| As Brooks pointed out, surveys find that 80 percent people expect to work in retirement but only 20 percent do. Why don’t more people find work in retirement? “The reasons are many, but unexpected health problems and age discrimination are right up there,” Brooks writes. “But people age 50 and up who have left jobs — voluntarily or not — and successfully found their Second Act jobs or careers have something in common. Most developed a Plan B while they were still working — just in case.” So how do you prepare for an encore career? Here are some tips. Snakes on a plane or the IRS: Which scares you more?
For last week’s Color of Money Question I asked: Do you fear the IRS, and if so, why? Hank Parker of Hanover, N.H. laid out a number of reasons what he’s not afraid of the IRS. He wrote: “1. We have been audited several plus times and always ended up with no bill, usually the IRS owed us a few dollars that they never refunded. 2. I was taught to not take every cent of permitted exclusions in case something was disallowed so that there would not be a chargeable underpayment. 3. We normally extend our final submittal so the final draft is not rushed, with plenty of time to check everything.” Waneta Achaj of Alexandria, Va. wrote: “Not particularly afraid of the IRS (or snakes for that matter). For starters, my finances are usually simple enough that as long as I don’t try to play games, my returns aren’t interesting enough to be worth auditing. Second, one year I received the dreaded Letter. It wasn’t an audit, just asking about some income that they said hadn’t been included. It was enough to be worth paying a couple of hundred dollars for a tax accountant’s time. He agreed that the income was reported (It was unclaimed money from the state; there isn’t a line on the tax form for that one.), called the IRS, and cleared it up. Keep all your receipts in order, don’t take advice from anyone who isn’t a tax professional (or a good tax program), and save your fears for the really scary things. Like bees and wasps.” “I am WAY more afraid of the IRS than just about anything else,” wrote Karen C. Reidelbach of Virginia, who wrote that an honest mistake in a business she ran put her in the crosshairs of the IRS. Joan Culver of Annandale, Va. said she doesn’t fear snakes or the IRS. She wrote: “I do my taxes to the best of Turbo Tax’s ability and pay what is required. And snake? My daughter breeds them, many several feet long. So no fear there either. My biggest fear is that I will lose the two 145 year old oak trees in my yard.” Fred Shaw of Laurel, Md. wrote: “I do not fear the IRS. I do not push the limit of the tax deductions. I have a generally simple tax return and all my information is reported to the IRS. I feel the risk to reward is too high to push the limits with the IRS. I also do not fear snakes on planes.” “I do not fear the IRS, but am wary of them,” wrote Lorna Gilkey of Alexandria, Va.. “I have been completely honest on my taxes from the moment I became a working adult. Not claiming ‘fishy’ deductions, other people’s children or other fraudulent things means the likelihood of an audit is near zero. On the other hand, I am EXTREMELY afraid of snakes! And snakes on a plane – both the reality and the horrible movie – are very scary!” Readers may write to Michelle Singletary at The Washington Post, 1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C., 20071, or michelle.singletary@washpost.com. Personal responses may not be possible, and comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer’s name, unless otherwise requested. To read previous Color of Money columns, go to washingtonpost.com/business. | 