So Baby Boomer: Life Tips

Boomers Rethink Retirement

The expensive approach to retirement is to pile up so much money that you'll be safe no matter how long you live or what goes wrong with your health or the markets.  But for many Baby Boomers, the amount required seems ridiculously out of reach.

Boomer assets in IRAs and defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s fell more than $2 trillion last year, according to the Investment Company Institute.  The repercussions of the financial crisis will be felt for years in the retirement accounts of millions of Americans.  Those who saved industriously have watched their account balances crumble, and the recession has set back that half of employees who lack even basic savings options like their 401(k)s.

In these seemingly out-of-control times, you can actually control many of the factors that will affect your retirement.

Finding Work After Retirement

It’s tough for sixtysomething professionals to get hired even in the best of times.  And you may face the added stigma of having been out of the workforce for a few years…but things have changed for you.

Today, Baby Boomers are gloomy about their future.  Of those 55 years and up, only 13% say they’re confident they will be comfortable in retirement; that’s down from 30% in 2007.  Many 55-64 boomers have taken a big hit in their average net worth: decreasing from $933,300 in 2004 to $618,100 this year. 

It’s tough out there for all job seekers. 

Unemployment has more than doubled since the start of 2008.  It’s taking longer for laid-off workers to find new jobs.  And when they do, they often end up with a lower salary.

The strategies that follow may be just the extra boost job seekers need to land the right position.  Among the insights: how to organize the job hunt, broaden your network, dress for interviews, and keep from getting low-balled on salary.

Boomer Temps in Demand

The recession is proving tough for staffing giant Robert Half International (RHI).  But the $4.6 billion Menlo Park, CA firm is seeing a way to boost its bottom line once hiring picks up: tapping into a pool of skilled Baby Boomers looking for work.

RHI Chief Executive Harold "Max" Messmer Jr. says the financial turmoil is shifting the traditional demographics of his workforce.  While Messmer's employee base is largely made up of low to mid-level employees, his fastest area of growth is workers with 15 to 20 years of experience.  "The recession has forced a lot of boomers to rethink their plans," he says.

Such workers are more profitable than younger employees because companies are willing to pay more to get them.  The broader range of experience among new temps also helps RHI to move beyond its core business of accounting and finance jobs, to expand its reach in areas such as technology, law and marketing.  Utilities, banks and mortgage companies also want to hire temps with experience in regulation and restructuring.  And, Messmer adds, "a highly skilled temp has the added benefit of being able to train the company's permanent staff."

RHI's consulting division, Protiviti, is also trying to benefit from the surge in talent. 

John Flanigan, a vice president at Aerotek of Hanover, MD, adds that his company is even scouting for boomer temps through organizations such as AARP.  In April, Aerotek saw a 53% increase in people between the ages of 45 and 65 viewing temporary job openings on the company's website, compared with a year earlier.

Source: BUSINESSWEEK, June 1, 2009

Seniority Trumps Discrimination

Age discrimination in the workplace has long been a concern for the 55-and-older Baby Boomer set.

Age discrimination lawsuits brought by older workers can cost more than the salary of the worker who was laid off and can hurt the company's reputation, according to Andria Ryan, partner at Atlanta law firm Fisher & Phillips LLP.

In this downturn, however, employees in their 20s and 30s are finding themselves more at risk of a layoff.  According to labor lawyers, employers are looking to avoid age discrimination lawsuits by adopting a "last one in, first one out" policy and turn to tenure as a means of conducting layoffs.  This is particularly true in the education field, where many colleges and schools are taking measures to protect tenured teachers and professors.

"If you have a bona fide seniority system, it's a defense for any type of discrimination." says one lawyer.

Source: Career Journal, The Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2009

Boomer Golden Years

Many boomer workers are putting off retirement because of the economic downturn and the precipitous decline in their 401(k)s and other stock holdings.

In one of its online surveys, CareerBuilder.com found that 60% of workers over the age of 60 plan to delay retirement.  And a majority of those workers say it will take years for them to recoup their lost retirement savings:

11% think they might not ever be able to retire

73% say it will take them up to six years of extra work to recoup their lost savings

24% believe they can make their money back by working an additional year or two

Source: CareerBuilder.com survey of 8,038 U.S. employees between November 12 and December 1, 2008

 

Worklife Two

Against the backdrop of longer lifespan and a premium on brains over brawn, more Baby Boomers are realizing that, in the long run, moving from a high-paying job they don't like to a lower-paying job they enjoy may entail less of a financial hit than they thought.

The key is that the lower-paying job may allow you to work longer than if you'd stayed in the more lucrative career.  And those "extra" years of income allow a portfolio to compound much longer before it's tapped.  Ross Levin, a certified financial planner in Edina, MN says, "You don't need to save as much, and you don't have to live off your portfolio for so long."

A safety net of savings is critical to making a career transition.  In the new way of thinking about retirement, savings are a way to gain flexibility to eventually reshape your career--it's what funds career shifts throughout life.  You can have the freedom to do what you do best and enjoy your encore career.

