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

 

[PEDARRIN2]

I am a few years away from thinking about it too much, but my plan is to work until I am about 70.

Most people in my company leave at about 62-65, though did have one guy leave at 55, but he and his wife had saved their whole lives and had the finances to do it.

I was told by my boss that he could not ask me when I planned to retire due to HR issues. He can ask me what I see myself doing in 5 years. If I say, I see myself on a beach somewhere, then he can "plan for that".

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I'll be 50 this year... I plan to work until I'm ~60, then I'll wind things down and only work on stuff I truly care about. I thoroughly enjoy my work, which is why I'm unlikely to stop completely, but sometimes it's easier on the mind to pick and choose the fun stuff.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[lacajun]

I just turned 62. I want and need to work but cannot find anything. I hear so much about the unusual employment climate we have now but I see no evidence of any company needing employees. I see lots of job openings at various companies for engineering or related positions but I get a lot of silence and the very rare rejection email. So, if they need people to work, you cannot prove it by me.

After getting my health problems lined out, I rode up Mt. Evans last Labor Day. I averaged 6+ mph, which isn't too shabby for a 61 year old. In the last few weeks, I've hiked 30+ miles, with a 15# pack on my back. I clearly have the energy and strength to work.

I enjoy engineering but my career seems to have ended and no one told me. :-D

I know it is not isolated to me. There are young people, 18 years old, looking for entry level jobs to the workforce that experience what I do. I don't understand what is going on.

Personally, I think I aged out at 44 because that's when my Director of Engineering told me I would get no more training. I would have to learn everything on my own. There was still important work to do and I needed the fundamentals as a foundation to continue learning but that was not possible. I was cranking out good work, with high ROIs, but that was not the point.

I'm going after projects through my company, too. I am told repeatedly I am too expensive even though I quote rock bottom pricing. So, I don't understand what is going on.

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
NSPE-CO, Central Chapter
Dinner program:

http://nspe-co.org/events.php

 

[Guest090822]

Sorry for the dumb question but what does FIRE mean?

 

[dauwerda]

I had to google it too - probably because I'm a long way from that goal.
FIRE = Financial Independence, Retire Early

 

[miningman]

Pamela , " I dont understand what is going on" really strikes chord with me. I basically retired on health grounds about 3 years ago but try to stay educated about what is happening in my primary industry, underground mining. I'm grateful that I'm not actively looking because there seems to a severe lack of opportunities for my skill set. Theres so many aspects to life these days that our previous life experiences have not given us the skill sets to move forward. This may be a manifestation of age discrimination but I dont know. I'm not complaining but I have a lot of sympathy for persons in your predicament. In your opinion, is it something semi unique to the Denver area or this nation wide ?

 

[Guest090822]

Pamela - it could be the industry you are in. I see next to your username you have (electrical) shown. If you were in the civil, structural, or geotechnical fields there is a lot of work out there. With the latest government infrastructure plan nothing is going to slow down either. My phone has been ringing off the hook with folks I've worked with over the years trying to get me to make a move. I've been told that COVID has also caused a mass exit of engineers in these fields that finally decided to retire so the demand is even higher. I'm in the New York/New England part of the US.

 

[GregLocock]

FIRE is the idea that if you live frugally while working hard and investing then you can build up enough capital to retire early, typically (tho not in my case) to a low COL place where hopefully your nest egg will continue to grow, and then move back to a first world country when bits start falling off your body.




Cheers

Greg Locock


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[dik]

It's not that frugal people live longer, it's just that life seems so much longer.

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

-Dik

 

[GregLocock]

Grins, on that I managed one 5 week trip to Europe every couple of years, I bet there people here who have never taken 5 weeks off in one go ever.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

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[geotechguy1]

FIRE is Financial Independence Retire Early. It means different things to different people. I got into it via a website called Mr. Money Mustache but there are also various forums on reddit and other websites. Some people aim to 'retire' at 35 on 24k a year and travel, others at 50 on 100k / year. The gist of it is based on the trinity study and similar research which shows you can withdraw 3-4% of the starting balance of a large investment of the total stock market indexed to inflation and have an extremely high chance of the entire balance lasting in perpetuity. Note that the people aiming to retire extremely young (like 30 or 35) often don't mean ' retirement ' in the conventional sense of the word.

 

[JohnRBaker]

My wife retired about 11 years ago and I retired six years ago, and we've managed to continue without making any real changes to our life style. At least until the pandemic, we went out to eat about as often as when we were working. We still have relatively new cars; my wife drives a 2018 Mercedes C300 and I have a 2021 GMC Terrain. We take one big trip (two to three weeks in duration) each year, with a couple of shorter ones thrown in for good measure. I've continued to invest in my coin collection and I've kept-up my camera gear so that it pretty much represents the state-of-the-art. We continue to donate a fair amount to our church and I make a big gift to my alma mater each year. We've even helped to pay one year of college for one of our granddaughters.

