Retirement ages for engineers 8

[geotechguy1]

In your experience, at what age do engineers in these professions retire? Do you find engineers start getting forced out / laid off at 50-55? If that happens, has it been easy to get a new job?

Asking because I had always planned to aim for FIRE at 45 because I hated the first 5 years of my career but it's gradually getting better and 10 years in I actually enjoy my profession and reckon I might want to work until 60 or 65 if my brain holds up but I have heard mixed things about late career engineering

 

[DrZoidberWoop]

I'm a young guy, but some advice I would offer is:

1) If you are a technical guy, and not upper management level, DO NOT ANNOUNCE YOUR RETIREMENT EARLY. Upper management will funnel projects away from you and HR will prepare paperwork to efficiently pull the rug out from under you. Even if you are a principal or chief engineer.

2) No matter how much your company values you and how friendly you are with management, they will almost always try to pull some funny stuff w/ accrued vacation/paid-time-off at retirement. It's always a "hard time" for the company once you ask for a pay-out or god forbid you try to use your paid leave directly before retirement. And you will get taxed like a m*********er on the lump sum they will eventually plop in your lap.

Saw this happen to a retiring Fluor employee who had been with the company for about 32 years. After he got put through the ringer, he was just happy to get out and retire to his Florida shanty at 62.

 

[LittleInch]

Don't think there's any one answer as too many variables based on your profession, your company, your countries employment laws and retirement provisions ( you come as being based in New Zealand?), the state of the industry you're in etc.

I see two routes / areas - one is the long time employee with good pay and benefits, some sort of company pension, but past 55 the axe starts to get raised every time there is a downturn or some new mgt theme comes in to reduce the cost base. The it can be case of stopping and "properly" retiring / stopping work al together.

The second is where I've gone which was to try something new at ~50, didn't work out due to the industry tanking, but moved into consulting / contracting based on contacts and experience being needed for short term roles. Not many companies will hire a full time person over 55, but are very happy to get your experience on a project by project basis.

Now I'm approaching 60 I would like to reduce time a bit, but still work projects that excite me and maintain my interest.

A lot depends on your outgoings, your dependants and your personal circumstances.

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Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[271828]

It seems like most of my colleagues retire at 65-70. I can't think of any who retired before 65. I've known a few who are still pretty active at 75.

 

[cranky108]

I started to see the rug pulled from under me a few years ago (I'm 60), and gained a student to teach. But because of the retirement plan I gain about 4% in retirement for every year I stay, so staying until 65 or 67 seems a no brainer.
Besides, I still have a year or two before my daughter finishes her BS degree, for which I am paying for.

 

[JohnRBaker]

I was 68+ when I retired after a 49+ year career. My boss wanted me to stay at least another year, but I had already given him a one-year notice, which ended-up stretching out to 14 months. In a couple of weeks, that will have been six years ago.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[looslib]

I started my current job when I was 58. I am sill working full-time and will turn 70 next month. No plans to retire anytime soon as I enjoy my work, still have the mental skills to do it and I am the only one in the company who does what I do. It took this company almost a year to find me through head hunters and the job market for someone with my skills is still pretty limited.
There are a few others working either full or part time here who are over 65. The industry is specialized so resources are limited in the business overall, not just my job.

"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli

 

[dik]

I'll probably 'pop-off' at my keyboard. I like the work...

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[IRstuff]

Ditto, I like my work, but we positioned ourselves to retire and do more travel. Only engineer I recall being "forced" out was constantly at loggerheads with the VP of engineering, to the point where he once stopped us in hallway and asked the engineer, "What can I personally do to make sure you retire on schedule?" Other than that extreme case, most companies I've worked for were relatively generous when it came to sloughing off the older engineers, through increased severance or credits for the pension plan. One big issue, particularly with a small organization, is that the longer an engineer stays in place, the more likely there isn't a replacement for them when they leave, either voluntarily, or not.

