Warning: this post may cause a little envy… but only a tiny bit 😏

That's interesting - maybe it depends what their jobs are/ were.
I'm not taking about physical health or appearance, which is similar in my experience, but about mental energy and engagement with ideas and generally wanting to talk about more than pets, gardening, weather and (minor) health niggles.

To be fair you're over ten years younger than my mum and you have only been retired six years. It certainly happened quite gradually and she was a lot more active socially (lots of meeting different still working friends for lunch and traveling around the county to catch up with her cousins and old friends she hasn't seen in a while, with visits in return too) in the first five years of retirement, which petered out slowly.
I have (part time) colleagues in their 70s who are so mentally agile (and physically in reasonable health too) who just seem so much younger.

My mum's world has gradually become really tiny in the last ten years - the pandemic did put that into fast forward, and she never really got back out there, so perhaps it's unique to her specific cohort. Hopefully it is an anomaly.

My dad is older and chose to keep working - again, part time on his own terms - well into his 70s (until he had some quite serious physical illness and couldn't any more). He was far easier to have a conversation with for a good decade just because he had more to talk about beyond gardening, weather and the dog...

I don't want to work full time past my mid 60s but I anticipate choosing to work part time (I already have a role in mind, which is quite common to do part time for ten years or so before fully retiring in my field, and has a lot of flexibility).

54, having to opt for ill health retirement due to cancer. NOT how I anticipated my life at all. I’m dreading it.

@MoonI have contributed to the tax system for 45+ years without complaint. “Sadly” reflects a general feeling of paying from a smaller fund. I am surprised that you felt I needed reprimanded. My only point in commenting was to point out that, despite excessive reporting to the contrary, most retirees with pensions are still financially active and contributing.

I’m 64 and have been retired since I was 58. My interest in the wider world has not diminished and I’ve still got lots to talk about and have travelled loads since retiring. Your mum is not typical.

I’ve found the opposite, the women at my activity and hobby groups seem really healthy , youthful, energetic interesting to talk to and happy compared to a lot of similar aged women I know who are working full time, knackered and mentioning various health conditions and aches and pains.

I've really noticed this - my mum retired early to potter, and I have colleagues older than her who seem ten years younger (I'm not talking about looks but attitude and mental energy and interest in the wider world, range of things to talk about etc.).

I’m 56, I have 3 grown up DC, I don’t work. The last job I had was 4 hours per week and that was before Covid. I did similar work to that for years and before that I didn’t work as my DC were young.

I spend my days at the spa, cinema, meeting friends, seeing my elderly parent, eating out, costal walks, a little housework and cooking but not much and I travel really a lot too.

Can I ask why anyone would want the population to retire at 50? Why nudge the population to do this?

Or so you mean it's someone trying to bring the country to its knees by telling MNers to give up in the prime of life and potter - make the UK the Island of the lotus eaters?

Things are going the other way in terms of government policy in pretty much every country which has the concept of state pension and state pension age. With the ageing population in most "wealthy" countries it's unsustainable for stopping work at 50 or even 60 to be the norm rather than the exception. There just aren't enough people under 50.

Luckily i have a well paid husband (I will add I actually earned more though when I “retired”!) plus sadly my dad died when I was in my 20s and I have received inheritance. You’re right though…some don’t value volunteering, running a home and quite simply, relaxing. We are only here once so why work if I don’t need to 😊

My mum was a massive career woman. She’s retired now and has an extremely busy and fulfilling life. But no one cares what job she used to do. It made her rethink a lot of that. It literally means nothing later on.

I mean this sounds ideal haha (as long as you have the wealth) but sadly capitalist society thinks jt must be paid work until death.

I read an interesting article about retirement a while ago that said it can be disconcerting to no longer be able to state your job title. I can empathise, having done the same job for over 30 years. It’s not my entire life or my entire being, but currently it’s the biggest part of my life and at the forefront of my existence. Everything needs to be organised around the job, pretty much like every job, I imagine. Once I retire, I wonder if we’ll run out of stuff to talk about! We tell each other a lot about our jobs/days at work. Going to be interesting.

