How do you gear up for 35 more years of work?

[MCGrindah]

I'm 33. If retirement age is still at 67 when I get there (as if), I should have another 34 years left at work. That means I should be looking at working longer than I've been alive so far.

This terrifies me.

That's 34 years of early mornings; commutes; getting home in the dark; being subject to the whims of employers, policies and governments. It's another 34 years of only having two down days per week which themselves get pretty filled up with life admin. It's 34 years with the only thing breaking it up is a couple of weeks annual leave per year.

Don't get me wrong, I like my job. I'm well paid, I have security, I have a lot of freedom. I'm aware that looking at 34 years working in low paid insecure work is much worse. I'm not looking to change job.

I'm planning on early retirement so I'm hoping I won't end up working for 34 years but I need to plan for the worst case scenario of course. I'm just wondering how on earth you get your head into the mindset of another 34 years on the same thing year-in, year-out without any breaks or downtime?

Amazing that capitalism has convinced us this is a good way to live a life!

Once I started nearing 50, and my kids were grown up and self sufficient, I chopped down my hours and luckily got a working from home role. Even if I do have to go back to office based at some stage, I wouldn't now do more than 3 days a week. I can still manage fine on that and have some money for treats, holidays etc so anything more than that would just be me wanting more money for the sake of it! Day to day I live quite a frugal life anyway. At this stage of my life the free time is much more valuable to me.

“Amazing that capitalism has convinced us this is a good way to live a life!”

Best yet. Or do you think the pre-capitalist era of work as a serf on some Lord’s manor until you drop dead was better? Including the no work= slow death by starvation reality?

I don't think of it in those terms. I like working but I'd hope that by the time I'm 60, i'll have paid off the mortgage and be able to do something more laid back or part time. I'd like to be able to help my children with their childcare, like our parents help us now.

The other way I look at it is that with life expectancy getting higher and higher, I don't much fancy more than 20 odd years of trying to fill my days.

I’m 37 years in to full-time work, not counting all my student jobs.
Still quite enjoy it, when I retire, I’ll probably drop down to working a couple of days a week for a year or two. I like what I do.

The official retirement age is meaningless. It’s just an arbitrary age after which you can collect social security or in the U.K. a state pension. The money isn’t enough to live on so it’s doubly meaningless.

You can only retire if you can afford it which can be at any age or even never.

Retirement is largely controlled by the decisions we make.

OP I also have no DC and I think the mortgage going is a really big deal

do you save as much as humanly possible? I find I live on much much less than many of my peers. My sister does things like spend money at the hairdresser; I get her or mum to cut my hair!

I'm willing to do without any luxury to pack in work early.

I'm not going to tbh. When our last dependant leaves home we are just earning what we need pt.
The official age is nothing, most of us will be dead before we get it anyway.

I’m the same age as you OP. Unlike you I don’t earn well, and as I’m self employed I don’t have security. I private rent with no chance of owning on the horizon. I have no private pension. No savings. Debt. I’m a cleaner. There’s no way in hell my body can sustain the pace and exertion I’m working at now just to keep my head above water. The future does not look good.

I'm not worried about working so much as I'm worried about the availability of similar work as I age.

As I look around me, in my field (technology), the number of people over 50 starts to decrease rapidly. Partly this is due to massive growth of the industry (there isn't a large cohort of people who have worked in tech for 30 / 40 years), but it's also partly because technology knowledge tends to become obsolete over time, so there's a constant pressure to re-train.

I worry the only work I'm considered good for when I'm 60 will be menial.

The problem here is that you are wishing your life away really.
Work and the routine of it is a drudge, yes a bit like groundhog day but it is a means to an end.
How about following a passion after work, I keep meaning to rather than going home and wasting the evening, haven't got around to it yet.

I have a bit under 20 years to go and, to be honest, my main concern is my declining health and whether I can get through working until then. I suspect I won’t.

OP you just have to try and enjoy life now and give yourself things to look forward to instead of worrying and thinking about x amount of years until you retire.

Some get to retirement then can't enjoy it due to poor health so it's not some golden time where it's all holidays and sunsets.

Many people who could retire choose not to because they enjoy having a purpose to get up each day.

Start giving yourself things to look forward to now and enjoy these years because no one knows what lies ahead...

Started work at 18. Still working full time at 53. That's life. Get used to it!

I'm a similar age to you op and started making more serious plans (today) to increase my pension contribution by £250 per month. I also work part time for a large organisation (2days) and part time contracting (2 days from home and 1 day in the field) . Luckily in my area of work I can earn a good daily amount contracting and it's flexible . Hopefully by the time I'm 60 I can work 1-2 days per week doing a job I love and have more than enough to live comfortably.

Tbf you sound in a better position than most people if you only have a few years left in your mortgage. We've just increased ours for an extension but will have it paid off in around 12 years. We might then downsize or move to a cheaper area- we live in a very expensive city. I'm hoping by retirement we will have worked hard enough to enjoy it!

Start looking at investments/isas/stock markets now and invest your money in them and in 20 years time you may have made enough money to provide a passive income which means you don't have to work.

You've basically got 4 choices. Employed. Self Employed. Own a Business. Live off Investments.

I'm same age as you OP. Hate to break it to you but you wont be able to claim you state pension until 68 not 67 and let's face it that's unlikely to stay so prepare for it to rise.

I cant claim my nhs pension until I'm 68... I envisage a lot of people getting retired out on medical grounds, we already see it in our trust now.

I'm in my 50's and was a sahm for decades
You don't have to be told how to live, and accept a lot of capitalism.
Life is for living, not working until you drop.

I'm building a little business to cover what we will lose from tc and cb and between us we hope to earn about £1500 per month, that will do us.

The pp saying OP is wishing her life away....I don't see that in her post.

I see that she is trying to work out a better way to live, which is a good thing surely?

I'm 29, retirement age will be higher by the time I get there and I will not be able to retire early, I don't even have a mortgage yet as I'm a single parent to DS and can't afford to save for one.

All I can do is live for now and cross that bridge when I come to it.

I'm struggling with the prospect of just 3 more years, and then I can take my occupational pension. Realistically I need to work a few years longer. I save a lot but have decided to ease back a bit and take some kind of break, even a couple of days in the Lakes, every two months or so, just to make it more manageable. I feel for you, op, 34 years is daunting.

I had the same crisis and sole searching at 34!

I opted for working part time from then on rather than having an early retirement plan (although inheritance from my dad passing away a couple off years ago is in trust and is enough money to knock a few years off my working life).

My job involves long shifts including nights and it was making me ill, I didn't want to carry on feeling like I was just existing in my life, not living and enjoying it, so that was why I chose part time.

I have had to make sensible life choices to be able to go part time, we live in a significantly smaller than average house as our family home; don't holiday abroad much, and nothing extravagant when we do holiday; I've always driven very old second hand cars. But it has been worth every one off the compromises.

Shortly after I went part time, my df was diagnosed with cancer aged 68 and died just less than a year later at 69. This totally confirmed to me that I had made the right decision, to enjoy life now.

67 is current state pension age, you can start your pensions in your 50s with many pension plans so if you have enough in your pots, you can retire 10 years early.

🙄 at the capitalism comment. People need to eat whatever their political persuasion. If you truly want to be free of your job then maybe you should become a hardcore capitalist and start your own business.

You can Shave off years if you focus your income away from new items and holidays. Not a popular idea, but you might be able to self fund early retirement this way. I am.

@FormerlyFrikadela01 why cant you take your NHS pension until you are 68 ? Why cant you can take it at 55 like everyone else? All my friends leave between 55 and 60, take the pension then top up at bank for a couple of days