It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

Softstuff

I'd say that anyone who can afford it, should retire from paid employment and take up voluntary community work.

I say that even for younger folks, since as soon as my OH and I can afford, we intend for me to go part time paid, and the remainder as volunteer for various charities.... hopefully by the time I'm 35. This will "free up" one full time job for somebody.

We don't *NEED* more and more things, the accumulation of wealth should not be a be all and end all in life.

sleepless_saver

kittie wrote: »

us older ones (58 ish + ) have had every opportunity to work, jobs were plentiful through much of our working lives. Many young folks, including graduates will not get the chance. It is about time that greed took a back seat. There are plenty of opportunities for free employment for the older, bored people who have to be working. For heavens sake let the young ones and those with children and/or mortagages have a chance at paid employment

It's not just about age. We are in our mid fifties and we still have a mortgage, dependent children at university and an elderly parent who will need financial support this year all of which we are budgetting for. It;'s weird, but we now seem to have less disposable income than we had in our twenties when we were "struggling" in poorly paid insecure jobs combined with mortgage interest rates of over 10%!

elizabunny

Personally I can't see DH being able to retire for some years -although we would both love him to. For us it would be the chance to do things together that we haven't yet been able to do and we really are looking forward to that.

I suppose everybody's circumstances are different and for some, working right up to and perhaps even beyond retirement means the difference between being able to retire eventually with some financial security, albeit everso humble, or being reduced to a retirement based on benefits, handouts and hardship.

For others who have perhaps followed a demanding career or even a very rewarding career, perhaps the thought of giving it up seems unthinkable and quite terrifying. I was only speaking to someone recently, who told me that their Grandfather had worked until he was 80!

Each and every one of us has our reasons, for our life choices. For the many people without jobs at the moment I am deeply sorry and my DS1 is one of them, having lost his job so recently, but I'm not sure all of his problems or anyone else's would be solved by enforcing a cut off point when people must give up paid employment.

Of course, there are many retired people who feel able to offer charities their time, without expecting or even wanting payment for their services and I'm sure that for all of these good people the reward itself, is in being able to help others and in feeling useful. These volunteers are to be much admired, for the time which they give is priceless.

I think it's also fair to say that some people may decide to continue in paid work so that they can help their own, perhaps less well off, younger or even older, families.

At the end of the day it's all down to individual choice and I suppose everyone has a good reason for the choice they make. Night everyone!

lilac_lady

I'm retired now and have a voluntary job at the local hospital one morning a week and look after my DGS every Wednesday. I have retired friends now so we tend to meet for lunch now instead of meals at night. We also go the cinema and the theatre if there's something on that we want to see.

I have a theory that if someone doesn't want to retire, they're either in debt or can't stand the person they're living with!!!

Edited to say that just because I'm ok financially in retirement, I feel for the people who have it hard making ends meet at the moment (including some of my own family). I give my time to them freely and have helped with a bit of cash now and again.

Everyone's circumstances ARE different but this site has good advice for everyone.

Charis

There is of course another reason why folk are reluctant to retire. For every year they put off claiming their state pension they stand to gain a better pension rate:

http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/AgeConcern/Documents/FS19STATEPENSIONAPR07.pdf

From 6th April 2005 your pension will be increased by about 10.4% for
each year you do not draw it – for example, if you defer your pension for
five years it will be increased by just over half. Alternatively, instead of
receiving a higher pension, you can choose to receive a lump-sum
payment. This will be calculated based on the amount of pension you
have given up and an interest rate of at least 2% above the Bank of England base rate.

Charis

Softstuff wrote: »

I'd say that anyone who can afford it, should retire from paid employment and take up voluntary community work.

I say that even for younger folks, since as soon as my OH and I can afford, we intend for me to go part time paid, and the remainder as volunteer for various charities.... hopefully by the time I'm 35. This will "free up" one full time job for somebody.

We don't *NEED* more and more things, the accumulation of wealth should not be a be all and end all in life.

