Anthony Gutierrez, a bus driver from the Districts Apartments, speaks about coming out of retirement to support his family on February 9, 2016 at 6:30 p.m.
American business has become a gray area. As in hair color. Semi-retired bus driver, Antonio Gutierrez speaks on coming out of retirement to support himself and his family on Monday.
Average Americans hope to retire around 65. However, 80 is the new 60 when it comes to retirement. Many older workers who have finally clocked out have sharply underestimated their financial needs in retirement.
After serving a combined 27 years in the United States Postal Service and the military, since an 18 year old, Gutierrez retired nearly at 47. “Management gave me the opportunity to retire early,” said Gutierrez. Right around the time he decided to move his family to Florida from the Midwest, he thought it was best take the partial pension plan provided and “go with some extra money.”
“Most senior workers are about to turn 60 or right after it, preparing for retirement, and their concern is ‘are they going to have enough money to live through retirement?’” said Scott Landes, a UNF sociology professor teaching a course on aging. “Their main problem is, they don’t understand what to do.”
By putting off retirement, the Baby Boomers are limiting the vacancy of new opportunities and positions for younger adults. A later retirement has been a large reason for the high levels of unemployment for those looking to enter the labor force. According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of joblessness in people 20 to 25 years old is 12.5%, twice the rate of people 25 and older.
Shortly after moving to Florida after his initial retirement, Gutierrez realized he was still young and healthy enough to continue working. “If I’m 72 and mentally and physically able, I will still continue to work,” said Gutierrez. “Older adults are continuing to work for 1 of 3 reasons: emotional, physical or financial circumstances.”
Hoping to retire in 11 years, at 66 years old, Gutierrez states how he is “unsure of that now.” From clocking back into the workforce out of boredom to seriously needing the money, Gutierrez’s motivation for working is to support his children. With three of his children already in college, Gutierrez expressed how he needs to work to fund for their college expenses.
Nearly half of older workers are working longer than they had planned to be. Seniors, on average, surveyed to be working by three more years than they estimated at age 40, according to a recent survey of Americans 50 and over by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Gutierrez calls it the new “American nightmare”: Running out of money in retirement is forcing older workers to stay in the workforce.
This news story was written at the University of North Florida as part of a course titled Multimedia Reporting
jhoarea Kader 