Retirement delayed and broke anyway

[jmbar2]

9. In the same boat

I'm glad to see you write this. I feel similarly, that I've been trapped my whole working career.

Edit: I am also female, which I suspect made a big difference from my male age-cohort.

I lived and worked overseas for 4 years, then came back and went to graduate school at midlife, assuming that I'd be able to reenter the labor force at a higher wage job. It left a big hole in my social security earnings, and did not work out as planned. However, I did get to do work that I enjoyed better than the alternatives. But going back to school at midlife was financially not a great decision.

I did eventually get patchy work as a contractor until I retired, but didn't ever have the work stability and career growth that I had hoped for when I went back to school. My "Hail Mary" retirement plan--home ownership--was also wiped out in the 2008 crash.

My solution was to move to a state with Medicaid, live in low-rent housing while it was still available, and become a substitute teacher. It does not pay particularly well, but adds a bit more to your SS. The kids are fun, but also germy. You will need all of your vaccinations and then some. I'm also learning to daytrade, which I hope will take over from subbing soon.

Boomers get trashed a lot, for a lot of things. But the bashers don't realize what it was like to try to have a career in an economy when corporate Amerika decided to ditch lifetime employment. We've been through one recession, crash, corporate bloodletting scheme after another.

It has been very stressful throughout my working lifetime.

Thanks for sharing your story.

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