For many Americans, one result of the pandemic is a changing calculus for retirement. Some boomers are exiting careers sooner than they expected – yet other workers face a tougher climb to be financially ready.
When she turned 65, Wendy Northcross knew she wasn’t ready to retire. When the coronavirus hit a year later, she told the board of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce that she’d stay on as CEO until the pandemic was over.
Then came the 20-hour workdays as local business owners flooded in, looking for ways to stave off bankruptcy.
“It was like working a business emergency hospital,” she recalls. “Businesses would come in and you’d triage them. ... I’d be up at midnight to 2 in the morning looking for grants or resources.”
The economy rebounded quickly enough that many of those threatened firms survived. But by October Ms. Northcross was exhausted, and by then it was clear the pandemic would have a lasting effect on the business climate.
“It just gave me clarity that it is actually a good time to step down and hand off to someone with energy and new ideas,” she says.
So on June 30, Ms. Northcross will join the surging ranks of Americans calling it quits on paid full-time work.
The pandemic has had a profound impact on retirement. For some, it has accelerated plans to leave the workforce. For others, it has delayed those plans. It has increased anxiety about finances for many. And it has forced many Americans to take a good long look at their working lives, their transition to the golden years, and what they want ultimately out of life.
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