3522 Baldism

Today I was reading the Nov/Dec 2006 issue of Where to Retire and noticed something very odd. Although this magazine is supposed to focus on people over 50, it leaves out bald men. Zip, nada, zilch. What? They don't own property, stock, go fishing or play golf? There were no bald men in the ads--not one, and that's the major part of this very fat journal (over 260 pages). There was a bald man on p. 64 and p. 130 in news stories with candid shots. To the magazine's credit there were also no bad hair pieces or comb overs ala Donald Trump.

Murray had hair the last time I saw him (2002?) and my brother did the last time I saw him (2006), and my neighbor Jerry, and my friend Nancy's husband, but most of the men my age are bald, or so close to it they should just shave what's left. So, let's give a shout out for bald, male models who need the work.

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3431 More on early retirement

Seems I was the only one who thought Sheryl McCarthy in the Forum section of USA Today was expecting too much protectionism for her older worker status yesterday. The comments following her Opinion forum tell some mighty sad stories of well-qualified, highly educated and superior employees put out to pasture much too early.

So was I just being an old meany, or did I have a little personal experience? Let me offer three examples, as the spouse of an unemployed worker, the superviser doing the hiring, and the government employment trainer.

My husband lost his job in 1976 while he was still in his 30s. It's terribly traumatic when you've got two little kids to feed and clothe and a mortgage, car payment, etc. but no job. We were not a two income family, we had a tiny savings for emergencies, and the paycheck stretched to about the 29th of the month. You've heard of the Great Depression? 1977-79 was the era of The Great Inflation (Carter was president and I think we had a Democratic congress). In the building trades, we were dead in the water a few years before the worst recession since the 1930s (1981-82, until Reagan got his tax cuts in place and turned things around). Big firms were gobbling up jobs they would have sneered at even two years earlier, leaving nothing for the smaller firms. My husband was only out of work three weeks, but emotionally it took years for him to recover. He was griped by fear and lost a lot of weight dropping below 130 lbs. Although he was hired by a good firm and eventually became a partner and owner, the personal dynamics were awful (and he's a very easy guy to get along with), but the earlier scare kept him there until 1994 when he left to start his own firm as sole practitioner.

In 1978 I took a wonderful contract, part-time position in the OSU agriculture library working in the agricultural credit field and there was enough money in the grant (Dept. of State) for me to hire a clerical assistant to do the typing, binding of documents, and filing. One of the candidates I interviewed was 10 years older than me and taking post graduate work to get a PhD in economics (my background was languages, not business). She was desperate for a job--any job. She was so incredibly over qualified it wasn't funny, and she hoped she'd left clerical work in her past. I hired a work-study undergrad. I simply didn't feel comfortable supervising a woman better educated and older than me--but I also believe it was not a job for a PhD candidate. The 19 year old loved it, did a terrific job because she had had many similar jobs (and I was a great boss), graduated and moved on.

In 1983, just as the economy was starting to pick up, I took a JTPA (formerly CETA) funded contract, part-time position with the Ohio Department of Aging helping agencies and organizations who would retrain older people to find new jobs. Many businesses hadn't made it through those bad years of the late 70s early 80s and older workers had trouble even preparing resumes. I learned two critical things about older workers: First, we can learn new skills and methods, but after age 25 it's like teaching a child with learning disabilities--it takes longer and needs to be approached from a variety of angles; Second, if you're unemployed and going to look for work, you need to put in 40 hours a week looking--your new job is to get a job. The way you submit resumes is different today, but you still need to get down to business immediately and not let up on the search.

Because I had so many part-time and temporary jobs, I've also learned over the years that when you're gone, it's over. Don't expect office or professional friendships to last unless there is something besides work holding it together, like church or hobbies. They'll all be trying to hang on to their jobs too, needing current professional contacts that can assist them. You'll have fewer hurt feelings and remorse if you just let it go.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/retirement
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3424 Too young to retire?

