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55,
Underemployed, and Faking Normal: Your Guide to a Better
Life
by Elizabeth White
c.2020 in paperback, Simon
& Schuster
$17.00 / $23.00 Canada
272 pages
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Truth Contributor
Your last regular paycheck
has come and gone.
That was a while ago, back
before you were downsized / laid off / reassigned right out
of a job and you're not sure what to do. Your savings are
nearly gone, your retirement funds are next, and you're too
young to get Social Security. In 55, Underemployed,
and Faking Normal by Elizabeth White, you'll see how
to make this new life work. |
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At thirty-five years old,
Elizabeth White had a solid job at the World Bank, she owned
a house, and she was heading to Harvard to get a PhD. There,
she "caught the entrepreneurial bug" and, in partnership
with her mother, she became a business owner; when the
business failed, she was resilient and landed some
consulting gigs that put her finances back to where they
were before.
And then the Great
Recession hit. Suddenly, White was exactly where the title
of this book indicates: too young, too old, and suddenly
"totally out of the loop." Shortly afterward, when an essay
she penned went surprisingly viral, she learned that she
wasn't alone.
Experts say that, to
retire successfully, Americans need "fifteen to twenty times
their annual salaries" in some sort of savings or program
but White points out the realism: very few new retirees have
achieved that. The vast majority haven't. What's more, rosy
retirement pictures are painted of island getaways, long
walks in Paris, and palatial homes, when the reality is that
a very high percentage of Americans age 55+ don't know where
they'll be living this fall. Some of America's seniors are
trying to get by on less than $500 per month.
If this is your new
reality, there are things you can do.
First, know that "the
cavalry ain't coming" and you're more-or-less on your own.
Learn to "small up" in your housing and your possessions by
knowing exactly what's important to you. Re-think your
priorities. Ignore your pride away and take the dang food
stamps. Take care of your home. Take care of your
relationships. Take care of yourself.
So, here's what you need
to know about 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal:
what you get out of this book will depend on how old you are
now.
Regardless of what the
title indicates, this book is absolutely for new college
grads or those entering the workforce this year and are
serious about their futures. Younger readers throw away
those horror novels that line your shelves; for you, this
book is a cautionary, real-life, terror-filled memoir that
doubles as a hardcover warning for your elderhood.
For anyone who's facing a
retirement that's not necessarily on their terms, author
Elizabeth White has frights for you, too, but they're tamer.
You've met those terrors already, and the advice she offers
helps make them less scary, more attackable, more
survivable.
55, Underemployed, and
Faking Normal
is useful, even enjoyable, but it's serious stuff with no
fluff. For readers who are facing a new reality for their
Golden Years, reluctantly or otherwise, reading it might pay
off.
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