MOVING ON

From the New York Times : “The average retirement age is now 62, not 65. Indeed, only 27 percent of Americans retire at age 65 or later, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.”

Glenn Reynolds finds that amazing. As recently as a year or two ago, I would have shared Reynolds’ amazement. Today? Well, an Instapundit reader nails it in Reynolds’ first update:

The question that needs to be asked is how many people retire willingly at 62. I know that my company, Citibank seems to have a history of having a personnel cut about every year or so and it also seems that almost all of the people cut are in the age group of 61-63 or 64.

In a second update, another reader disagrees:

The fact is that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) specifically protects employees over the age of 40 from discrimination. Companies have to bend over backward not to target them - even during early retirement 'windows' when they try to induce people to leave by giving them more retirement credit.

Two years ago, I expected to continue working professionally until I was wheeled out on my deathbed; today, I’m planning to retire within the next six months. Not because I want to. I still have a hard time believing I’m retiring, and I can’t imagine doing anything in retirement as fulfilling, as enjoyable, as engineering.

Sure, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act can keep my employer from releasing me outright, but it can’t prevent it from subtly – and persistently – encouraging me to leave “voluntarily.” First to go are the challenging assignments. Then the assignments become of shorter and shorter duration. Then the erosion of support: “maybe so-and-so’s team needs some help.” Then comes being left out of meetings. Message received.

At some point the emotional burden of simply going to work exceeds the financial benefit and you start looking to see if you can make ends meet in retirement.

My moment came on Friday, May 11. I’m lucky; I can afford to retire. But I’ll miss engineering.