of Homeland Security employs 240,000 with an annual budget of $60B in fiscal year 2013. Oh yeah, and that pension…they still have them through the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).

Think creatively about encore careers especially if could not imagine doing your current job until age 70. You may want to go back for certification or training earlier (in your 40s or 50s) to make yourself more competitive and prepared for a new career when you are ready to make your move. Also, watch out for scams offering training, certification or education that sounds too good to be true.

Living Until 90 and Working Until 70

Monday Morning Pep Talk!


This week there is good news and bad news. The good news is that you, that's right Y-O-U could live into your ninth decade. Wow! Imagine you in your 90s. The bad news is that for a variety of reasons, you may find yourself working into your 70s. You may want to prepare for your long future by taking great care of yourself today and saving more money.


60 Minutes, the weekly CBS news show, recently aired a segment on the 90+ Study being conducted by the University Of California at Irvine. They are following a group of 90+ year old as a follow-up to a study that began in the 1980s.Two facts were identified in their research that gave me hope:


1. People in their study who drank moderate amounts of coffee and alcohol lived longer than those who abstained.


2. People who were overweight in their 70s lived longer than their normal weight and underweight friends.


So far, so good.


All of this was tempered with the bad news about dementia, disability and memory loss. Other research from the American Heart Association and Centers for Disease Control suggest weight training and resistance training play a critical role in successful aging.


Once you build the muscle, it is time to get to work! People work past 65 for a variety of reasons that are not financial. Creating social connections and feeling useful and productive were the top answers many in their 60s, 70s and 80s gave when surveyed on what factors besides money motivated them to work.


A bigger issue will be where will older workers will find employment and what will they experience in the workforce as far as attitudes of co-workers and managers? Never in history has the 90+ age group be among the fastest growing in the U.S. Today with advanced medical technology and more information about healthy lifestyles, you can expect to have the odds on your side of living past the average life expectancy of 79. So, this is the week to begin taking care of yourself and thinking about what your post-65 career plan. Make it a great week!

The Best Free Retirement Advice You Will Ever Receive

 "In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield. " Warren Buffett

 After reviewing the financial literature on retirement, interviewing 60 to 80-year-olds retired from two to eighteen years and observing the national and global economic and political landscape closely; I can distill my retirement advice to you in one word: DON’T. And while, I am sharing advice you did not ask for and may not want to hear, there’s more. Remember the financial advisor who told you that once you stopped working, you would need 60-70% of your working income to live in retirement? My 70-year-olds said, “Fire that guy!” Between out-of-pocket health care cost, fluctuating gas prices and having lots of time on their hands to go places and do things; the 70+ crowd tells me their expenses are the same if not more than when they worked.

If you have a job you enjoy, stay there. If you have a job that is tolerable and you have health benefits and a safe work environment, hang in there. If you like your work, but not the people running the company---stay there too, unless it is family-owned; your senior leadership team will probably get promoted or recruited away by some other unsuspecting firm. If you hate your job, have pangs of anxiety on Sunday night thinking about the week ahead or are planning to fake your own death because you are running out of PTO; then by all means start networking, post your resume on LinkedIn and look for a new job.

The Case for Staying Put

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) numbers for June 2012 were released last week and fewer workers 55+ were unemployed (6.2%). The summary from BLS says, “Recent history has shown greater employment stability as age increases.” Don’t believe that for a minute! The truth is—those workers 55+ gave up looking for a job because no one would hire them. Remember the unemployment numbers count people actively in job-search mode and receiving unemployment compensation from their state. I know people 55+ that piece together a living working 2-3 part-time jobs unable to afford benefits at any of them. They are not technically unemployed and not reflected in the BLS data. What happened to the 55+ workers not in the labor force?  Some participate in the “underground economy” working for cash, others start their own business, and some are supported by their families until they reach age 62 and begin collecting a reduced social security benefit while others tap into their 401(k) accounts incurring early-withdrawal penalties if they are not 59.5 years old. In February 2010 nearly half (49.1%) of the 55+ workers were unemployed over 27 weeks. Now, it takes over a year for workers age 55+ to find a new job (approximately 56 weeks).

So you are younger than 55 reading this and thinking, this does not apply to me. Think Again! Are you 45-54? 6.3% of your age group was unemployed in June 2012. The BIGGEST LOSER of my readers? The 35-44 year old suffered 7% unemployment. It may be partly due to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) defining workers  40+ as a protected class---so in job actions (i.e. downsizing, lay-offs, reorganizations, and reductions in force) an adverse impact analysis is performed by the company or their third party consultant to minimize legal action. The 35-39 year olds are not protected and it may skew the 7% number.

Take a look at these newly released numbers from the Federal Reserve: From 2007 to 2010, the wealth of the average American family plunged by 40 percent, taking it down to the levels of the early 1990s. That's not just for 40+ people-that impacts everyone!

Here’s my point: The employment situation is similar to a game of musical chairs right now. If the music stops, you want to have a chair (job) and if you are left standing and you are older---your time on the sidelines becomes a lot longer.  AND, when you do get back into the game; it may be in a part-time job; 1099-contractor employment situation or as a temporary worker. Most experienced workers at 40+  find their salary drastically reduced after a period of unemployment. BLS economists call it underemployment.

I have a friend that just started a fabulous new job at age 60-great salary, company car and all the perks. That is the exception, not the rule. She networked and found an organization that valued experienced workers. Even then, it was an ongoing process. My friend met the guy who recommended her for the job several years ago and when this position became available recently; he thought of her first.

What is an experienced worker to do? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. You may comment anonymously, if you prefer. And remember to "follow" the blog and receive automatic notification when there's a new post. Follow me on Twitter: @workingover40. I'll follow you too.