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[GregLocock]

I've been applying for voluntary separation packages ever since I got here 32 years ago. No joy so far. It's not that I don't like the work, it's just I know I can pick up the occasional project from my network, and probably don't need to financially these days, since I was FIRE before it was invented. However, about the time I could have pulled the pin on FIRE, when I was 50, I got married instead, which kinda delayed things a bit (ie threw spanner in works). So now I'm 61 and wondering how this is going to play out. The longer I wait the better my super looks and the main reason to retire is to travel for extended periods, which at the moment is not on the table, and I've got heaps of leave which we use when it suits us. Official retiring age in Oz is 65 (or more, and you don't have to go), I'd say most engineers retire before then.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[miningman]

Well since most here seem to be in the 55-65 year old range heres another factor that deserves serious consideration. Since I turned 62 I've been somewhat disappointed to recognise the number of ex colleagues that have suffered a stroke or other serious health issue. Travel plans tend to get reorganized if your confined to a wheel chair!! I you suffer kidney deterioration , you cant be much more than a few miles away from a dialysis machine if you need two or three sessions per week. Depending on the health care systems in the country where you chose to call home , you may suddenly have costs that you never budgeted for.

The older you are, the more these things need due consideration

 

[JohnRBaker]

Yes, in retrospect, I should have taken my boss up on staying another year as it would have put me into a time frame where they offered the older crowd a voluntary severance program. I had had an opportunity to take advantage of an earlier one, but I was just shy of qualifying for Medicare so I passed. I should have figured out that they did one of these about every five years so I could have gamed the system. Oh well, that all water under the bridge.

That being said, I had an issue with my heart about nine months after I retired and if I had still been working, it could have happened while on some customer visit in some other hemisphere so I'm glad it made itself evident while I was home. Besides, if I would've had the surgery, to replace an aortic heart valve, while I was still under company insurance, there would have been a hefty co-pay, but I was now under Medicare and we had the best supplemental that was offered so my new heart valve, and pacemaker that went with it, didn't cost me a dime. And my surgery was performed at Ceders Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles by same the team that had helped prefect this particular type of procedure. They say that Ceders Sinai is the hospital for the movie stars, and I have to say, during my five-day stay they really did treat me like a movie star.

If you'd like a bit more info on my experience in all of this, I posted a thread back in 2017 when I had the surgery and it's still online:

https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=419979

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[dik]

When my wife was in hospital for a couple of months, my grandkids were up visiting. The nurse loaned them her stethescope. They checked me out and couldn't find a heartbeat...

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[JohnRBaker]

I retired in January 2016 and the plan was to go to Hawaii for our 50th wedding anniversary the following year. However, my heart surgery and the recovery period afterwords put the kibosh to that. So we delayed it a year and visited the islands in the fall of 2018, celebrating our 51st instead.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[geotechguy1]

Very interesting comments, thanks for sharing

Yes I am based in NZ now but originally from Canada and the jury is still out on whether I end up back in Canada or perhaps in Australia, the UK, staying NZ or perhaps temporarily in the United States. I've noticed in NZ older engineers tend to work until they're 70+ if their health keeps up (unless they really hate their jobs) and forced retirements seem less common. For comparison in Alberta it seemed like no engineers other than the 'top dogs' had careers that survived past 55

 

[Ron]

Same as dik....when my head hits the desk. I'm 69 and enjoy what I do. Since I work for myself, not likely to be forced out!

 

[thebard3]

Come March when another associate retires, I will be the oldest salaried employee in my company (age 61). Past experience suggests that I will eventually be considered a liability. I expect to get whacked in the next couple of years. I only hope that they offer a decent severance package.

Brad Waybright

The more you know, the more you know you don't know.

 

[CWB1]

IME stateside most have been offered an incentive and retired in their mid-50s, which coincides with ~30 years service. The few that are rehired or try to continue on generally only last until they start seeing health issues in their early-mid 60s.

Given that the OP is rather young tho in OZ, its worth noting that stateside we will likely be seeing some big changes in retirement norms over the next few decades. Unlike today's retirees, younger generations have not had much opportunity to participate in defined benefit pension plans. With social security likely to go bust in the very near future that means saving for retirement is entirely on the individual and IME that is something most have been terrible at for generations.

Personally I’m planning to retire asap, hopefully 50-55. I enjoy engineering but can get that in my own shop while having more flexibility for fun.

 

[dik]

I understand that, Ron. I'm into tekkie stuff, not business stuff. Currently waiting for the new ASUS Intel motherboard to come out so I can assemble my 'final' computer. About 10 years back decided the computer at the time was my 'final' build.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[StrucPatholgst]

I enjoy this too much. I'll probably get forced to retire, somewhere north of 70.