Are you too good at your job?
You may have enjoyed the attention of headhunters in your field wanting the best and brightest candidates throughout your 30’s and 40’s. Or you may have moved up the ranks of a single company, being rewarded for your loyalty and hard work. However, something changes in your 50’s and 60’s. Headhunters stop calling. Promotion opportunities dry up. And you may become blindsided like so many before you when your company decides to replace you with someone younger who can be paid less. In a national study of 20,000 people from age 50 in 1992 through the remainder of their lives, 56% of workers in long term, full-time positions lost their jobs involuntarily[1], making the likelihood that this may happen to you quite real.
While your company likely appreciates the contributions you’ve made, they may decide, without your input, that it’s time for you to retire. After the shock wears off, you think, no problem. With your experience, what company wouldn’t want you? However, the sad truth is that companies would rather hire someone young with plenty of years of contributions ahead of them, someone whom they can pay a low starting salary, rather than hire an experienced candidate who costs a premium and has an expiration date. The best way to handle this possibility is to plan as though it’s a certainty, and hope it never occurs. If you are financially stable enough that you could retire today, then you won’t be devastated if the decision is unexpectedly made for you.
[1] from a Health and Retirement Study (HRS) examined by The Urban Institute (a Washington, D.C. Think Tank) and ProPublica