‘It seems we’ve decided a middle class is a luxury we can’t afford’: Unemployed and skeptical about retirement

Jim Berrie took a buyout from his newspaper in 2008, discovering the U.S. had changed even more dramatically than he had imagined:  Retirement is stretching out of reach.

“Even after the stock market crash, I fully expected I would get another job right away,” he says from his New Jersey home.

It wasn’t a voluntary buyout, but at least Berrie kept benefits and a small pension, after almost 20 years as a copy editor-paginator.

“They kind of had the gun to our heads,” he recalls.  “They said if we stayed, we could get re-assigned, as security guards at a warehouse. Or the paper would be sold and the new buyer would fire everyone and we would have to re-apply for our jobs, at lower salaries.”

Berrie wasn’t unemployed long before he was invited to return part-time. His $1,700 weekly salary was cut by two-thirds, and the only shift offered was at night, adding a 70-mile commute that was “rough”, partly because the extra miles meant a monthly surcharge on his leased car.

It’s ironic that the newspaper section Berrie was helping produce was called Good Times.

Soon, he was promoted to arts and entertainment editor, doing all the editing, layouts and pagination for two sections, working with five freelance writers.

“I was making a fraction of the money I used to make, but then they set me up so I could work at home, and only commute one day a week. I like what I’m doing, and the hours are more flexible.”

The financial hardship, however, was tough to accept.

Berrie’s wife, a speech pathologist, was working from contract to contract, as social services were slashed. She often went without income for weeks.  Then their son graduated from college and the family had to start paying back his loans.

“It was tough,” Berrie acknowledges. “There have been times ….” His voice trails off.

“Times when we fell behind on the mortgage a month or so,” he adds, admitting the three-career family didn’t expect that. “We’re caught up now.”

At 60, Berrie is scrambling to continue applying for jobs in public relations and advertising, “just trying to get my foot in the door.” But the skills of a copy editor — “people who know language” — are diminished “when there are no standards on the Internet.”

Berrie boosts his income by proofreading and copy editing at a community newspaper one day a week, and proctoring tests for the Princeton Review.

Baby Boomer nostalgia:  ‘America’s most prosperous time’

“It’s certainly scary.  There’s a kind of disconnect in the U.S. now,” he says. “The economy doesn’t seem to be rebounding the way it should, and a lot of people are losing their homes and jobs. I’m a Baby Boomer and I grew up in America’s most prosperous time. It doesn’t look like it will ever be that way again.

“It seems we’ve decided a middle class is a luxury we can’t afford.”

Berrie, 60, figured he would be retiring at 65, and now admits he can’t plan for retirement, financially or psychologically.

“We spent all our 401Ks keeping up the mortgage,” he says. “I might be desperate enough to start collecting Social Security at 62” if family income doesn’t improve.

“I fully expected I would be at (my paper) until I retired, so we feel very threatened,” Berrie says. “That stock market crash in ’08 really killed.”

Still, he’s boosted his pessimism with exercise, losing 60 pounds with the help of a personal trainer.  Berrie was so successful in maintaining a strong workout routine, that he aims to become a certified personal trainer too.

After interviewing a contestant from his town who appeared on NBC’s The Biggest Loser, Berrie is keen to turn private weight loss success into financial gain.

It’s Martin Luther King Day, a day of public service

By David M. Lieberfarb

Why volunteer? For the under-employed, volunteer work can be a life-saver. While I did lots of volunteering while I was fully employed, it’s even more meaningful and fulfilling now. Mainly because it gets me out of the house and away from the computer on which I’m typing, a stealthy thief that steals huge blocks of my time playing games.

As a volunteer, I play to my strengths. Always facile with numbers, I once wanted to be an accountant, like two of my favorite cousins. As a young homeowner, I felt the need to be able to prepare my own tax returns. So one year I took an H&R Block course. That led to a part-time job during the 1983 tax season, but I hated working for H&R Block.

After my buyout three years ago, I wanted to learn how to prepare taxes on the computer instead of by hand. Rather than buy a commercial tax program, I volunteered for the AARP training. I met some dedicated people whom I really admire and am now on their team for about eight hours a week during tax season. Our clients often offer gifts, but AARP is very strict about accepting gratuities, and the gratitude we receive is enough.

As for Meals on Wheels, I enjoy driving and doing anything that has to do with food — except dishes. Years ago, I drove cancer patients to their treatments and was a volunteer and board member of an organization called SHARE (Self-Help And Resource Exchange) that provided low-cost food for people. The deliveries take up even less of my time: about two hours twice a month, but it’s very gratifying.

Since I’m not earning as much money as I did when I was working full-time at The Star-Ledger, I’m being somewhat less generous with my monetary donations to charities this year. I might have sent $100 before, but now I’m sending $25 or $50, so therefore volunteering makes me feel better about pinching pennies.

David Lieberfarb is a freelance writer, based in New Jersey.

Volunteering fills gap for worker with ‘too much free time’ after 30 years

By David M. Lieberfarb

I’m one of the lucky ones. Three years ago, my final days at The Star-Ledger in Newark, NJ, were winding down after 30 mostly happy years as a copy editor. My buyout package included a year’s pay, medical coverage and a decent pension. Unlike many of my younger colleagues, my children are grown and no longer my responsibility, and I’m old enough to start collecting Social Security.

I tried a few different jobs. The Census Bureau looked promising. I was hired in the spring of 2009 as an enumerator, but it peetered out after about a month. I visited Hertz to drive rental cars from one site to another, but the pay wasn’t worth it.

Finally, I came back home, almost. The Trenton Times, a sister paper in the Newhouse chain, hired me as a copy editor, part-time. I really enjoy the work.

The only problems are:  The pay is less than half of what I made at The Star-Ledger; my schedule is irregular; and the commute is twice as far. And the office — far too large for the tiny staff, which has also been decimated by buyouts — is like a morgue.

I’m probably more productive than I was at The Star-Ledger, but when I’m scheduled to work only two nights a week, I have too much free time. So I’ve done volunteer work delivering Meals on Wheels and preparing taxes for AARP.

Q:  Are you earning enough with two shifts?

My pay at the Trenton Times is $20 an hour, which amounts to about $120 per shift, give or take an hour. So, no, I’m not satisfied. I asked for a raise of $1 or $2 an hour about a month ago, and was turned down. My pension is my main source of income, and I’m trying to put off applying for Social Security ’til at least age 65. (I’m 63.)

Q:  How did you manage after the buyout?

Unemployment insurance supplemented my income throughout 2009 when I wasn’t working for the Census Bureau (for about 4 or 5 weeks, my income was higher than my UI limit, so I didn’t file).  But after I applied for my pension, my income was too high to continue tapping UI.

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