Holly Morris Espy retired two years ago after more than 25 years as a reporter and anchor at WTTG in Washington, DC.
But the 55-year-old didn’t really retire.
“I graduated,” he told Yahoo Finance.
Last year, Espy co-founded Moorlow, an exclusive women’s activewear line, with two friends. For her, leaving television wasn’t a matter of slowing down. It was about turning towards something new.
“The moment you announce you’re retiring, everyone assumes the goal is to quit,” Espy said. “Finally rest. Finally not have to work. That was never my way of thinking.”
Espy is part of a growing wave of older Americans who are “not retiring” — returning to work after leaving their careers. Some return because they miss the community or intellectual engagement. Others want a renewed sense of purpose.
But increasingly, the biggest driver is money.
According to AARP research, people are returning to work for a variety of reasons, but nearly half said financial pressures made them return. About 48% cited everyday living costs or concerns about the economy, while 28% said they retired too soon.
And retirement itself is increasingly difficult to face. Among respondents who are working or looking for work, more than 4 in 10 said their biggest motivation is daily living costs.
“As the job market warmed following the pandemic, combined with the rising cost of living during 2022 and 2023, retirement peaked,” Geoffrey Sanzenbacher, an economics professor at Boston College, told Yahoo Finance. “More than 7% of formerly retired people aged 55 to 64 returned to work.”
Today, about 6% of retirees have returned to work, according to Sanzenbacher’s research. It may be higher. AARP data showed that 7% of retirees recently reentered the workforce.
“It reflects that it is increasingly more expensive to live and remain retired,” he said.
Today, approximately 6% of retirees have returned to work.
Work: “the only realistic way” to face rising costs
Once workers leave full-time employment, their income can drop dramatically.
In 2024, the median income for fully retired Americans over age 65 was about $26,770 a year, according to labor economist Teresa Ghilarducci. Half of older Americans received less than about $20,500 annually from Social Security.
“The fact that the median income of retired Americans is less than $30,000 a year is why many retirees try not to retire,” Ghilarducci said. “Work is often the only realistic way to increase income after retirement.”
However, today older job seekers face a brutal job market. During the post-pandemic job boom, retirees found it easier to get a job.
“In 2022, there were rising costs and a lot of jobs,” Sanzenbacher said. “In 2026, there will be rising costs and not many jobs.”
That creates a harsh reality for retirees trying to return.
Education matters. Workers with college degrees are disproportionately more likely to successfully reenter the workforce, Sanzenbacher said.
Then there is the issue of age discrimination. AARP research found that two-thirds of workers over age 50 believe it would be difficult to find a new job in the current market. Nearly a third blame age discrimination as the main obstacle.
They may not be wrong.
According to a recent report, employers generally say that whether someone is too old to work or be hired depends on the person. When pressed for an age, many said workers are considered “too old” to work at an average age of 68. When it comes to hiring, the average “too old to hire” age drops to 65.
“The good news is that most employers say it depends on the person,” said Catherine Collinson, CEO and president of the nonprofit Transamerica Institute and the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, who published those findings. “However, among employers who gave a specific age, the survey results are quite revealing because they reveal age-related biases.”
Pro Tip: Don’t Underestimate Your “Power Skills”
Older workers have advantages in today’s hiring market, even amid distress over demand for AI experts.
Eight in 10 human resources professionals say their biggest hiring challenge is finding candidates with communication, judgment, decision-making, critical thinking, and time management skills, according to a new report from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
Nearly two-thirds of human resources professionals said it was difficult to find candidates with these “power skills.”
“The focus on critical thinking and decision-making is good news for candidates who have decades of experience to draw on,” said Leanne Rodd, chief talent officer at FlexProfessionals, a recruiting and staffing firm.
“The key is not to underestimate it,” he said. “Don’t assume that a hiring manager will deduce those skills from your degrees or years of experience.”
Instead, older job seekers should clearly explain how they solved problems, adapted to challenges, and made decisions under pressure.
“A candidate who can walk you through their thoughts and actions, and explain how they course-corrected during the process, has an advantage in today’s hiring process,” Rodd said.
That said, he can’t be relied on to show what he can do now with updated skills, Collinson added.
An emerging solution can also help: “returns.”
These short-term paid programs are designed for experienced professionals reentering the workforce after taking extended career breaks. According to SHRM, only about 9% of human resources professionals say their organizations currently offer return programs. But among companies that do, more than 8 in 10 say the programs are effective in addressing talent shortages.
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Several major companies have adopted the concept, including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, Moody’s and Lockheed Martin.
“Return programs have consistently high conversion rates (the percentage of participants engaged when the return is completed) averaging around 85%,” said Carol Fishman Cohen, CEO and co-founder of iRelaunch.
Hiring for a designated period of time to get a sample of someone’s work “de-risks the hiring process for skeptical managers,” he added.
Cohen expects these programs to grow as many Americans face rising costs and longer life expectancies.
Kerry Hannon is a senior columnist for Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist and the author of 14 books, including “Retirement Bites: A Generation X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future,” “In control at 50+: how to succeed in the new world of work,” and “You’re never too old to get rich.” Follow her on blue sky and unknown.
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