Losing a Job in Midlife: How to Prepare and Bounce Back When Downsized Near Retirement
Monday, July 9, 2018
While a layoff can be financially challenging for anyone, it can be particularly devastating when you are nearing retirement. “In that 40s to 50s time frame, that's typically when you're at your highest earning potential,” says Mitchell C. Hockenbury, a financial planner with 1440 Financial Partners based in Kansas City, Missouri.
It can also be more difficult for older employees to find new jobs. A 2015 study by the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Psychology and the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management found that unemployed Americans over 50 are likely to be job hunting for six weeks longer than those in their 30s and 40s and nearly 11 weeks longer than those in their 20s. Making things more challenging, nearly half of job seekers 55 and older who recently had become re-employed said they were earning less than what they earned in their previous job, according to a 2015 survey by the AARP Public Policy Institute.