Best Jobs for Retirement
Despite the poor state of the economy, it is not uncommon to find a job that provides both a good salary and good retirement benefits. Such jobs are typically found with profitable companies for which employee attraction and retention are critical for success. These financial benefits include various forms of pensions and 401(k) programs.
Typical examples of industries where such jobs can be found include:
- Trades, such as electricians, plumbers, truck drivers, and construction. In such jobs, unions tend to be very strong and they are able to negotiate, and obtain, good pension plans for their members. The key, however, is to combine a strong union with an industry which is also strong. For this reason, the automobile industry would not be a good idea, despite the prevalence of strong unions.
- Insurance, including underwriting, actuarial sciences and accountancy. These industries exist to provide retirement benefits to other firms, so it is natural that they will provide their own employees with good retirement benefits too. It has also been predicted that this industry will expand rapidly in the next decade, providing increased employment opportunities.
- Pharmaceutical industry, including sales representatives, scientists and marketing executives. Pharmaceutical companies tend to think long-term. Because it takes ten to fifteen years to bring out new drugs, pharmaceutical companies cannot afford their scientists to leave a project in the middle and allow a potential competitor to benefit. If they offer good retirement benefits to their scientists, they also have to offer the same level of benefits to other staff too.
- Government positions. Even if governments are cutting back on employment, it is not the case that they are not hiring at all. Job seekers who are lucky enough to find one of these open positions can obtain up to 90 percent of their salary in retirement benefits.
