Retirement delayed and broke anyway

From Harper’s Index:
https://harpers.org/archive/2019/09/harpers-index-september-2019/

Percentage of US workers over 50 who lose longtime jobs before they are prepared to retire: 56
Percentage of those workers who never recover their earning power: 90

I posted this on my Facebook wall back in 2019 and I just decided that for my Democratic Underground’s 8000th post, I would write something about this. You see, I’ve been a member of DU for a long time. I saw DU on Bill O’Reilly’s show on Fox Spews years and years ago. After reading for a week, I knew I had found “home” for my political views and never watched that channel again. I became a member later and I wanted to thank DU for everything you’ve taught me.

Back to the Harper’s Index…I took a risk and after finishing my degree in 2005 at age 45, I decided to leave my IT admin job and marry my spouse and move to Germany. We had had a long-distance relationship long enough and I was ready to take the challenge. I tried to get a transfer at the international company I worked at but there was a recession in Europe, so I sent out resumes, I went to temp agencies and tried to learn German while I lived there. We moved to the states in 09 so I thought, this is it, I’ll be able to work here.

Recruiters laughed at me. You haven’t worked since 2006. I can’t even send your resume for temp jobs because you haven’t worked in more than 2 years. I stopped and asked, what do mothers do that were raising their babies? She had no answer. I was just a middle-aged woman looking for a job, any job that would allow me to continue my career in IT or Tech or even something that didn’t require my Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management. I was qualified for many positions but nobody wanted to hire a 50-year-old woman.

So, I’ll be 64 years old next month and I haven’t worked since. Honestly, I gave up. My spouse thankfully earns enough to support us but if I wanted to divorce him or live in the states, I was going to have to live on my social security. But I’ve lost 18 years in earnings because I couldn’t find a position. I can’t work for Walmart; I won’t even shop there! I can’t stand on my feet for hours, I’m 64! I have a mind and it’s been terribly wasted. I can’t even imagine how women just 50 years ago felt that they were unwanted, unneeded and to please just disappear from society.

I just wanted to expose what some of us that have worked since 1976, a generation Jones baby, and we are not the enemy that Gen X or Y or Z make us out to be. Boomers were not always the ones that were making all of the rules but we sure had to live by them, even if it meant we made mistakes in our mid-40s and left our jobs and never worked again. Have mercy on us. My pension is based on the stock market and it lost 40% in 2008 and recovered and now, is losing again. They took away pensions and forced us to be stock market analysts now worrying about our 401k retirement balance. Thanks to Reagan, I can’t even get my full social security until I’m 66 years and 10 months old.

Reality check:

Percentage of US workers over 50 who lose longtime jobs before they are prepared to retire: 56
Percentage of those workers who never recover their earning power: 90

Stock markets should not determine our retirement worth. We worked for decades and should have a decent cost of living payment for all of those years that Congress stole our social security. Vote Blue!