Are you mid-50s? Do you still work full time?

[elsaandanna]

I'm the only woman I know of my age who works full time.

Admittedly I have a small circle of people I know and none of them have glamorous or high flying careers.

I'm a childminder so I'm busy long days, 5 days a week. Can't drop a day as I'd lose income. The parents that need childcare 5 days a week because they work full time are much younger than me.

Yes and not planning on stopping til 63-5. Bf is 67 and still working. Who can afford to stop?

Late 50s. Work part-time. Will retire at 60. I can't think of many of my same-aged friends who work full-time (male or female).

This thread is so depressing for me. I can barely function and I'm not 50 yet.

What with working with toxic cunts every day in tedious boring jobs; it is revealed it gets even worse with ageism and sexism. I ask myself what is the point of it all apart from the obvious.

I have so many interests outside of work, that I can't do as I can't function from exhaustion.

It was meant to be 60 when I started working!! We were definitely cheated!

I am 60 now and still working FT, as I have done my entire working life. My maternity leaves were so much shorter than they are now!

I am looking into flexible retirement. I've just had enough of working for a living. I still am supporting a 26 year old, who's saving for a deposit for a house, and a 24 and a 20 year old, still studying in uni.

I have lots of work colleagues still working FT in their 50s.

54 and yes still working full time. Can't see me ever being in a position not to be working ft tbh

Yes, I am. I’m 57 and seriously ill. I’m exhausted. I don’t qualify for any benefits, so I work full time. I wish I could work part time. I’ve bought an extra week of annual leave next year so that will help. My husband is 62 and works full time but he is self-employed and earns less than me - about minimum wage.

I’m 57 and dropped down to two days a week last year after teaching full time for 33 years. I tend to retire fully at 58.

61 and have worked full time since I started working.
Single mother until Ds1 and 2 moved out this year. Couldn't afford to work part time. Aiming to retire at 65

Mid-40d and part-time while I retrain. My career won't really start until I am 48/49. I plan to be working full time then until 67/68, then I will work part time. i am aiming for a public sector job.

I was very naive and uninformed when I was younger and then moved abroad, so my pension pot is nonexistent.

Yes and yes.

Mid-50s and still working full-time although, like a PP, I do compressed hours. I might drop my hours once both children have finished uni (youngest will go in September) but it depends on how expensive the next few years are. I am able to save a reasonable amount every month with one at uni, but two might put a stop to that.

58 year old here, recently widowed and struggling to survive financially so I've at least another ten years of work ahead of me.

Yes - full time. Recently retrained so won’t be cutting back for a while. I retrained with a view to being able to work part time for a longer period though.

How do you all go about re-training and then get a job without experience in the industry? What is meant by re-training? Is it with companies you're already with? Everyone makes it sound so easy but I've never managed to find any jobs that accept you with no experience.

I have zero interest in any type of corporate work whatsoever (apart from one industry that is ageist etc), but I'd retrain if it meant I could wfh fully remote. I was hybrid but even that is way too much.

Yes. Will be working until 67 at least.

I worry that I’ll be made redundant at some point and then I’ll have to retrain and/or try to find some completely new line of work, and that is just overwhelming for me.

I'm 57 and went full time last year after 16 years of part-time work and raising DS.

I will most likely be working until my last day on earth!!

I dropped from full time to 60% 5 months ago. I can't really afford it but arthritis and chronic migraine have taken their toll and I've had to drop the hours. I'm a single parent 57 year old who has worked full time since age 18 (apart from 3 months mat leave) and this has really made a difference to my quality of life.
I also applied for and got PIP which has helped replace some of the wage gap

I'm 44 and have been working 2 to 3 days per week since I was 27 years old due to childcare mainly but I can't imagine working full time now! Most of my friends work part time too. Colleagues at work who are 45 plus tend to be part time too.

I'll be 56 in March. I've been in continuous full time work since 2001 (had a baby in 1999 then did PGCE). I moved abroad aged 50 and have changed jobs twice since then, and I have a job interview tomorrow. DH is 60 next July so we have talked about working until my 60th (July 2028 if I'm working in a school).

My salary is 1/3 of his but I have no plans to give up work just because of that. I'm part way through my doctorate so might stop working to have more time for writing up my thesis.

53 and stopped working apart from a non-exec directorship 5 years ago.

I never imagined I’d stop working so young, I worked full time through children with short mat leave.

Circumstances made work increasingly difficult with family commitments and finances enabled me to make that choice.

52, full time, single parent. Will be full time until retirement, I imagine.

I worked f/t til I was 64, it was fine.

62 and just about to start a new job! I can’t imagine not working. I love the stimulus and learning, and am lucky that I am a high earner so it’s definitely worth it.

Early 50s and currently trying to relaunch my professional career.

If there is an expectation that women will only work part-time in their 50s it is no wonder there is still sexism and ageism in the workplace.