"How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
"How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
(OP)
To all,
One topic that I expected to find on this forum, is a discussion on the work plans of those engineers nearing retirement age.
Many of us would like to keep a hand "in the trade", but also want more leisure and a chance to see the grandkids... There comes a point when a 50 hour/week job working for a hell-bent 25 year old MBA has no appeal anymore, no mater what the hourly rate
There are significant financial problems with working part-time also....most notably the ~$13,500 annual limit on earnings for those receiving social security at age 62.
Anybody have any financial recommendations or suggestions or comments ?
How about part time work over the internet...!??
Regards..
-MJC
One topic that I expected to find on this forum, is a discussion on the work plans of those engineers nearing retirement age.
Many of us would like to keep a hand "in the trade", but also want more leisure and a chance to see the grandkids... There comes a point when a 50 hour/week job working for a hell-bent 25 year old MBA has no appeal anymore, no mater what the hourly rate
There are significant financial problems with working part-time also....most notably the ~$13,500 annual limit on earnings for those receiving social security at age 62.
Anybody have any financial recommendations or suggestions or comments ?
How about part time work over the internet...!??
Regards..
-MJC





RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
Also , as a young buck, please find someone to pass all of your knowledge onto so it isn't lost with you. That is what our consulting firm is doing - pairing "seasoned" engineers with younger ones who want to learn!
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
The last 6 months of the first year (part time) and the first 6 months of the second year.
A second retired person could cover the other halves.
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
I've learnt a massive amount from guys in their 50's and 60's and really enjoy working with them. I was going to say 'on the whole' but then I couldn't really think of an exception.
I was fortunate enough to work with a very experienced designer/checker from late 05 to mid last year. Before starting here in 05 he'd actually been retired for a little while.
Sadly the management here didn't appreciate what he could provide or realize he'd probably be around a few more years yet so when lay-offs came he was let go. I'm glad to say he's found a job somewhere else that by the sounds of it is more appreciative of what he and other experienced staff can provide.
He's a member of Eng-Tips, I'll see if I can get hime to chime in.
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
- Steve
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
David
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
Are both elderly QA guys married to the same woman.....???
This can work out too..
-MJC
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
I retired officially from a big Los Angeles Aircraft company in 1994, job shopped until 2001 then retired in Oregon. We had to move back to SoCal in 2004 for a healthier climate for my wife. Upon arriving in SoCal, I received an email job offer to join a start up Design Services Group in a high tech Santa Barbara company.
Seemed like providence to me, so I took it at age 67.
It lasted 2 years, but got me back into the work ethic.
We call it "Taking a work break".
So here I am at age 70, job shopping again with 3 other geezer checkers. Working on the new Ares 2012 Moon mission rocket, making good money and loving it.
Interestingly, this rocket company recognized the brain drain it had after years of no new big NASA projects, and is now hiring a bunch of old seasoned aerospace engineers for their expertise on this new project.
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
Don Phillips
http://worthingtonengineering.com
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
It would be nice to keep a hand in, but I'm thinking more along the lines of selling tools at Sears at Christmas, retirement is not supposed to be work!
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
Not always a good thing for companies.
At one I worked at, retirement was usually the last HR option for getting rid of nuisance employees when all else failed. The ultimate failure for HR with one such employee was that they had to have him back on his terms in retirement because he had long ago mastered the skill of keeping secret a fund of knowledge and skills unique to his role. Of course, this was a management and HR failure because they had passed him around between departments like a parcel with no one manager ever even really trying to solve the problems he presented and HR living for the day he retired and not helping solve the problem.
But in the main, age and experience are a tremendous asset to a company and whatever the arbitrary rules of employment, when retirement comes around it is a win/win for retiree and employer.
Engineering isn't just a job or a career or even a vocation. For many of its practitioners it is a way of life.
Retirement is either the end or the reward.
Retirement means spending unaccustomed hours, days in the company of the significant other who has long ago developed an independent life while the engineer was busy at work. Having a retired engineer about the house is a nuisance and both partners should give serious thought to a garden shed (home workshop) to which the engineer can be banished during the working day or continued employment.
Frankly, unless that garden shed has some special projects in store (model railway layouts, scale steam locomotive manufacture or whatever) continuing to be involved in the mainstream has to be the best reward.
This is the real reward, free from the fears "downsizing", "rationalisation", "restructuring" etc., except from political infighting, able to refuse all the tedious chores that go with full time employment, the engineer is at last able to focus on that which really makes him tick.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
Obviously this kind of satisfaction SHOULD be much easier to come by when you're retired than when you (and the rest of your family) are depending on the income from your work!
That means a high potential for personal satisfaction in your work as a retiree: being able to say no to assignments too boring, too tasking etc., along with providing a real sense of accomplishment when you save a lot of people's work by virtue of your wisdom. But it's a two-edge sword: that freedom to say no can also make you a real PITA as a team-mate- especially if you're being offered by the boss as an alternative to a fully committed team member. How many people's bosses confuse bodies with resources?! Mine can't be the ONLY one to do that routinely, can he?!
As long as the expectations and limitations are made clear up front to all parties involved, a retiree can make a fine addition to a team- note as an addition to, not substitute for a fully committed resource! A retiree's role should be one of consultant to the team doing the work, or as subcontractor to the team given specific tasks to complete, rather than as a true team-member. Being a full team-member implies more commitment than a retiree, by definition, should be willing to give.
If you're going to act as a consultant, the best way to do that is AS a consultant. These pseudo-employment arrangements are far more likely to be unsatisfactory to your teammates, and hence to you.
Of course, I'm presuming that you actually have something to offer: I can play a tape recorder which says, "We tried that once and it didn't work" for far cheaper than I can hire (the wrong) retirees! Without any context to judge the comparative conditions of the two situations etc., such comments are not useful, even if you posess part of the context in your own head. The tendency to confuse experience with wisdom is one we all have to struggle with as we grow longer in the tooth.
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
I'd say for all of them it's up to management to manage it (managing may include terminating them).
I'm tempted to say the work ethic/willingness to stick at it has been at least as high amongst my older co-workers as with younger ones, in fact probably higher.
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
I hope you mean terminating their employment rather than the other possibility.
I love working with the semi-retired guys. They have usually forgotten more than I know about their field of expertise because in their time my industry was nationalised and had true specialists rather than people like me who are supposedly specialists in everything. The old timers frequently don't give a damn about office politics of ruffling the odd feather either. It makes for a great working relationship.
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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
"The old timers frequently don't give a damn about office politics of ruffling the odd feather either."
Please say you don't have to be an old timer to fit in this catetgory. I have slowly been adapting to that phliosophy.
RE: "How about us Geezers ?" - Working in retirement
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...