There are multiple paths toward second and third careers.  Working at nonprofits is now an option.  Civic Ventures, a nonprofit that encourages Baby Boomers to launch new careers, found that 58% of the 50-year-olds it surveyed were looking for a second career that would make their community a better place.  The federal government is recognizing the trend.  Congress recently passed a national service bill that includes, for the first time in decades, opportunities for midcareer shifts, including a one-year Encore Fellowship that will help defray the costs of placing anyone 55 and older in management positions at nonprofits.

Source: BUSINESSWEEK, April 20, 2009

Boomer and Older Jobless Workers

With jobs so scarce, boomers are up against those who are at least 15 years older and those half their age in a desperate scramble for work.

The number of unemployed workers 75 and older increased to more than 73,000 in January 2009, up 46% from the prior January.  Among workers 65 and older, the jobless rate stands at 5.7%.  That's below the national average, but well above what it was in previous recessions, including the recession of 1981, when it reached 4.3%.

The growing numbers reflect, in part, an increase in the number of older workers.  The percentage of people 65 and older who are in the workforce rose to 16.8% at year end, from 11.9% a decade earlier.  Among people 75 and older, the increase was even greater--to 7.3% from 4.7%.

As people live longer and stay in better health, some of them merely want the stimulation and challenge of a job.  But for other workers, the motivation is financial necessity.

Fewer people than in years past are covered by defined-benefit plans, such as company-sponsored pensions that guarantee them specific monthly income for life.  Those with retirement investments have seen their values erode with the stock market tumble.  Others worked for smaller companies, or were self-employed, and never had pensions.  Many are outliving whatever savings they might have had, especially by the time they reach their mid to late 70s.  Mortgages and medical bills push others into the job market because Social Security and Medicare, though helpful and critical, aren't enough.

There are few programs to help older unemployed workers.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2009

Boomers & Gen Y compete for IT Jobs

As boomers struggle to resuscitate their careers and Gen Y millennials flood the workforce, information technology (IT) managers are having to weigh the relative value of traditional and new-age skills.

Throughout busy job fairs, crowded boardrooms and hectic IT departments across the U.S., a battle royal is brewing between aging Baby Boomers and fresh-faced Gen Y millennials---two distinct generations with different work styles, conflicting cultures and disparate skill sets.

On one side stand the boomers: IT veterans valued for their unwavering work ethic, vast experience and institutional memory.  Who after watching their retirement savings dwindle and the demand for small side projects disappear, are now motivated to re-enter the workforce.

On the opposing side, the Gen Y millennials: Web 2.0 natives with technology in their DNA who would rather text and Twitter than talk and who have little patience with the way things have always been done.

IT managers are facing a tough predicament: a head-on collision between two vastly talented yet differing generations, both vying for full-time employment in a fast-shrinking economy.  Deciding whom to hire--or layoff--requires sorting through a minefield of competing technical expertise, business acumen, cultural preferences and career expectations.

Baby Boomers and Gen Y millennials might have eased by each other in the workplace with no clash at all, as boomers gradually retired and Gen Ys moved in and up the ranks.  But a faltering economy changed all that.

Source: COMPUTERWORLD, February 16, 2009

New Career Forum & Blogging Boomer Carnival #103

Career coaches and recruiters can help job seekers while establishing their personal brand by providing advice (tools, tips, insights) and expressing themselves at this new free online meeting place.  In your unique niche, recruiters and career coaches can become a mini-Oprah while attracting potential job seeking clients.  Also, coaches and recruiters will feel good while contributing their energies toward influencing people to take the right action, at the right time and place in their career moves.

 

Your generosity and community spirit in helping yourself and others by practicing the Law of Reciprocity will result in new career move opportunities. 

 

Today, this new career forum is just getting started and its rate of growth with depend upon how often and well we all contribute our thoughts and recommendations in postings or asking and answering questions on the site.  To ask or answer a question, start or contribute to a specific forum or post to your personal blog on the site, just go to: www.CareerTips.us.com today! 

 

What's in it for me?

 

If you are a boomer job seeker, using this free career forum can help you define and find your encore career.

 

It is expected that a handful of recruiters and career coaches will rise to the top through a combination of smarts, good timing and frequent contributions to selected forums and answers to job seeker questions.  This future elite group of recruiters and coaches will be thrust into stardom via their links and recommendations placed on this social network site.  These maven recruiters and coaches will personally soar within search engine rankings---allowing job seekers to find them online.

 

Please go to the new Career Forum today to join and then begin asking or answering questions regarding potential career moves.

 

Blogging carnivals start out by the thousands, but those that can sustain themselves for as many as 50 episodes are much fewer.  And a carnival which has turned out its 100th edition is practically unheard of!

Today, Blogging Boomer Carnival #103 is open for business at Contemporary Retirement.

Rewards for those who focus on the Greater Good.

The Purpose Prize, is about $100,000 awards for people over age 60 who are creating new ways to solve social issues....from education to health care, poverty to global warming.  Winners are finding purpose in an encore career and putting their experience to work for the greater good.  You may be interested in nominating someone - or yourself - for this prestigious award.

The Purpose Prize is an initiative of Civic Ventures—a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. The Prize is funded by the The Atlantic Philanthropies and John Templeton Foundation. To learn more, visit www.purposeprize.org 

The deadline is March 5.  Nominations, including self-nominations, can submitted at www.encore.org/prize