And who can forget…
Your debt service interest sucks up too much of your income.
Inflation is rising faster than what you get paid.
Other middle-aged folks in the same boat plug the promotion ladder.
Job security is a joke. Much like pension benefits.
And far too often, your grasp still exceeds your reach as your belief in the golden years
still lingers in the face of some brutal truths that appear to the contrary.
So if you haven’t saved enough (read any) what’s the only other option?
You will work longer. Maybe 3 years…maybe 5 years past 65.
I predict it will be longer as conditions demand and your health permits.
The motivation is a combo of both fear of loss and hope of gain.
Whatever is the most powerful driver based on your situation
will determine how and where those years are spent.
I don’t fancy being a Wal-Mart greeter but then I have some fall back job skills.
My current distaste for travel (how is it that every flight anywhere takes 12 hours?) suggests I don’t want to be a limo driver to hear others whining about this reality.
What to do? Is there any relevance anymore to looking for work that has the motivating factors that drew us to certain jobs and filled pages of Harvard Business Review? Some may remember hearing about these back in your youth?
Today, we can dispense with many of the extrinsic motivators (maintenance factors behind a good job) like fair and adequate pay, job security, and pension benefits.
What’s left are the intrinsic motivators. Look for variety and challenge, opportunity for decision making, adequate feedback and a chance to learn, mutual support and respect, and don’t forget the big one…room to grow and be self-actualized.
Jobs with these conditions for most 65 year old seniors without educational credentials are in short supply.
The answer may be to continue learning, and never stop learning, new practical skills. This assumes you keep sharpening the old skills, too.
Being overqualified is a retirement strategy you definitely want to have on your side. When you’re through learning, you’re through.
Copyright 2010 William M. MacKay
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