For those in their fifties and beyond

[Deleted User]

Did you ever feel ready for retirement and why did you retire when you did?

Was work less enjoyable or they forced your hand?

Did you always have a life plan that included the age you were going to retire at.

Did finances force your hand as the sole determinant of when you could retire ,

Retirement or reduced hours through ill health

Is retirement as good as you hoped ,

I suppose I am asking because I am now working full time at age 51 when in my thirties I'd always go by 50. Financially I'm not as ready as I hoped to be but I don't want a frugal retirement so will keep working until I have enough to do all the things I want to.

A lot of my friends seem to be a complete selection of ideas from who has treated her retirement planning with military presecion to another who has to work until she drops but has had some fantastic adventures and experiences along the way all done in style.

Farway

I was ready, had planned to vanish around 60ish [male so officail age was 65]

Work was less enjoyable, just same old stuff churning through

No life plan but from before the the days of 15% mortgage I always paid or saved the differance when rates varied, thus shortening the term of 25 years down to around 13 eventually

The tipping point came when I was made redundant, which I fought and got my job back, Wake up call there about loyalty being very much one way

A few years later the golden goose came calling, voluntary redundancy beckoned, seems the first lot of redundancy was not enough

Decent offer due to length of service, worked out it would see me through until official State pension kicked in, so grabbed it with both hands

Never looked back and enjoy it all, never mised work one jot
Not rich but OK to afford what I need with a treat now & then

moneyistooshorttomention

As a woman - the plan was always to retire at 60 anyway (ie from whatever job I had) - unless I had one I actually liked - at which point I would have done the "PEOPLE retire at 65" thing to ensure I could stay on until 65 as per my own choice.

Thankfully - the one plus point of working in the Civil Service was that both sexes had a retirement age of 60 at that point. I had a gap after that before the State Pension kicked in (courtesy of the Government upping the female retirement age) which was a nuisance and my income was appallingly low whilst I waited for the rest of my pension to start - darn it. But I decided not to let that change my plans.

That's the thing - I wasnt prepared to amend my retirement age upwards from 60 unless I had a job I actually liked and thought I was being paid at least reasonably for.

If my job had been interesting and reasonably-paid (or, better still, well paid:rotfl:) then I would have carried on working indefinitely. Probably it would have been on a full-time basis for a few more years and then drop down to part-time at some point in, say, my late 60s.

But with the poorly-paid/boring/stressful job I actually had = there was no way I was going to stay on for even one more day past 60.

So - I would have liked (all else being equal) to carry on working for longer than I did in the event. BUT not at my job or any other I could see me getting in the event and hence retirement it was.

[Deleted User]

Thanks both,

Both circumstances seem work related as being the main driver and it's a very valid point about staying longer at work if it's a stimulating satisfactorily paid job, I think this will be the same for most including me in that my pension pays out at 58 but if I'm enjoying work I'll stay on a bit longer.

When you are younger you never really think about your pension but now I'm nearer that time I'm so grateful to have it because it gives you choice , my idea of hell would be working an awful job for minimum wage into my late 60 /70's because financially I had to.

I think if I had my time again I would have forgon horses and paid the mortgage off quicker lol but it is that thing about living for the moment .

Gers

As my SP was at aged 60 years I always assumed that that would be the date on which I retired. Of course, that date is now 2019 rather than 2014, however my pension planning worked its magic and I collected my final salary pension at 60 years. Of course I could have decided to defer my pension for as long as necessary if I'd wanted to and that, originally, was the plan.

When I became 60 I still wanted to work and wasn't ready to retire, however disillusionment with office politics, some work colleagues and ever changing national educational policies made me really fed up (scunnered is the Scots word I'm fond of) and I just jacked in working, upped sticks and moved 280 miles away.

Now I still work part-part time, teaching one day a week face to face and doing other work purely online. Suits me down to the ground as I'm being productive without tied to a desk or a difficult schedule or charging up and down the motorway most days. I only commit to doing the work I want to at the start of the academic year.

Money was a motivating factor, but it was getting the lump sum and occupational pension which was sufficient to get the hell out of the work rat race. Best thing I've ever done, can't beat it.

ancientofdays

I had thought I might retire at 60 but family circumstances have conspired against that. I am fortunate in that I have a very interesting and I believe worthwhile job. Pay isn't bad, but as a family we are not that well off as my salary has to keep us all.

