Miserable at work? It could cost you big time if you jump ship too early to retire and get away from it.
So says a Motley Fool article on Madison.com. Citing a Conference Board report that more than half of Americans are “actively unhappy at work,” which could lead them to make some less-than-prudent decisions about sticking with the job, the article says that such was not always the case.
In fact, in 1987, the trend went the other way, with more than 60% of workers saying they liked their jobs.
Those times are long gone, however, with worker happiness hitting an all-time low in 2010.
In the wake of the Great Recession, only about 42% of adults were actually satisfied at work. Even though the situation has gotten better over the past few years, it hasn’t been enough to reverse the trend; more workers are unhappy at work than the reverse.
Not a big deal for older workers, you say?
You must have plenty saved for retirement, then, because most people don’t. Although younger workers really have no choice but to tough it out to keep money coming in, increasingly older workers are seeking sanctuary in retirement—but at a high cost.
The article cites a study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine that identifies the primary factor sending older workers into retirement prematurely is poor health, the “moderate second” is job dissatisfaction.
And considering that most older Americans are not financially prepared for retirement—with boomers’ median savings just $17,000 for those aged 56–61, and 41% having absolutely zero saved—they really can’t afford to be so unhappy that they just chuck the job, unless they’re prepared to go flat broke in retirement. (Of course, being that unhappy and staying on the job could lead to that very ill health that’s the primary factor in premature retirement…)
Still, unhappy workers need to bear in mind that retiring before they’re financially prepared to do so and claiming Social Security benefits at anything less than full retirement age will permanently reduce their benefits—and since 65% of seniors rely on Social Security for most of their income in retirement, that’s no small potatoes.
On average, a Social Security recipient gets about $1,360 per month at full retirement age, which can be somewhere between 66–67. Abandon the weekly paycheck four years before FRA and you’re condemning yourself instead to a benefit check of only $1,020—for life.
And then there’s the lost opportunity fee—which can cost you close to $100,000 by retiring four years early and missing the chance to contribute up to $6,500 a year to an IRA and $24,000 a year to a 401(k)—the maximum that workers over 50 can set aside.
Calculating optimistically that you can afford financially to do this, if you leave the job before you’ve done those extra four years and as a result you don’t do it, that’s nearly $100,000 you won’t have to spend in retirement.
Looking elsewhere for work should be higher on your list than leaving the workforce altogether, if you haven’t got enough saved and your health allows it.
That way you might be able to avoid shorting yourself on retirement savings—which could end up making you even unhappier in the long run than the job did.
