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Web Wealth: Unexpected retirement

Retirement is a choice, in the best of circumstances. But it may be forced by job loss, or by illness or other circumstances. Use these sites to get some ideas on how to deal with the unexpected.

Retirement is a choice, in the best of circumstances. But it may be forced by job loss, or by illness or other circumstances. Use these sites to get some ideas on how to deal with the unexpected.

Getting serious. This posting at CNNMoney takes issue with the blithe notion that people who've fallen behind on retirement savings can decide to work longer. Reality - especially physical demands of the job, or health problems - could dictate that your career is over before you intended. If the physical demands of a job limit the length of your career, you need to consider as soon as possible what options are out there, and take action.

http://go.philly.com/keepworking1

Why not retire early? Even if you can retire early, there are always reasons not to. This item from ConsumerReports.org lists a few of the many reasons to stay at the grindstone. They include the bigger checks you'll see by drawing Social Security later, the "routine and camaraderie of a job," difficulty of reentering the workforce, and statistical evidence that people who retire early don't live as long as those who retire later in life.

http://go.philly.com/keepworking2

Checklist. Again, "physical capacity" to work - something that's pretty much beyond most people's control - is the biggest factor in deciding whether an older person works. Yet, it shouldn't surprise that this MarketWatch checklist for retirement includes a section on what sort of work to plan on doing after you've supposedly retired. It says the Social Security Administration figures that, overall, 30 percent of the income of people 65 and older comes from jobs they hold.

http://go.philly.com/keepworking3

College life. A novel idea for how to cope if you don't have the money to retire, but find you cannot work anymore, is to live cheaply, like a college student. "Act poor," says Steve Vernon at CBS MoneyWatch. Vernon suggests combining households with family or friends to boost the household income to a comfortable threshold. He admits his "cheapskate" solutions might not be the easiest to stomach, but necessity may make it one to consider.

http://go.philly.com/keepworking4