Op-Ed
Adding to a nest egg
By Rose Safran
Every time I meet a particular friend, a retired professional who prefers to remain anonymous for this article, she has a new low-level, part-time job.
"What is it now?" I recently asked, admiring her glee in submitting to new demands, young bosses and strange situations.
Gray hair aside, she certainly has no trouble getting hired.
"Well, you know I like gardening. I won't mind digging around, helping make things grow, putting perennials in pots," commented this businesswoman who had worked for years in information technology for a major corporation. "I'm going to work at a nursery where I won't exactly function as a landscape architect."
Diversification of occupation seems to be her primary requirement along with guaranteed hourly pay for a few days of work a week. She's flexible, too, letting her employer advise concerning his needs. While she does have some specific things that she will not do, she seems open to all sorts of ideas. The range of work called for in most of her recent occupations reflects a willingness to accept employment for whatever kind of coolie chore needs to be done. She tends to concentrate, it seems, on finding behind-the-scenes work and appears to specialize in physical labor - such as unloading truckloads of merchandise that arrive at Stonewall Kitchen, doing the pre-breakfast food preparation chores at dawn in the kitchen at York Beach's Goldenrod, and more recently, getting her hands into soil and plant life at Coastal Landscaping.
I suggested retail selling in the outlet stores in the Kittery malls, many of which have older employees, and are amenable to part-time workers willing to work various hours, including some evenings. In my opinion, selling is much cleaner work than digging around plants, or preparing large quantities of food over a hot grill, although stocking of merchandise on racks is involved and requires being in good shape physically. Selling, if one's feet are in working order, is considerably less strenuous than lifting heavy pots of food. To say nothing of joining strong men and women who are unloading pallets from trucks arriving with large cartons of merchandise that have to be moved to the store-room and ultimately to the sales floor, a type of work which this friend did this past holiday season. My friend, it seems, prefers the more muscular chores to the dainty-doily-style ones.
"Oh, no, I can't do selling. I absolutely can't stand around waiting for customers. I have to be consistently busy." (I think back to my Saturday selling days in high school and recall being very, very busy while selling in a department store. Only problem was spending the money earned in the store; it was an expensive job!)
I proceed to offer something else, remembering that my friend is something of a food nut, "Maybe, you'd like preparing the food samples for the tasters who come in to Stonewall Kitchen. Or demonstrating how easy it is to prepare something in Hannaford's? You might even get a white cook's hat!"
"Well, that's for others, not me," continues this former businesswoman who has some 30 to 40 years of sophisticated-level experience behind her. "Besides, it's sporadic and I want to earn $5,000 this year."
Her goal is further detailed: "I have only two years left before I turn seventy and one-half. That's only two years left for adding to my traditional IRA, after which I'll have to start withdrawing some of the money from it. For those over fifty years of age, it's now $5,000 tax free a year (and scheduled to increase to $6,000 in 2008) that can go into that particular retirement fund, that's $11,000 total, which can grow tax free over the years. That's my goal right now - earning $11,000 total, part time. I'll have to pay into the Social Security system, but that's all. I'll have to pay income tax on it, later, when I begin taking it out." (It seems she prefers this original earlier traditional IRA plan, which is tax-free earned income until funds are withdrawn to the newer Roth IRA that requires paying taxes up front when contributing, but accumulates tax free income over the years, and is not taxed on withdrawal. Additionally, if she so chooses, she can extend her nest egg contributions by opening a Roth IRA with any earned income, even after 70½.) Coming from strong New England stock with longevity on her side, she comments that she plans to live a long, long time - so the bigger her nest egg, the better.
Too, she elaborates, that her IRA isn't as great as it might be because the program didn't exist during the early days of her many years of steady employment. So now, she feels it's important to add to it. Makes sense. Concerning wages, my friend tells me that she earns around $9 to $10 per hour in this area - which is above the federal and Maine state minimum wage. Translated to, say, 20 hours a week of employment at $10 per hour, she'd reach her $5,000 goal this year in around six months.
How many jobs are out there for seniors willing to work on a part time basis? Lots, it seems. There are retail outlets and eateries not only in Kittery, but also in Newington where hourly-based employment is available and flexible schedules exist. Along the southern Maine coast, there are many inns and restaurants with desk jobs as well as waitressing ones that are seasonal and have odd hour employment needs. Most of these jobs require little experience. On the other hand, one early-retiree friend with a fancy background found employment with a company needing someone to score tests; another with a skill and history of handling numbers, rules and regulations with the IRS in Portsmouth during its busy season. It seems the opportunities are boundless. And a few of them might even come with medical insurance (important for those seniors who are under 65 and need coverage prior to their eligibility for Medicare) which is a very special bonus.
Finally, many employers have stated that seniors have a fine worth ethic, are serious, responsible and reliable. Happy hunting to build a better nest egg.
