Flipping Burgers in the Golden Years

At the height of his corporate career, Tom Palome was pulling in a salary in the low six figures as a marketing executive and flying first class on business trips to Europe. Today the 77-year-old juggles two part-time jobs: one as a $10-an-hour food demonstrator at a Florida Sam’s Club, the other flipping burgers and serving drinks at a golf club grill for a bit more than minimum wage.

While Palome worked hard his entire career, paid off his mortgage, and put his kids through college, he didn’t put enough away for retirement—like most Americans. Even many affluent baby boomers who are approaching the ends of their careers haven’t come close to saving the 10 to 20 times their annual working income that investment experts say they’ll need to maintain their living standard in old age. For middle-class households with incomes ranging from the mid five to the low six figures, it’s especially grim. When the 2008 financial crisis hit, what little Palome had saved—$90,000—took a beating, and he suddenly found himself in need of cash to maintain his lifestyle. With years if not decades of life ahead of him, he took the jobs he could find.