Over 50 and not working by choice. Would a ‘mid-life MOT’ tempt you back?

[PuzzledObserver]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64083802

The phrase “not on your nelly” comes to mind.

There are reasons - good ones - why I retired early. They still apply, I’m not bored, I don’t feel my life lacks meaning, and finances are OK. So I’m finding difficult to think of a reason to rejoin the workforce.

How about you?

I'm going back to temping, largely because it's only for a couple of years more and I can't be doing with a recruitment process again. Employers don't care about your age when you're a temp, they care if you reliably turn up and can do the job.

I kind of got to the same place although in my profession it's more likely to be a 12 / 18 month contract. Employers know I have more than the experience required and am unlikely to fuck off to "build my career". I work with very smart professional people who are also a good bunch so I've found the sort of equilibrium I need

Similar here. I'm early 40s but the world has changed a lot since I last worked in 2016, like the way jobs are applied for.

Fortunately my sector is looking relatively easy to find work in, but I'm not quite past the childcare hurdle yet. (One has some additional needs and the other's not quite old enough to do without childcare and let them co-exist together)

Well I would bloody bite their hand off as I'm that group and unemployed.

I was made redundant from the IT sector in 2020...57yo they didn't want me then and they can fuck off now.

Ministers and MPs usually have second jobs.. so they can have a 2nd job working as a van driver or a care worker? no thought that wouldn't appeal.

I never want to work again and certainly not for the shite wages on offer in the sectors where there are shortages... £10.50 ph to be a Support Care Worker? FFS!

The idea low paid workers gave up work to access fabulously large pension pots makes me laugh... they know full well why we have shortages and its their Brexit.... their fault but trying to stick the blame on the public... again.

I find the whole idea of a work MOT absurd.

I'm 59 and still working full time, but will stop in the next 18 months.

I've had some form of paid work since I was 13
I've paid 39 years NI
I've paid higher rate tax for 34 years.
I've already been diagnosed with breast cancer once
I've coped with two assaults at work, plus being 'made redundant' on my first morning back from maternity leave.
I've had to go to work tribunal once re: unfair dismissal
I'm a single mum with sole care of a young teenager

I have done enough!

That's a very subtle way of phrasing 'We're going after those civil servants who have retired on medical grounds'.

GP here, shortage largely resolved and even at it's peak I could always find an alternative for my patients.

Re ageism in pp it’s mostly due to what is normalised in a young sector. It’s mostly twenty and thirty year olds so 40 seems old and 50 rare as a female

It’s a big shame and I’d like to see it change

I kind of got to the same place although in my profession it's more likely to be a 12 / 18 month contract

Have done contracts that long for temp jobs before. I think the longest I did at one place was three years.

No. When we leave around at 55, there will be no going back

Personally I've never encountered it (or no-one's been brave enough to do it to my face) because I've always worked in companies and sectors that are pretty diverse.

Not a chance will DH or I go back into the workforce.

Not even if they begged me.

This. We retired at 55. Not a cat in hells chance I would ever go back to work.

It's said that a income of £25-30k is needed to retire comfortably, does that mean all the retirees had pension pots or salary related schemes that allow this level of income?

We did, yes.

To be fair, all the article says is that they’re thinking about how to support people over 50 back into the workplace.

Lots of people took early retirement during covid who may now be rethinking it, either because of cost of living rises or because they’d like to work.

The “midlife MOT” would likely include advice on job options/training more than advice on how to manage money.

I’m not far off 50 and might find it useful.

All it says it that the MOT would “assess finances and opportunities for work.”

I would assume most people know whether their income is sufficient for their needs. I suppose there will be some who are drawing down from a pension at a rate which means their pot won’t see them out - but don’t you have to have financial advice before you can access a pension early? So they should already have been told.

I mean - I’m sure I could find a job if I wanted one. A few shifts in a supermarket, or in a local care home. Not easy or pleasant work, I’m sure. And if I needed to (financially) then I would suck it up.

But otherwise? No thanks. All the social contact and meaning-of-life stuff is available through volunteering and hobbies. And the great thing about those is that when I’ve had enough, I can reduce or stop my involvement.

I retired from a very stressful office job December 2014, I was 62. Didn't like being at home with the other half. Got a P/T retail job March 2015 never worked a public facing role before, loved it. Now work as a GP receptionist (the witch) and love that. I am still contributing to an NHS pension, have to stop when I'm 72 so might leave work then.

If they are aiming this at those who are out of the workforce on chronic ill health grounds then surely step 1 is to invest in health care so that some of these chronic conditions can be fixed? If someone is not working whist waiting for a knee or hip replacement then actually getting the NHS to a place where that happens is great.
When I retire it will be because I can't do my desk job any more because MS has made it too difficult. I can't be got back to work as a carer or a B&Q greeter.

Yes, otherwise how could they afford to retire unless they had a windfall?

It's not difficult to get a pension for that amount, my DH's pension will be around £35K p/a once he retires, he could retire mid 50's but I don't think he will.

The “midlife MOT” would likely include advice on job options/training

I know what job to do, I was doing it successfully for 20 years post redundancy from the City of London. I should imagine anyone savvy enough to be able to retire early can investigate their options for themselves, and I'd have a quiet bet with myself that these 'job options' are overwhelmingly minimum wage.

There really isn’t a national shortage of HRT. Don’t let people tell you that. Every time in the last three years this has come up I have always found it. If you need it, get a GP to prescribe and take the script around until you find a pharmacy that can dispense. One of the menopause symptoms can be a sense of nothing really being worth the effort, and this really is! You will feel better. 💐

If you’re self-employed with no employer contributions that is actually a huge amount to save.

I work in machine learning. I think the tech shortage here is the reason for this. A lot of people like you were made redundant from tech sectors pre-Covid. And now, with the advent of AI and industrial ML techniques, as the skill base moves away from coding (which was outsourced / offshored) and to algorithms / proper analysis / critical thinking - having older employees who studied comp sci back when maths was covered in most courses is an a huge advantage.