Offered a great job at nearly 60 and unsure whether to retire or take it, please come and tell me what you'd do, especially if you're in your 50s!

[Strawberriesandcaviar]

I'd love to know how others have handled this and would very much welcome some perspectives, so please post even if you disagree with me or have another POV, thank you.

I've been working for years and I'm good at my job but don't love it. Neither do I hate it and most days I enjoy it. I'm well paid and work remotely.

I'm 60 next year and my dilemma is this:

I've just been offered a well paid job and I'm torn between

1. Accepting it and working another few years, 5 maybe and
2. Saying "life's too short" and turning it down

If I turn it down I will stay up late, get up late, read loads, see films, spend more time with friends, visit my adult children who live a few hours away, maybe travel a bit. In other words, relax for the first time in 40+ years.

DH would be working though so I'd do it alone. We would also have a lot less money but we could cut back though and it would be fine.

If I turn it down I'll be unlikely to get another job (at 60+) so that will be it.

What did you feel about work in your late 50s?
What would you / did you do?
Did it work out?
Do you wish you'd retired earlier?

One friend said "you'd be a moron to turn it down" as it is loads of money and I like the people. So it's a WWYD.

Thanks for any and all views.

Having read your updates, OP, I would take the job, start paying off the mortgage/stuffing money into your pension/ISAs and see how it goes. That way you have a fighting chance of not having to cut back on your lifestyle as you grow older (or have scope to deal with any health setbacks that might affect you or your family).

Hope it goes well.

Life is unpredictable. My neighbour retired at 60 & died 4 months later. If you can retire now, do it. Enjoy the life you have left.

I mean you can take it do it for a year and see if you want to continue for 5 years or not. There will be no what ifs

I was intending to retire at 60 because of changes in my then job and feeling I was too old to deal with that sort of shit. Then I saw a great job advertised (and at 40% pay increase) and thought "why not?". Did that for 5 and a half years, hard work, but a real chance to make a difference. Retired at 66 but still doing work for them on a zero hours contract because I get to choose what and how much I do. I think I would only take the new job if the job itself was fun/satisfying, not just for the money.

Yeah I’d do it for a few years. No reason not to earn a few million before you give up work