I do now on school holidays. The six week stretch got a bit boring this year, tbh. I walked the dog several times a day, did housework, gardening, cleared out/rearranged cupboards, went riding and made lots of jam etc. Not sure I could be content with that full time. I might keep chickens and grow veg to sell in the future, maybe rescue a couple of ponies.

Do you mind telling us what you did for a living @DysonLover1 ?

im early 40s and no kids and I’m desperate to stop working in 10-15 years but I don’t think my job would allow that sort of savings

Obviously I would also prefer it the taxman didn't want to extract money from me, but surely you don't think it unreasonable that older people are subject to the same tax thresholds as younger people?

I retired early at 60. Sadly, the taxman still extracts money. The difference is only that I pay less tax because my income has dropped. I find the constant accusation of non-contributing quite surprising.
I found it hard to adjust but now spend my time volunteering, household chores and hill walking.

Freedom from the alarm clock is priceless! I’m loving retirement.

I worked full time from the age of 21. I took early retirement at 55 due to ill health. I was so burned out I did little but sleep for the first year. Now I can do what I want, when I want and if it doesn't get done - there's always tomorrow - until there isn't and then I won't care anyway!

We’ve been very lucky I suppose. Homes were affordable when I bought young and my house is now worth more than double. We were both given voluntary redundancy and this cleared the small mortgage remaining as we’d always overpaid. We saved like mad. We live extremely frugally and watch every penny. This might sound miserable but I enjoy it. We live very very well. It’s easy to live like this when you have the time. I’m always bank switching, moving savings around. Our bills are tiny.

We travel cheaply. We’re free to go at the drop of a hat. I spotted flights to Malaga next week for £40 return so off we go! For longer travels we spend maybe 4 months in south Europe. We take our dog and drive. Property is cheap to rent by the month.

Not in her 50s, but my mother retired at 60 and was very happy doing her own thing for many years. She was a super active and organised person though, so didn't do much sitting around and always had many projects on the go, an active social life, served on about a hundred committees etc - I think she was busier after retiring than while working.

I'm 58 and most people I know in their 50s are still working, although many - myself included - have gone part-time due to health issues or caring for aging parents. I don't think I know anyone who's fully retired yet - but I'll come back to you in ca 5 years 😂

Having the choice is everything! However, bit risky at this age to get into the habit of doing nothing.
Guilt has nothing to do with it. Find things that will stimulate you and give you some pleasure and satisfaction.

I’m lucky, in that, as quite a shy person, I have calls on my time (grand children!) that force me to do things. But we still make the effort to travel a bit, have the kind of dog older people aren’t supposed to (border collie) and are absorbed in packing up, sorting out the family home prior to moving.

Keep busy with things you enjoy, look after your health as best you can and live for the day (but try to have little things to look forward to!

Off to try to practice what I preach 🤣

Dsis has not worked since 1999 when she was late 20s. She was dismissed from her job following a criminal act at work (narrowly avoided prison) and then said she felt too traumatised to find another job. My parents subsided her and paid the mortgage on her London flat for years until she was mortgage free.

She sold the flat and moved to a rural location in a cheaper part of the country with her DH. She bought a large house for cash with the huge equity from the flat sale and remains unemployed to this day. For reasons I’ve never understood she has also been able to claim benefits for the last 20 years. Her DH works 15 hours a week in a low paid job. She takes several holidays a year and does some voluntary work at a theatre in the nearest big town and a city farm as she loves animals. I usually get a WhatsApp message from her 3-4 times a year with a picture of an exotic location and the caption ‘guess where we are?’

Our parents died recently and we have both inherited a substantial amount of money. She is desperately trying to find ways to hide her inheritance from the taxman so she can continue to claim benefits (thankfully I believe this is impossible) despite now having enough money to comfortably live on for the rest of her life🙄

I only work a few hours per week as had children in my 40s and DH worked away. Now late 50s.
My DM is widowed and I feel obliged to see her almost every day, and on days when I don't see her, to have a long phone call. I love her so that's not an issue but I never really have a "free" day, plus I feel I shouldn't really be enjoying myself as DH works full time. I see a friend maybe once a month for coffee.
Does anyone else feel this guilt?