If you're in your 50s and got retrenched, not easy to get a new high paying job. Imagine you were in top management before you were retrenched. How many people in top management wants to give up their high paying job? Not many. So, positions of top management are not many in the market. To get into a lower position will also be tough as the hiring manager may be much younger and less experienced than you, so he feels threatened. Even though you are more capable than him, you may not get the job because of his insecurity.

So, the best thing you can do is to do your own business such as being a uber or taxi driver. You're your own boss. Or you can open a small cafe.

But the best is to retire.

How do you retire? You have two choices

1. Downgrade your lifestyle
2. Retire overseas in cheaper cities

1. Assuming you were a top executive, you would be living in a posh condo. Sell it away, pay off your mortgage and buy a hdb flat. Sell your condo for $1m, pay off the mortgage remaining of $200k and use the balance to buy a 4 room hdb flat for $300k. There are many cheap hdb flats nowadays. Use your $500k and your other savings to retire.

2. After you sell your condo, you get $800k cash balance and with your savings of $200k, you will have $1m in cash. This will be RM3m if you retire in Malaysia. If you retire in Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia, you will be a multi millionaire.

So, your condo is your valuable retirement asset, you can sell and retire. It is the best asset if you did not overpay for it when you bought.

If you have done a good financial planning since you started working, then you should have no problem. You should plan to work hard in your early career years and must achieve financial independence by the time you reach 50, so that you don't worry about retrenchment.