All this talk of over 50s returning to work has made me so down

[OneFrenchEgg]

I'm just over 50. I've had kids who are still at home, and I've never got to a well paid career yet but I'm trying. I don't have a pension to speak of. I want to save up and get some treatment as I'm so embarrassed (my whole life) by one part of my face.
But all today the radio had a phone in about people being encouraged to leave the financial and emotional comfort of their 50s and go back to work, and how they are enjoying having no mortgage etc or looking after grandchildren and maybe they could do a little pocket money job now they are too old to chase a proper job again.

I feel like I'm suddenly too old and I didn't realise. Like I've been dealing with life and it's run out. I still have a huge amount left on the mortgage. I feel like I've done life wrong. I'm so surprised at how much this has knocked me - is anyone else feeling the same?

My mum.and dad are both 80/now ,they both retired at 54 ,they had both worked at the Gas board ( as it was then) and offered an extremely generous redundancy package ,and were also.able to.take their work pension from 55 ,they, had a,great time could travel and go on holiday whenever they wanted ,plus myself and my sister were grown up.and independent ,they were the exception rather than the rule though.

I've been told how lucky I am to retire by women who took many years off work to be Sahm's. One who took time off from maternity leave until the dc left for uni! 🙄
I took one full year off each so obviously have 16+ years more income, pension, savings and investments. Which adds up to many ££££ which in turn equaled early retirement for me.
I'm able to take my work pension and personal pensions from 55.
I'm not going to potter that's for sure - loads of holidays planned, riding our motorcycles all over, away in the campervan, gigs festivals, round the world flights, cruises etc.

I don't know who Rishi is thinking about when he's talking about getting over 50s back to work. Most over 50s I know are still in work (me included). I know a couple who don't work, but then again they have never worked and have no intention of working.

Who does he mean? He won't get my friends back to work - they don't need the money and they have a lovely life, plus they don't have careers they left. If he means SAHMs who haven't worked since they first had kids, what is he intending with them? Getting them into shops or offices? Or retraining them so they can become nurses, or solicitors or architects? It makes no sense.

(OP, I'm not close to retiring, so don't feel too bad! Firstly I love my job and feel I have lots more to do, but secondly, divorce in my 40s has set me backalot quite a few years mortgage wise so I'm working for the forseeable future....).

I've only read a bit of that report but it says

The majority of those over 50 who have left the workforce since the pandemic neither want nor expect to return to work.
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and
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In recent years many EU workers, who filled lower paid roles (especially in sectors like agriculture and hospitality), have left the UK. In numerical terms, their departure has been counterbalanced by the arrival of non-EU workers, who were granted visas under the new immigration system which prioritises skilled workers. This has contributed to a mismatch within the labour force, accentuating vacancies and labour shortages in certain sectors.
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And personally I suspect there's a correlation between people who were told to Shield or had family members who needed to who made other arrangements when the government here fed us all back into the office.
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So, as usual, government policies such as Brexit have messed things up and they are blaming it on a few thousand of us.
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It's not about getting people who retired a couple of years early back to work IMO it's about having someone to blame for the obvious consequences of their own policies.

Mostly Brexit.

www.womanandhome.com/health-wellbeing/UK-menopause-law/

to be fair 'over 50' in the context of older workers could mean anything from 51-65 and older, which is quite a span of difference in terms of career, family, etc. Most 50 year olds I know are still working, many full time, most 65 year olds aren't.

It's a very wide generalisation, same as using 'millennials' usually interpreted as wet behind the ears, irresponsible woke new grads who can't afford to buy a house, whereas the oldest in the cohort are in their early 40s, often ave been working in their chosen career for a decade or two, with kids or even grand kids. If you heard someone say 'over 25' you wouldn't think of someone in their 40s but that's the same age span as 'over 50s' is referring to.

You might have loads to pay off your mortgage, but many people your age or odler (and likely even more people who are younger, by the time they reach your age), will be renting so you've got more financial security than many.

Both my my parents retired around 50, they obviously more well off than me, wealth passed down to the sons so my brother already retired at 40s. I am 48, probably will pay off mortgage in couple of year but life is hard to enjoy with little to spend so will be working until no one want to hire me. Ageism and sexism is not great in my field of work. Job hunting will be extremely difficult for me if I lose this job.

hey, don't worry i suddenly felt panic stricken last year and started looking for work at 52! i havent worked full-time for over 30 years so started looking at 16 hours , then 20, then saw a job i knew i would love with our local council full-time, applied got the job and feel like i love it more each day, i wont have a huge pension as im starting so late but its something, and im hoping to work until i either dont love it anymore or i feel i want to enjoy life not working, but seeing as i cant access state pension or this pension until 67 (as its a lgp) im hoping to stay until maybe 65 or later..(mortgage will be gone at 60) .ive seen so many people have to leave work due to illness later in life that im hoping i will feel blessed to still work..(im also looking after my health better)

That's really good to hear. Well done on getting the job.

This really worried me. All this talk about employment being some kind of option at 50! We’ll be working till we drop out of necessity.

I'm aiming to retire around 57 if at all possible, or at least be working only part time. By then I should be free of the current shackles of childcare, mortgage and school fees which will take away a lot of the financial burden and pressure to earn.

