The New Boomerang Workers: Rehired Retirees...

How to go back to work in retirement where you had a full-time job   You’ve no doubt heard about boomerang kids who return to their parents’ homes in their 20s (maybe you have one). But there’s a growing group of boomerangers who are typically in their 60s: retirees who return to work part-time or on a contract basis at the same employers where they formerly had full-time jobs. If you’ll be looking for work during retirement, you might want to consider avoiding a job search and becoming one. Employers That Rehire Their Retirees A handful of employers have formal programs to rehire their retirees. The one at Aerospace Corp., which provides technical analysis and assessments for national security and commercial space programs, is called Retiree Casual. The company’s roughly 3,700 employees are mostly engineers, scientists and technicians, and Aerospace is glad to bring back some who’ve retired. “With all the knowledge these people have, we get to call on them for their expertise,” says Charlotte Lazar-Morrison, general manager of human resources at Aerospace, which is based in El Segundo, Calif. “The casuals are part of our culture.” The roughly 300 Aerospace casuals (love that term, don’t you?) can work up to 1,000 hours a year and don’t accrue any more benefits (the company’s retirees already get health insurance). Most earn the salary they did before, pro-rated to their part-time status, of course. Why Aerospace Corp. Brings Back ‘Casuals’ The “casuals” program lets Aerospace management have a kind of just-in-time staffing system. “It allows us to us to keep people at the ready when we need them,” says Lazar-Morrison. Ronald Thompson joined Aerospace’s casuals in 2002, after retiring at age 64. He’d worked for the company full-time since 1964,...

What It Takes to Turn Your Passion Into a Career...

Enthusiasm isn’t enough. Follow these tips from the author of ‘What Is Your What?’ (The following is an adaptation from What Is Your WHAT?, the new New York Times bestseller by Steve Olsher. You can now get a free copy of the book at the What Is Your WHAT? website.) We’re often told that if we pursue our passion and do what we love as a career, we will — to quote Confucius — never have to work a day in our life. And let’s not forget Oprah who popularized the phrase: “Do what you love and the money will follow.” In theory, pursuing your passion as a career should be easy, effortless and create a monetary nirvana where income flows and happiness prevails. Reality, however, demonstrates that few who follow such advice will ever reach their desired destination. When Passion-Following Turns Sour It seems like a dirty trick. We’re encouraged to chase the carrot and before we know it, we’re miles down the rabbit hole with nothing to show for our efforts but mountains of debt that may take decades to repay. Consider the countless examples of those who quit their day jobs to pursue passion-related opportunities (cupcakes anyone?) only to end up emotionally, spiritually, and financially drained. When you throw in the harsh realities of capitalism, the happy-go-lucky “if you build it, they will come” rhetoric is a blatant disservice to those who lack clarity on the elements truly needed to bring their anticipated utopia to fruition. Now, before the hate mail starts rolling in, I’m not saying passion isn’t important. I am saying that you need to focus on cultivating a sustainable career… not merely engaging in a hobby. Creating a flourishing existence that provides a...

Federal Agency Jobs Just for People 55+...

These two programs specifically want older workers to fill their openings Gary Olson put in 32 years as an analytical chemist at Kodak in Rochester, N.Y., including stints in R&D and on digital innovations. “I had a great career there,” Olson says. “I was never bored.” But worn down by Kodak’s constant restructuring and layoffs, in January 2002, at 56, Olson took a generous buyout offer. He and his wife moved to Seattle, Wash. to be closer to their daughter and her family and Olson kicked back for a few years. In 2005, he spotted a Craigslist job posting by the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging for a “senior environmental employee” at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Senior Environmental Employment Program and position were reserved for workers 55 and older. Intrigued, he applied. “I wasn’t going to do what I did for more than 30 years,” says Olson. “I wanted to do something different.” He got the job. The 2 Programs for Workers 55+ Ever heard of the EPA’s Senior Environmental Employment Program, which has been around for 31 years? How about the comparable, seven-year-old Agriculture Conservation Experienced Services Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture? I hadn’t. These jobs are specifically designed to tap into the experience of boomers, yet not once in interviews for my Next Avenue column on job opportunities for people in their 50s and 60s did these programs or ones like them come up. (The idea for this column came from my editor who learned about them at the American Society on Aging’s recent Aging in America Conference. ) “Older workers are a largely untapped resource,” says Gregory Merrill, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Older Worker Career Center,...

6 Credit Score Myths Debunked...

How these scores really work and can affect your finances You likely know that your credit score is the litmus test lenders use to determine whether you’ll be a responsible borrower and deserve to be approved for loans and credit cards. But there’s a good chance you have one or more misconceptions about how credit scores are calculated and what can nick yours. While the actual calculations used by the three major credit reporting bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian) are confidential and complex, the underlying concept behind them is fairly straightforward: if you have a history of paying your loan payments on time and in full, generally you’ll have a great credit score. Credit scores may seem a bit complex and convoluted. However, it pays to understand how they work so you can make informed decisions about your finances. Here are six of the most common credit score myths to stop believing: Myth No. 1: Closing out your credit cards improves your credit score. If you’re thinking about terminating a card to boost your credit score, think again before you reach for the scissors. Here’s why: One of the five factors that determines your credit score is your debt utilization ratio, which is how much debt you carry relative to how much credit is available to you. So when you close a credit card, your available credit decreases, your debt utilization ratio increases and your credit score drops Myth No. 2: Closing a credit card erases its history from your credit report. Some people believe that once you close a credit card, its history disappears. This is false. Sure, it would be great if late payments and overdrafts on a card could be wiped away by closing the card....

Retirement Health Costs: Planning for the Wild Card...