And with all of that, there's more money in our IRA's today than there was when I retired.

So while we didn't meet the 'RE' part of 'FIRE', I think we've done OK in terms of the 'FI' portion.

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

 

[LittleInch]

Whenever I've looked at FIRE it looks like those that succeed don't have any kids. If you want something to drain your income and the ability to work like a dog then it's the small ones, who have a habit of growing in terms of height and amount of cash they burn.

Pamela, sorry to hear that. I don't think many companies directly employ anyone much over 50. One you get past that and been "let go", then it's contract roles or nothing. I think a lot of people in O&G let go in the last downturn in 2015 at that age have really struggled to find anything otherthan liw level stuff like driving or been forced away from home for weeks on end for less than they were on before.

Supply must be in excess of demand or your "rock bottom" is too high for the local market.





Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I have to wonder how many FIRE proponents come to regret choosing the (likely small) amount of money they believed they could retire on... say, 20 years down the road and not being able to have as much fun as they once thought they could. Once you cross that threshold, climbing back up the hillside to make money again has got to be 10x worse than if you had just stayed in the game a few more years.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[JohnRBaker]

We have three sons and all three of them had jobs while in high school, and in all cases, their experience led to their careers today. We told them that we would pay for four years of college under certain conditions. We'd pay their tuition and they could live at home for free, but they had to pay their own personal expenses. In other words, no allowances. I went to school on scholarships and school loans. I got virtually nothing from my parents. My wife got even less from her parents and went to school and worked at the same time.

Anyway, our oldest went into the Army right out of high school and served four years before returning to work for the same company he was working for in high school. He's 51-years old now and still with them today, having risen to an executive level position.

Our second son, he took us up on our offer and attended Cal State Fullerton and got a Bachelors in Psychology. He lived at home for the first three years and he also worked in the evenings as a pastry chef. After graduating, he went to culinary school, which he paid for with a student loan (I cosigned but he never missed a payment). He's 51-years old and is a production manager at a large specialized bakery in L.A.

Our third son, who's 43, works for an IT company that helps corporations and organizations recover from being hacked or being hit with ransomware. He learned everything that he knows either on-the-job or taking specialized training classes and getting certified by companies like Apple, Microsoft, etc, most of these courses having been paid for by his employer at the time.

All three of them have their own homes, and in two cases, families of their own.

Perhaps my wife and I were lucky, but we worked very hard to instill the work ethic in our kids at an early age and it's paid off.

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]

Good parenting may have had a little to do with it. Ever consider that?

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

-Dik

 

[IRstuff]

Missed the boat on FIRE, but planning on retiring next year. The 3-4% withdrawal rate stirs up some controversy in the FIRE community; YMMV, since much depends on timing, total capital pool, and just plain stupid luck. Another good retirement blog:

https://www.caniretireyet.com/how-much-is-enough/

He's a retired engineer, so he loves to dive into a lot of math. One issue with the 4% withdrawal rate is that the original estimate was based on a very limited scenario. Another good read is

https://earlyretirementnow.com/2020/10/26/low-inflation-vs-safe-withdrawal-rates/

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

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[Sparweb]

I'm young enough I don't have to think about retirement much. Since my wife and I both work professionally and she's even got a defined-benefit pension, we have a decent nest egg already and still 10-20 years to go, depending on the retirement ages we pick. So that makes us VERY lucky, I'd say. Before I choose an age I want to retire, I would choose the conditions of my retirement - since I can easily see myself consulting full-time or part-time after I leave any particular employer.

Lacajun,
Your experience isn't as rare as you might think. In attempting to change jobs my wife has been met with tremendous indifference to her skills. Her time with a major energy company was extremely well spent, but it didn't paper her wall with little certificates. As she looks for work now, the recruiters (or should I say "computer algorithms") can't check a box, so she doesn't get a call. The only way she can find work is to have direct personal contacts.

I'm actually in a similar boat. I have an underwhelming pedigree, on paper. People who don't know about the special schools I attended would not realize that I can run circles around MSc's and PhD's. When I look for work, I know I have to use my network of contacts, which includes a large cohort of people who attended that same school program.

 

[IRstuff]

https://www.caniretireyet.com/how-much-is-enough/

He's a retired engineer, so he loves to dive into a lot of math.

Slight typo; Mamula loves math, but he's a retired physical therapist; Darrow Kirkpatrick, the founder of that site, is the retired engineer.

One thing that's definitely clear, you need a plan for what to do during retirement; some people can't deal with all that free time and nothing to fill it.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

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[cranky108]

It would be nice if there were something in-between. Less than 40 hours per week of work, and more free time to do other things.

For most companies that math does not compute. Maybe IT people can't do math very well.
Or maybe in my case, the retirement plan people, who can't math half time workers.