Sheryl McCarthy in the Forum section of USA Today (1-31-07) writes about the woes of being a pushed-out, down-sized journalist living on income from part-time jobs and free lancing who wants a "real job." She writes,

". . . we're being prematurely marginalized, even though we have skills that are useful to the economy" and she wants "U.S. companies to stop discriminating against willing and qualified older workers for the jobs that are available."

No, Sheryl, your journalism skills, your network of contacts, your technological know-how, and your cultural mind-set are no longer useful to U.S. newspapers, magazines, and the publishing industry in general. Even some of the facts you supply for your article, don't support your argument, such as there are more people over 55 working full time today than a decade ago, and that the search time to find a job for 50+ is only 15 days longer than younger workers. And lack of mobility could have a lot to do with that.

You mention in your article that before age 58 you worked 17 years for the same newspaper, watching others being shown the door, then it happened to you. You've known this was coming for almost two decades, and what did you do? How long did you think the party would go on before the bar closed? You are a baby boomer. From the time you entered kindergarten, every public service, agency and church in the country from your public school, to the college and universities, to the county and state agencies to the federal government have been looking out for you, opening doors for you with new rules and regulations and adjusting projections and benefits.

When you were 35, how many younger workers, the new grads, did you mentor? How many older workers were you including in your lunch get-togethers or focus groups? Were you adding your older co-workers to task groups you chaired, or helping them in workshops, or stepping aside so they could get the career advancement at your expense? I doubt it.

Step into the shoes for 5 minutes of the HR person (whose job is also on the line daily). MPOW employs 20 people in the writing and communications department, and one person retired whose salary and benefits cost the firm $75,000. The HR reviews 3 candidates, all with strong resumes.

• 1) New college grad (2006), salary range begins about $35,000 + benefits, has huge college loans to pay, still young enough to want to pursue other goals and locales if the opportunity were to come up--maybe Mumbai or LA.
• 2) Recent college grad (ca. 2001) with four solid years of work experience, some post-graduate courses, no unexplained absenses in the work record with former employer (which could indicate health problems or lack of commitment to the career); glowing references including names known to HR person (similar age), and some web and software design experience; salary range begins at about $43,000.
• 3) 58 year old who graduated from Columbia in the early 1970s, very strong resume with reputable journals and newspaper all in the metropolitan Northeastern U.S., now all defunct; can use a laptop and PC but has few other computer skills; no recent course work or foreign assignments; wants $60,000 to even start talking, because "I'm worth it" attitude.

Well, I'd choose #2--she's not green or showing up for work still in party mode, but has useful work experience with a solid network and HR hopes she'll stick around and help the company grow. There's enough money in the piggy bank to hire her with some left over for a part-timer or free lancer who won't require benefits--maybe that #3 candidate who also applied for the job. HR gets a bonus for hiring smart.

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3185 Advice from Ben Stein

On the way to church this morning I heard Ben Stein being interviewed for National Retirement Planning Week. Actually, I think it started last week. Anyway, he said that people in their 20s should be saving 10% of their income for retirement, 30s (if they are starting) should be saving 15%, 40s (if they are just starting to plan) should be saving 20%. He also commented on the problem young families have today of wanting it all now. He said nothing you can buy now is worth living poor when you are elderly. Vacation. New car. Clothes. It won't mean much if you are in your 80s and have had to drastically change your life style. I'm always surprised to find people, some even my age, who think the government should be "doing something," just because they paid their taxes. I was well into my 40s before I invested for retirement, and believe me, that's a lot of time to play catch-up. Now we've got the whole alphabet of plans, everything except SS for me--Social Security--for which I'm not eligible because I have a teacher's pension. If you are a teacher, or you were one in the past and have changed careers, be sure you understand what you won't be getting.

Occasionally, our church uses DVDs projected during the service to make sure everyone gets the same message (we have 11 services). We've been having a series on stewardship. This morning it was an interview with a young married couple in our congregation who got themselves deeply in debt--it was like falling in a black hole and they couldn't get out. They attended a Crown Financial seminar sponsored by our church, did some praying, and decided it all belonged to God. They are almost out of debt--but it took 7 years. Seven is an important biblical number.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/retirement
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