To ask if anyone else over 50 isn't desperate to retire

Very much so. Can't see me ever retiring. As long as I have enough spare time for me I'm keeping it going.

I can’t wait for retirement!
My daughters make plans, ask me to join them and it’s my day to work, so I’m looking forward to spending more time with them and the same with my grandchildren, also it seems anything I’m interested in falls on the days I work, we have a 2 week rolling rota so I never work the same days every week.

im early 50s and dh and I are def talking about it. He’s over 3 years older snd wants to start winding down soon - he’ll be 57 end of this year. I def don’t want to be stuck around the house and we would like to travel a bit, and also move house for our last home as this one isn’t suitable for later life and I’d rather get 20-odd years out of a house I love (never been keen on this house). We said we’ll look at finances when DCs finish uni.

I’m 41 and looking forward to retirement 🤣 I can take my pension at 50, though massively reduced obviously so not affordable. Hopefully I will be able to go at 60

Blimey, don't fancy that much.

I had originally planned on working until I reached the state pensionable age; it was 60 for women when i started work but after the stat pensionable age for women was raised I realised I'd have to stay on a bit longer; Ideally I'd have liked to carry on working until 68 making 50 years working but a stroke in my early 50's in 2006 put an end to those plans!

I get back to working full-time eventually but I just wasn't up to it any more as my stroke had affected my ability to plan ahead & think logically - noth of which were essential requirements for the job I had at the time, as there would have been serious legal consequences if I'd sent the wrong papers to the wrong or at the wrong time. In the end I had to opt for early retirement at age 55 in 2010.

It took a while to adjust to being at home full-time and initially I felt guilty at not going out to work when I was of working age and not obviously physically disabled, but I got used to the change of pace eventually. Since my separation in 2014 and divorce in 2017 I've had to move home and now I honestly wonder how I ever found the time to go out to work 😀.

The change in lifestyle and the diffeernt pace of life des take some getting used to, but you get there i n the end.

I have heard it said that if you make it to 60 without being diagnosed with cancer, heart disease or diabetes you are likely to live another 30 years or more.

But the ONS healthy life expectancy is at birth. If you've already made it to 60 or 65, your personal one is higher than the average, because you've already avoided the health issues that start earlier.

No, that is for women. See the link that @JaninaDuszejko posted. The average total life expectancy for girls born now is around 82, but healthy life expectancy is only 62.
For those of us in our 50s, total life expectancy is a few years lower, as is healthy life expectancy.

I am doing all I can to make sure I am on the right side of the average, but the reality is, things can happen health wise that are completely outside my control.

I'm 61 and retired 3 years ago after working for the same company for 41 years. There was an early retirement package available during covid that was not likely to repeat itself and it made sense financially.
My DH died 7 years ago but I have never regretted retiring for an instant.
I didn't hate my job but I didn't love it either and don't miss it at all. I have a hobby that takes up a lot of my time , which includes some volunteering also.
My DH didn't get a chance to retire after not loving his job either. I was determined not to have that happen to me. It's rare that you hear people saying that they wished they worked more.
There is so much more to life if you are lucky enough to be able to retire. I don't feel it's aged me at all. I feel far more energetic , now that I don't have to do the daily commute and have the stress of constant deadlines.
Yes, I don't look forward to Fridays and holidays so much but I also don't have the dreaded Sunday evening feeling or the awful feeling when coming to the last few days of holidays when I knew the drudgery would start again soon.

Waves to @Ragwort I can identify with this. DH and I share similar values but enjoy doing very different things.

When I retire I will join U3A and step up my volunteering. I have hobbies, but they aren't time consuming enough for me to fill my non working days.

We don't have the £££ to travel as much as every other retired person I know.

I did worry before retiring that being with DH a lot more would adversely affect our relationship. It hasn’t. 😁

Curly - not really! We have totally different hobbies and interests plus separate friends. His idea of a great day out is a 20 mile hike ... mine is pottering round a local town and visiting a tea shop ... of course we do compromise and find some things we enjoy but it is not one of those blissful retirements where we love spending every minute together .
We've been married a very long time .. I am almost certain that if we met now we wouldn't get together ... in fact we. probably wouldn't even meet as we have no joint interests ...

Don’t you enjoy doing things with your husband, @Ragwort?

I retired last year and must admit I really miss my job, it was very sociable so I was meeting and chatting to lots of people and I miss that. I have lots of friends and I was already doing a number of different voluntary roles so I do have plenty to occupy me but I miss the 'structure' of work. I have found additional volunteer jobs which I love, one very similar to my previous role so I can utilise my skills.
And I know this isn't a popular opinion but I am not particularly interested in travel and holidays so that doesn't appeal.
Its not the financial situation either .. I wasn't highly paid so my private plus state pension is more or less what I was earning ... I suppose to be perfectly blunt being with my retired DH day after day - plus a very elderly parent to care for - doesn't fill me with joy !

It's all from the ONS

Almost 62 and still full time. I can cope and quite enjoy my job but don't think I want to have so little free as I get older. Currently exhausted in the evening on work days so by the time I get home about 5.30, I am only fit for dinner, sofa and bed. Weekend tends to be visit mum and get the shopping, chores, cooking for the week and about an afternoon and two evenings for leisure. Retirement is starting to look more enticing but part time work for a few years is more realistic after about 64

But that’s at birth. For a 65 year old woman it’s more like another ten years.

Thanks OP for this thread. Good to see some balance from the usual “can’t wait to retire from the corporate bollocks” as though we all reach our fifties and all career ambitions disappear overnight

It is. It gets me into the centre of the city and the dress code means I get out all my lovely stuff that just doesn't fly for dog walking.

Work makes me appreciate weekends, holidays.

one of the most unexpectedly nice things about retirement I have found is that weekends do still feel like the weekend. But they are more relaxed because I’m not running around catching up on chores and doing all the stuff ready for the working week like food shopping, washing clothes and ironing. And Sunday evenings are bliss knowing I don’t have work the following day.

And holidays are much better having all the time in the world to get organised for them. I remember on my last day of work before a holiday being in a right flap trying to get everything done. If people knew I was going to be off they’d just dump on me. By the time I managed to put my out of office on and crawl out of the office I was shattered. We can go away whenever and for as long as we like. Coming home is nicer too without the thought of work looming up.

That sounds brilliant. Ive done a lot of " helping people" roles and its draining. Something like that might work better.

In my last year of teaching at 67, I trained for volunteer work during lockdown and now guide in a house museum. I wanted something that used my teaching skills but wasn't English. The exhibitions aren't static so I have to keep up with it. Very stimulating, with clever, interesting people to work with and the lovely public.

I'm 59 and dreading it.

I have a well paid job and would definitely miss the monthly sum hitting my bank account.

But my husband retired 2 years ago and a recent heart attack has changed my outlook. I'll likely retire next year.

I'm still dreading it but accept that life is potentially short.