They’ve got this idea because loads of people left the country and they were doing a lot of these jobs that the government now want to entice 50 somethings into.

I'm only 39 and this is bothering me too OP! My target retirement age is early 60s, if I'm lucky, which I thought was a "good" age. However, the talk of all these people retiring in their 50s has rattled me a bit. I enjoy my current life and I enjoy working, and I would hope I still feel the same way in my 50s, but this just makes it sound negative.

Also, there are still some things I want to do - buy a bigger house, and maybe even have another DC, but these would require me to work until at least 60. I also don't want to get to 50 and suddenly find that all my peers are retiring while I am still plodding on.

I’m about to turn 50, also with school kids, I just rolled my eyes when I heard this, just totally out of touch with reality.

Retired at 55. It certainly hasn’t made me feel older! Quite the opposite, joined clubs I wanted to but couldn’t while I worked, we’re able to have lots of weekends away, days out, lunches with friends…it’s the best thing I’ve done for myself! (Didn’t have kids so no grandchildren to look after!)

It's not just 'talk' by the government - they know what's happened from the labour market statistics and I am one of those statistics.

I remember a sponsored survey on Mumsnet not that long ago which I completed aimed at over-50's like me who'd left the workplace and asking what would tempt us back.

I lost a part time job because of the pandemic but previously, and for most of my life, worked full-time in a good career. I only took off a few months to have children, putting as much as I could into a pension.

Now doing a little bit of freelance work and drawing my pension, only a very interesting and flexible job would entice me back to work even though the COL crisis has scuppered some of our plans.

And I should add - I miss some aspects of a workplace - the status, sense of purpose and social contact. I'm replacing some of that with volunteering and activities but it's not quite the same.

I early retired at 62, I was fortunate enough to have a final salary pension I could access at 60 but had carried on working but finished when Covid struck as I didn't get on with wfh. Most people that retire a bit early have final salary pensions but as there are very few of these now and a lot have changed to average salary it will be much rarer to have early retirement.

I'm turning 50 next year and DH is 55. We have a largish mortgage on an expensive property in London, so lots of equity but still 13 years of mortgage left.

Our twin teens will be at uni from next year , which will mean more £ to support them.

Our pension pots are ok, but not fab. We are no where near ready to retire. We started a new business last year which we love, so no desire to step back.

Most of our friends are in similar situations. Only 1 couple we know has retired at 58, but they moved from London to up North to finance it, so not totally based on retirement pots. In theory we could do the same, but like our lives here.

I work part time, Dh works long hours and we are planning a mid fifties retirement. Youngest dc won’t be finished with uni till we are 60 though, and I think Dh is slightly underestimating how much uni will cost, so in reality I think it will be more like 60 when all’s said and done.

Could I be tempted back to work? No. I’m looking forward to spending quality time with Dh after too many years of him working till midnight. I can see us both doing odd bits here and there maybe (both self employed), but nothing substantial.

I’ve seen people retire too late to enjoy life (by choice, I’m not talking about those who are forced to financially), as health problems have kicked in, or they now find travelling too overwhelming. I want us to be able to enjoy the fruits of our labours.

I realise we are lucky, very lucky, to be in this position. I have many friends who will have to work till they drop - and I worry about them.

I’m a teacher, due to retire when I’m 67. I pay just under 10% of my salary into my pension and my salary forecast (including state pension) is less than £17,000 a year. Not exactly gold plated these days. It’s not a final salary pension these days, it’s career average.

OP, when I saw the title of your thread I identified with it, but for a different reason. I didn't hear the LBC phone-in but heard some woman interviewed on Radio 4's PM programme. She was complaining that she was over-50, ready and willing to work but nobody was interested in hiring her. This is what frightens me.

I'm 51 and have worked part-time more-or-less continuously since my kids were born. They're now in late teens, with one at uni. I'm in a very secure skilled job in Higher Education and have gradually ramped up from 0.5FTE to 0.8FTE, on the verge of taking the next step to full time. I now want to spread my wings and move employer, for better wages in the commercial sector, but I'm anxious about leaving the safety net of a secure job. I'm sure I'll get something this time, but if I choose badly or I'm unlucky and end up being made redundant, I'm worried about either being on the shelf or having to accept lower wages.

I'm not in the UK but I'm 51 and I've another 10 years to go until my mortgage is paid off. I'm separated so I have to work to pay the mortgage and bills. I'm hoping to retire at 61 when my mortgage is paid off, but I don't know whether my pension will allow for that. That's something I need to look into. Ideally, I don't want to work past 61 because I want to enjoy my retirement whilst I'm still (hopefully) healthy enough to make the most of it. On the other hand, retirement won't be very enjoyable if I can't afford to heat my home or travel etc. The inflation we've seen this past year has been truly shocking. What if you retire on a comfortable pension but then it turns out that it's not so comfortable?

over-50, ready and willing to work but nobody was interested in hiring her. This is what frightens me

Same here. It’s terrifying. I think ageism in hiring really needs to be addressed. We will need jobs till we drop to pay bills because pension benefits are so crap these days but we don’t get to have equal options for employment till we drop. So then what happens?