55+ and Freightened. The First in a Series on Creating a Home Business

You have worked all these many years looking forward to the day when you may retire. Now you are able to actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. You figured you could work for eight or ten more years and then kick back. The work is great, the investment inside your 401K and IRAs are solid and moving up.



Piece of cake, right? WRONG! Things have developed however, you have just recognized that the light at the end of the tunnel is really a train coming straight at you. Suddenly things are not as safe as they had seemed. All of a sudden individuals around you are being laid off and there are rumors that the business will be moving out of state. Your confidence that the company can’t do with out you is unraveling. Senior staff are being asked to train junior staff as their own backups ("just in case you cannot work") and you know there isn’t enough work for the junior employee the way it is. Is there a implication here?



Your retirement fund is in shambles with values 50% less than they were two years in the past and you have little hope of full recovery in the near future. And in the event you could be laid off that fund could be a primary income supply until you find another career. Another career, you say? The LA Times says it could take years for employment standards to reach pre-recession values. As the years go on you'll discover yourself competing with a bigger and larger replacement pool, most of whom are younger than you.



That million dollar equity you had in your house is now 300K and it will take a large number of years to recover.



What if the ax has now fallen? Exactly what do you think you're going to do? You are able to collect unemployment benefits, but in the State of California when you are let go these days you could only collect benefits for 26 weeks except if Congress passes another extension. The last extension only passed by a couple of votes so it is not probable that a new extension will probably be enacted.



If you are 62 or older you are able to apply to Social Security for early retirement. The payments will be significantly lowered depending on just how many years you have left until full retirement and during this period you're restricted on how much you can earn in a job or business.



You can start eating into that 401K or IRA but if you are below 59-1/2 you will probably be paying a penalty. And keep in mind, you will be drawing on these resources at significantly reduced values and those funds will have to really last a lot longer than you originally imagined.



What are your choices at this point? Well, there are not many. It is possible to tough it out, reduce on your way of life and hope something happens. You can become a consultant. You believe? The way it happens, the market for consultants has dried up because companies try to keep their regular staff. Or it is possible to consider starting your own enterprise.



I speak from experience. I left the corporate world many years ago having a truly great set of skills. I worked as a consultant, obtained a whole lot of expertise and rarely experienced a week pass in between jobs. My past three assignments collectively lasted for almost 10 years so I realized if I could hold on for only a few more years I would be set up for retirement.



That's right up until this past December 2009 when I ended up being replaced by a newly laid-off permanent employee. No concern, I’ll just start checking for yet another assignment. And checking, and checking and checking.



Now, eight months later I'm still checking however I have got an edge over the many people in the exact same position. Several years ago My spouse and i recognized that it was foolish to depend on a solitary revenue supply and made the decision to discover some thing my wife and I could do jointly from home as a backup and generate a second income. We "drilled our well prior to we were thirsty" and thank heaven we did. The income we produced from our home business did replace my wife’s work earnings and she was able to retire. Because of that choice while we are not wealthy, we are able to survive, buy groceries, pay health insurance and also the mortgage and not dig into our personal savings.