"Too Old to Hire"?
There’s no good time to lose your job. But there may be no worse time than around age 60. At that age, workers are close enough to retirement that few prospective employers are likely to hire them, expecting a long-term relationship. "They may find themselves trapped between being too old to hire and too young to retire" said Catherine Collinson, CEO of the nonprofit Transamerica Institute. You may ask, what age is "too old" to get a good job?
When the Transamerica Institute asked that question in a 2023 survey of employers, most companies replied diplomatically that it "depends on the person." But some employers acknowledged age bias in hiring. The median age they gave as too old to hire was 58. When Transamerica posed the same question in 2025, employers said 65 was "too old to hire", but the real number may lie somewhere in between.
Since Social Security doesn’t become available until age 62, and Medicare doesn’t kick in until age 65, most workers are not quite old enough to retire at 58, at least not in comfort. Having given up on searching for a job they might turn to launching a business. A good example was shared in a USA Today article dated September 20th:
“At age 61, Todd Fannin decided he’d had enough of late-career layoffs. He had held a series of high-paying jobs at insurance companies. By 2019, at age 55, he was living in Atlanta earning $200,000 a year. When the company downsized, he spent eight months searching for another position, finally landing one in Tampa so he and his wife, Carrie, moved. When that job fell through, Todd spent six months on the market, driving an Uber for extra cash, until another high-salary position opened up, and the Fannins moved again. When Todd lost that job Carrie told Todd, ‘We’re not doing this again.’
So the Fannins gave up on corporate jobs and started looking for a business they could run themselves. ‘If I get fired again’ Todd said, ‘I want it to be Carrie firing me.’ After a search, they settled on a deck and patio franchise.” Other highly experienced, “too old to hire” workers have found success monetizing their skills, experience, and connections as consultants or business brokers. While it often won’t provide the income they enjoyed in the corporate world, it can provide enough income to bridge the time until retirement. And, as a business owner or 1099 independent contractor there are tax advantages as well as the opportunity to enjoy a high Psychic Salary® working for yourself doing what you love. That can be a heck of lot better than toiling under a micromanager boss in a toxic, psychologically unsafe work environment.
If you want to explore what starting your own business might entail contact me directly frank@frankmanfre.com to schedule a 30-minute no cost, no obligation strategy call.
Frank Manfre
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