I wish more people thought like you. I coordinated the town's volunteer centre for a year as a volunteer myself. It was hard work but very interesting. Sadly less and less people can 'spare' the time to volunteer, it always seemed to be the same core group of people who did everything, from Britain in Bloom to Meals on Wheels. Volunteering can be very rewarding, sometimes offers the chance to do things that you might not otherwise attempt and often gives you the chance to brush up the skills needed to try a change of career, should you want to go back to work after a break. Sadly many Volunteer Centres are being culled now because of funding but there is an excellent website for anyone to use to look up the vacancies close to home. There are some challenging opportunities out there. Fancy doing Victim Support or learning how to use a defibrillator? How about being a school governor or helping to restore a canal?

http://www.do-it.org.uk/

Charis

ceridwen

kittie wrote: »

oh lord!!! I feel so sad for those made redundant and for those having to do the deed too. It is so not fair that people who want to work cannot.

I wish some of the oldies thought about these things, I know a well-off retired md of a well know company. He cannot bear the idea of not having responsiblilities annd workplace respect so he has placed himself on the market and has a job lined up. He has pots of money and can afford a house with land for cash etc. So why on earth don`t these people take a back seat now and give someone younger a chance?? :mad: I gave up my job 7 years ago to let a young man in. Selfishness rules in some people`s lives

Quite agree. I've seen people continuing to work when they dont need to financially - and I do think its selfish when theres not enough jobs to go round. The thing is too that they probably (almost certainly!) keep the salary earned for themselves - when they could actually at least give it all away to good causes.

I do understand that some people derive a sense of purpose from work - I've also seen people basically just give up and die soon after retiring. I am someone myself who needs a sense of purpose - maybe thats the plus side of never having had a job that was either interesting or decently-paid. With that - I've never been able to derive that sense of purpose from paid work - so have had no option BUT to look for other ways to get this and, as a consequence, have done quite a variety of voluntary and/or "political" type work over the years. I've certainly found that it was the only way I was able to get a reasonable level "role" in an organisation - I've never managed that in paid work - but in unpaid work I've found its very easy for me to do so if I choose.

So - basically I think anyone not needing their job for financial reasons has any number of worthwhile "job" opportunities available to them of the unpaid variety - there's just so many good causes needing workers - that no-one need feel unwanted/purposeless and another paid job could be released for someone needing it.

EDIT; Charis - just seen your post - and think its very shortsighted to cut the funding for Volunteer Centres right now - as more voluntary work than ever will be needed in the current economic crisis on the one hand - and there will be a lot more people looking to do some voluntary work on the other hand.

ceridwen

elizabunny wrote: »

I suppose everybody's circumstances are different and for some, working right up to and perhaps even beyond retirement means the difference between being able to retire eventually with some financial security, albeit everso humble, or being reduced to a retirement based on benefits, handouts and hardship.

Each and every one of us has our reasons, for our life choices. For the many people without jobs at the moment I am deeply sorry and my DS1 is one of them, having lost his job so recently, but I'm not sure all of his problems or anyone else's would be solved by enforcing a cut off point when people must give up paid employment.

I dont think anyone here is thinking in terms of a compulsory "cut-off point" when people MUST retire and would be forced to. Obviously - there are some people who simply cant afford to retire for whatever reason (children being helped through University, they themselves got divorced and had to take on a new mortgage later in life as a single person, etc). Certainly too - I am aware that many people will have little, if anything, in the way of job pension to supplement their State Pension and many of them wont be able to afford to retire when they reach retirement age - and I feel really sorry for them. What I am thinking of myself is just urging people to listen to their conscience and take a personal decision to retire if they can afford to do so.

rosieben

tbh, if someone is thinking of retiring so that their job is available for someone else, they may well find that they aren't replaced anyway so it will be a pointless gesture. When companies are looking to cut costs, the most painless way is 'natural wastage', ie people retiring or leaving the job for other reasons.

fletch3163

Once again this site has turned into a job of work for me. I WANT to know what you're all discussing and I WANT to copy recipes, save links, be avised, entertained and generally be part of a well meaning thing. It truly makes me feel good when I read about everyone's everything. BUT work keeps getting in the way:o I have the laptop opened to my left to start work but am on here on the desktop trying to find the recipe someone mentioned for cranberry muffins.

Yesterday I saved another two links to favourites (for when life's quieter), I'm a sorry 10 or so pages behind here (but I'll manage that this morning if DH stays in bed), and I want to read at least another thread here and a couple over on DFW.

The point of this post is not just to say AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH, it's to ask for a spare pair of eyes if anyone has them :rotfl: Something just HAS to go in my life .................. and it won't be this site:p