A year ago, I opted for a form of partial retirement. I had to reduce my hours by at least 25% and was able to start claiming my pension and the lump sum as well. Of course, I rarely stick to my part time hours, not if I want to do my job well. I have left my state pension, it can sit and wait for me to really need it. I was eligible for that 4 years ago.

I like working, I have some great colleagues and a hugely supportive manager. I also manage a small group of staff so I see things from different perspectives.

But I am so tired sometimes. The price of my interesting job is that it can be very draining emotionally. Many people burn out and leave after a few years and I have managed 39. I hope to reduce my hours a bit more in the next year.

I'm 65.

[Deleted User]

Did you ever feel ready for retirement and why did you retire when you did?
Yes - I had to

Was work less enjoyable or they forced your hand?
Yes and Yes

Did you always have a life plan that included the age you were going to retire at.
Originally planned for 55, happened at 57

Did finances force your hand as the sole determinant of when you could retire ,
No

Retirement or reduced hours through ill health
Dismissed for ill health last Friday :eek:

Is retirement as good as you hoped ,
I'll let you know .....

moneyistooshorttomention

I think one factor that may affect my particular generation (ie Baby Boomer) is that many of us came into the workforce originally knowing that, if we were just doing a pretty ordinary type job (eg office work in my case) then it would be basically bearable work conditions in many respects.

But then things changed.......

The world of work is a lot harsher place than it was when we joined it. Replacement jobs harder to find/employers giving low or non-existent annual payrises/greater pressure being put on/etc.

In my latter years at work, for instance, I came across the idea of targets being imposed on me. The thought had never crossed my mind - being an office worker. That sort of job doesnt have targets - well it started to.....

All round work is worse for many than it used to be.

I recall watching that mini-series recently of having people competing at doing a series of minimum wage (or thereabouts) jobs - factory work, sorting out waste for recycling etc and was sitting there watching those programmes in fascinated horror. Basically of the "NO chance I'd ever ask for any job like any of them" variety and knowing that if I were in position of being on the dole (which I have been a couple of times before retirement) and the DWP managed to force me into one of them it would only be a matter of time (and not very much time at that....) before I would have been sacked from every single one of those jobs. It was possible to tell, as the programmes went on, which of those workers had some level or other of feeling out of place in the jobs and/or not physically up to doing those jobs and would fall out of them before the series finished. I could see clearly that I would have been one of the first ones out every time (if only because my upset at doing a job like it would be plainly very visible a mile off). Looking at the work conditions in those jobs - I would be very surprised indeed if anyone having to do jobs like that would be prepared to stay working on for literally one second beyond what they absolutely had to and my feeling would be that many would end up sacked before they got to retirement age anyway (due to not being able to keep up the distinctly fast pace of those jobs).

prowla

I never want to retire - I get paid to do work which I find interesting and challenging.
I've just had two weeks off and that's about enough for me.
What's retirement about?

moneyistooshorttomention

prowla wrote: »

I never want to retire - I get paid to do work which I find interesting and challenging.
I've just had two weeks off and that's about enough for me.
What's retirement about?

Colour me envious:rotfl:

...and curious as to what type of job/career you have.....and whether it's anything I might be able to do (outside the public sector - as this is Wales....and I won't/don't speak Welsh).

pollypenny

Gers wrote: »

As my SP was at aged 60 years I always assumed that that would be the date on which I retired. Of course, that date is now 2019 rather than 2014, however my pension planning worked its magic and I collected my final salary pension at 60 years. Of course I could have decided to defer my pension for as long as necessary if I'd wanted to and that, originally, was the plan.

When I became 60 I still wanted to work and wasn't ready to retire, however disillusionment with office politics, some work colleagues and ever changing national educational policies made me really fed up (scunnered is the Scots word I'm fond of) and I just jacked in working, upped sticks and moved 280 miles away.

Now I still work part-part time, teaching one day a week face to face and doing other work purely online. Suits me down to the ground as I'm being productive without tied to a desk or a difficult schedule or charging up and down the motorway most days. I only commit to doing the work I want to at the start of the academic year.

Money was a motivating factor, but it was getting the lump sum and occupational pension which was sufficient to get the hell out of the work rat race. Best thing I've ever done, can't beat it.

Ditto. I did supply for a year, but when I was added to do a maternity leave, with an inspection due, I rapidly declined!

OH's parents died comparatively young. A friend commented that 'your sixties are the golden years', so I took heed.

We are thoroughly enjoying life. I miss the interaction with teenagers, but I keep up with literature through my U3A groups.