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Is being underemployed or struggling to get into a career that pays enough to support oneself, common for people on the autism spectrum?

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Here that's now a compulsory thing - superannuation. The employees don't have to contribute though, but they can if they want to. Whatever wage you're paid the employer also has to deposit another additional 9% of that sum in to your superannuation account.

We axed the old age pension here, I'm still not convinced that was a good idea. You can under special circumstances have emergency access to those funds but if you do that you're taxed at an astronomical rate. The account is supposed to remain untouched until official retirement age, at which time that money's tax free.

Currently here I think the official retirement age is 66 for men and 63 for women.
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The US has largely eliminated pensions which is a shame. Retirement saving is not required by law here but perhaps it should be. We hear doom and gloom predictions about the solvency of the Social Security system from politicians all the time but none of them do anything about it. The official retirement age to receive full benefits here depends on the year you were born in. I think it was age 66 for me to obtain full benefits. If I had waited till I was 70, I'd get more money each month, but knowing my luck, I figured I'd die before then so I opted to start drawing SS at age 66.

The US currently taxes social security as income.
 
Mary Terry said:
The official retirement age to receive full benefits here depends on the year you were born in.
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It's much the same here. I had just become an adult (18) in 1983 when they changed the law so I'm one of the last that's eligible for a full old age pension. I retired early though by getting the disability pension which pays the same.
 
Mary Terry said:
Retirement saving is not required by law here but perhaps it should be.
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That does not work with chronic unemployment and living hand-to-mouth. My wife's SSI had a savings/asset limit, even if we could manage to save.

Only one previous employer, Motorola, had a retirement fund. I only worked there for three(?) years. I do not know what became of that fund.

My current SSDI does not have an asset limit, but my Medicaid does.
 
Crossbreed said:
That does not work with chronic unemployment and living hand-to-mouth. My wife's SSI had a savings/asset limit, even if we could manage to save.

Only one previous employer, Motorola, had a retirement fund. I only worked there for three(?) years. I do not know what became of that fund.

My current SSDI does not have an asset limit, but my Medicaid does.
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I understand how nearly impossible it is for many people to save for retirement, Crossbreed.
You need to track down your old Motorola retirement account. You might have a significant amount of money sitting there.
 
Sad that "timing is everything".

That merely being born at the wrong time may cost so many, so dearly.
 
Crossbreed said:
Back in my day, a quarter used to cost a nickel...!
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It is a bit ironic that in my time the job market more often than not sucked. However if you could land that job with a large corporation, generally benefits were quite good. The kind that could pay off in the long run.

These days it seems the opposite of this. More jobs, but few benefits or pensions.
 
Mary Terry said:
I began saving for retirement when I was 21 years old. I had a low paying job as a University department secretary, opted to have a tiny amount deducted from my paychecks, which the employer matched, to participate in the group retirement fund (it was basically an insurance annuity contract for employees of higher education institutions. Long story short, I paid about $97 total out of my pocket over a two-year period which now worth over $200,000. I've never touched the money, just let it grow for nearly 50 years now. So, heck yes, everyone should start saving for retirement as early as possible. I think I have to start withdrawing that money and from all other retirement funds I possess by age 73 to avoid IRS penalties.

Start early, folks!
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i don't know enough about this, but i think once people reach a certain age, they are legally allowed to retire because employers know they are not able to work anymore, and then does that make them eligible for retirement income?
 
Technically within the public sector depending on the work and age involved, certain jobs do have lower mandatory retirement ages and terms relative to a possibility of receiving decent benefits and pensions.

Eligibility

Conversely in the private sector, as far as I know it's still illegal to enforce mandatory retirement with some specified exceptions.

Mandatory Retirement – Can You Toss the Old Guy Out?

Keeping in mind that a person can "retire" any time they want, but it doesn't necessarily translate into eligibility for benefits or a pension which specifies terms and conditions. Especially when one chooses to retire "early in life", simply because they are sufficiently capitalized to do so.

Billy and Wyatt opted for early retirement from being self-employed in pharmaceuticals. With their "pension and benefits" carefully rolled up into a plastic tube in their gas tanks. ;)

 
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We had a legal case up here forced retirement is not legal supreme court ruling. Companies have found ways to entice retirement. My former employer wanted me to stick around I left at 65 with a pension. Stroke 10 days after my 65 birthday.
 
I got curious and looked up retirement in my own government's website. The rules have changed since last time I looked them up. The pension has quietly been reinstated. That's a good thing, we were very ashamed of our government selling us out and leaving us at the mercy of US based insurance companies, none of us were too happy about it because there's a lot of people that just don't get the same opportunities in life as everyone else.

The official retirement age here is now 67, considering we have one of the highest life expectancies in the world that's still not too bad, our average life expectancy here is 85.

Sexual discrimination has been removed, the retirement age for women is now the same as for men.

And whilst not being a lot of money I think what the pension pays is quite acceptable.

https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/how-much-age-pension-you-can-get?context=22526

For those confused by the term - a Fortnight is two weeks - Fourteen Nights.
 
I think those who struggle to work with their condition and it is not uncommon. This is where you may need to look for voluntary work to do or get engaged in your own meaniful projects based on your self interests perhaps.
I have done 4 major projects for me.
I did a project on one of my co conditions.
I did one on my faith.
I also did one for a nature project.
I also was involved for one with the NHS as someone with lived experience.
Not sure what I could do now.

I have also looked into voluntary work particularly doing hospital chapilancy volunteering but COVID really shut down a lot voluntering work in a hospital. Some areas this might still be going now. Even looked to volunteer in a library teaching old people how to use computers but my local libabry is shut now well into next year. I printed business cards for my faith project and taken to sharing them in real life only to those who I feel may relate rarely or just pinning them up and leaving them to read if interested.

Thinking of where to go from here...always looking. Liking the sound of being involved in autistic guidelines input. Some voluntary work for the NHS also actually will pay you quite well for your time in their eyes in your so called professor area of expertise subject to them.
 

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i still worry about my future at times, so the more research i do, it is apparently more common than we think for people on the autism spectrum, to have never had a real career, to have only worked regular jobs, for example, retail, customer service, grocery store, warehouse, never a high professional job.
 
In all the jobs I have had, only one paid enough to be "Self supporting" in that it was possible for me to live without relying on living with parents.
 
Captain Caveman said:
In all the jobs I have had, only one paid enough to be "Self supporting" in that it was possible for me to live without relying on living with parents.
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Most of my jobs were supplemented with food stamps, Medicaid and my wife's SSI until I got SSDI. (That is with all income disclosed.) We still have Medicaid alongside Medicare.

If you are in the USA, apply for whatever you qualify for, if you need it.
 
Crossbreed said:
Most of my jobs were supplemented with food stamps, Medicaid and my wife's SSI until I got SSDI. (That is with all income disclosed.) We still have Medicaid alongside Medicare.

If you are in the USA, apply for whatever you qualify for, if you need it.
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Not sure where one gets food stamps. Don't think they are a thing in the UK.
 
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