What you might owe and 8 ways to prepare Be honest, now: When you do your retirement planning, do you factor in potential health care costs and long-term care costs? Odds are, you don’t, figuring there’s no way to know what they might be — not to mention the subject is depressing and the numbers could be scary. But ignoring what Ken Dychtwald, CEO of the aging consultancy Age Wave agewave.com, calls “the retirement wild card” could be the biggest retirement planning mistake you’ll ever make. And you actually can plan for health and long-term care costs; I’ll give you eight ways shortly. Age Wave and Merrill Lynch today released a fascinating, if disconcerting report (Health and Retirement: Planning for the Great Unknown) based on a comprehensive survey of 3,303 adults. They call health care expenses “the missing link in retirement planning.” The Survey Says… Five of the survey’s striking findings: Health care expenses are the top financial concern for retirement among Americans age 50+, regardless of their wealth level Only 15 percent of pre-retirees have tried estimating how much money they might need for health care and long-term care in retirement Just 7 percent of those 55 to 64 feel very knowledgeable about Medicare options; a mere 19 percent of Medicare recipients do 71 percent of couples age 50+ haven’t discussed how much they need to save to pay for health care during retirement Health problems were the No. 1 reason people retired earlier than expected Nationwide Insurance has also polled boomers about retirement health care costs. “The one word that comes up is ‘terrified,’” says Kevin McGarry, director of the Nationwide Financial Retirement Institute. The danger of not penciling out health- and long-term care costs, and taking...

The Sly Tricks Marketers Use to Get You to Buy...

Tips to guard against them from a ‘Hidden Persuasion’ co-author As a consumer reporter for more than two decades, I’ve come to consider myself a savvy shopper. I thought I knew most of the marketing gimmicks and advertising “gotchas” and that my buying decisions were completely rational. But after reading ‘Hidden Persuasion: 33 Psychological Influence Techniques in Advertising’ I now realize, sadly, that’s not the case. The book, written by Dutch social psychology professors Matthijs van Leeuwen and Rick van Baaren and visual design art director Marc Andrews, lays out clever techniques used in advertising, packaging and websites that are designed to get you to buy. Hidden Persuasion is a graphic romp that’s both eye candy and eye opening. You’ll never look at an ad, an online shopping site or product packaging the same way again. One of my favorites from the book: The three “e’s” on Heineken bottles are slanted backwards, designed to be smiling at you so you’ll be more inclined to buy them. I spoke to van Leeuwen, an assistant professor of Social Influence and Persuasion at the Radboud University of Nijmegen, to learn more about these sly tactics and how we can avoid falling for them and spending money on items we don’t really need. Here’s an edited excerpt of our conversation: Why did you write this book? van Leeuwen:  Consumers have a lot to gain in understanding how they’re influenced. They see ads, but believe they can resist because they believe the only tricks used are the smiling faces, the humor and/or the persuasive arguments made to sell a product. But there are many social-influence techniques that affect consumers unconsciously. By informing consumers about these techniques, we hope they will be better able to...

When Does It Pay to Go Back to School in Midlife?...

Getting a degree or certificate won’t guarantee a job. Here’s what you need to know to increase your chances of finding new work. I suspect many Americans in their 50s and 60s are considering going back to school to improve their career prospects. After all, getting additional education in midlife — whether it’s a bachelors degree, a masters or a certificate — can be an excellent way to move into a new career, earn a promotion or make more money. But college isn’t cheap and there’s no guarantee that further schooling will lead to a new job or fatten your paycheck. So when does it pay to go back to school after age 50 or so? A Midlife Degree Is No Job Guarantee I got to thinking about this issue after my editor forwarded me an email from a distraught 59-year-old Next Avenue reader. She couldn’t find a job after picking up a bachelor’s degree in social work because employers said she lacked the necessary experience. That’s an all too common chicken-and-egg predicament faced by many new, older graduates: You need relevant experience to get a new job, but you need a job to gain relevant experience. If going back to school, either for a degree or a certificate, is something you’re thinking about, here are three considerations for choosing a program wisely, plus two tips to help you find a job after completing your studies: How to Select a Back-to-School Program Research employment rates for new graduates. There was a time when pretty much any college degree was a ticket to a new job. But those days are long gone. According to “Hard Times, College Majors, Unemployment and Earnings 2013,” a study just released by the Georgetown University...

Housesitting: A Fun Way to Travel the World on a Dime...

Here’s how it works and what to watch out for When boomers want to escape the 9-to-5 workplace grind and the demands of caregiving for parents and/or kids wane, many dream of traveling. A recent survey found that 59 percent of retirees look forward to exploring new places during the second part of their lives. But people soon realize the cost of traveling for extended periods can be daunting, especially when living on a reduced income. That’s why housesitting has become an increasingly popular way to live away from home without the steep pricetag. What is Housesitting? Housesitting entails taking care of someone else’s property (and possibly their pets) in exchange for your stay. In the past, it typically took the form of informal arrangements between people who knew each other. Less commonly, individuals or couples were hired by professional agencies that employ housesitters at a salary, usually for long periods of time. Over the past decade, though, technology has spawned a new model of unpaid housesitting, with websites connecting homeowners and potential sitters for jobs lasting weeks or months at a time. This peer-to-peer model is part of the same “sharing economy” that laid the foundation for successful businesses such as Uber and Airbnb. Retirees are leading the pack among housesitting-site users. The sites are also popular with people who are semi-retired or have location-independent (portable) careers. “Without a doubt, other housesitting networks would agree that ‘silver surfers’ are a trusted mainstay of our customer base,” says Lamia Walker, founder of HouseSitMatch.com. Why Housesitting Isn’t Entirely Free Housesitting isn’t a totally free ride. While it can offer substantial savings on accommodations, housesitters still must pay for their food, airfare and transportation costs. Since it can be difficult to...