Many Pandemic Retirees Weren’t Ready. How to Cope if You’re One of Them.

A significant portion of workers who left their jobs since the coronavirus began surging were financially unprepared, research shows.

Andrea Jones hadn’t yet settled on a date to retire from her customer service job at United Airlines when Newark airport started looking like a ghost town in March 2020. After 28 years with the carrier, she still loved her work. But by the end of that month, she had hung up her blue uniform for the last time. She is still struggling with a sense of loss. “I wasn’t at all ready to leave,” she said. “It hit me right between the eyes.” Ms. Jones, 68, of East Windsor, N.J., retired to protect the health of her husband, George, who has multiple myeloma, a form of cancer. Fortunately, the Joneses had a nest egg, and United offered a retirement package that enabled her to keep their health insurance.