The New Boomerang Workers: Rehired Retirees

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,...
Retirement Health Costs: Planning for the Wild 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...
Why I’m Not Buying the Retirement Gloom

Why I’m Not Buying the Retirement Gloom...

In the emerging Unretirement movement, you are your best investment Gray wave. Age wave. Geezer tsunami. (Pick your favorite — or most hated — euphemism.) Catchphrases like these capture the realization that we’re living longer and that older Americans make up a growing share of the population. As economist Laurence Kotlikoff and columnist Scott Burns say in The Coming Generational Storm: “The aging of America isn’t a temporary event. We are well into a change that is permanent, irreversible, and very long term.” Living longer should be a trend worth celebrating. But many people believe that America’s boomers can’t afford retirement, let alone a decent retirement. They fear that aging boomers are inevitably hurtling toward a lower standard of living. And here’s their evidence: We’ve just been through the worst downturn since the 1930s, decimating jobs and pensions. Retirement savings are slim. Surveys show that boomers aren’t spending much time planning for retirement. The prediction that the swelling tab for Social Security and other old-age entitlements will push the U.S. government and economy into a Greece-like collapse seems almost routine. The Unretirement Movement Don’t buy into the retirement gloom. I’m not. Here’s why: The signs of a grassroots push to reinvent the last third of life are unmistakable. Call it the “Unretirement” movement — and it is a movement. Unretirement starts with the insight that earning a paycheck well into the traditional retirement years will make a huge difference in our future living standards. You — and your skills and talents — are your best retirement investment. What’s more, if society taps into the talents and abilities of sixty-somethings and seventy-somethings, employers will benefit, the economy will be wealthier and funding entitlements will be much easier. The Unretirement movement...
Social Security: Best Ways to Max Out Your Benefit

Social Security: Best Ways to Max Out Your Benefit...

A ‘Get What’s Yours’ author says claiming as early as you can is ‘crazy’ You think taxes are complicated? Try figuring out the best time and best way to claim your Social Security benefits. Laurence J. Kotlikoff, co-author of Get What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security says: “There are 2,728 rules in Social Security’s handbook and maybe another 500,000 — it’s impossible to count them.” Hence the instructive 324-page book he just published along with financial writer Phillip Moeller and PBS NewsHour business and economics correspondent Paul Solman, to help people make wise Social Security claiming decisions. How Much We Expect From Social Security “At the beginning of this project, my coauthors thought I was far too angry about Social Security. They didn’t get my anger because they didn’t know the rules,” Kotlikoff told me. “By the end, they were saying tougher things than I would.” Although Kotlikoff is a Boston University economics professor, his book is anything but academic. After all, according to a Bankrate.com survey to be released tomorrow, 27 percent of Americans expect Social Security to account for at least half of their retirement income. I recently interviewed Kotlikoff for his advice on how to get the biggest Social Security benefit allowable. “There’s no perfect rule for everyone. You need to be strategic about your options,” he said. Highlights of our conversation: Next Avenue: Why is it so hard for people to figure out when and how they should claim Social Security? Kotlikoff: The bureaucrats and politicians over the years have made this the most complicated social insurance system you can imagine. Everything you say about Social Security has to come with a ‘but’ or an ‘if’ or five ‘buts’ or ‘ifs.’...
Still Working After 75 — And Loving It

Still Working After 75 — And Loving It...

Growing numbers of Americans that age have no plans to retire Willie Nelson is 81; Warren Buffett is 84; Mary Higgins Clark is 86 and David Hockney is 77. All are still working and going strong. So are more and more Americans 75 and older. You might be one of them someday — and glad of it. In a recent interview, British painter David Hockney — one of the world’s greatest living artists —captured the joy, meaning and youthfulness he continues to draw from his profession. “When I’m working, I feel like Picasso, I feel I’m 30,” he told Tim Lewis of The London Observer. “When I stop I know I’m not, but when I paint, I stand up for six hours a day and yeah, I feel I’m 30.” ‘It’s What I Enjoy Doing’ I imagine that sentiment rings true for Mark Paper, age 81. He’s President of Lewis Bolt & Nut Company in Wayzata, Minn., a firm owned by his family since 1927. Paper took the helm from his father in 1962 and remains deeply involved in the company’s expanding operations. He gets daily and weekly reports, stays in touch with its executives and flies out to visit the manufacturing plant in La Junta, Colo. several times a month. “Why not stop working?” I asked Paper. “You have money. You’re 81-years-old. Haven’t you heard of retirement?” His answer: “It’s what I enjoy doing.” Plenty of other septuagenarians and octogenarians feel the same way. Although people working at age 75 and over are a distinct minority— comprising less than one percent of the total labor force — roughly 11 percent of American men 75 and older are still at it and 5 percent of women that age are....