To be worried how I will manage to work until I am 67?

[brasty]

I am in my mid fifties. I already get more tired than I used to when younger. I wonder how I am going to manage to work full time until I am 67 years old. And continue to do my share of cooking, cleaning, family stuff and actually having some fun.

I'm sure it's kindly meant when people suggest downsizing and moving to a cheaper area, but what advice do yu have for those who are renting a small home in a cheap area already?

OP as I understand it, although your state Pension will only be £4000pa (as you stated above) there is a minimum income that would apply so that other benefits would make you up to that. Maybe not a life of luxury, but you would not be expected to live on £77 a week with no other support.

Obviously I cannot predict the future though.

Crikey, legally obliged to support your parents😮
I can't imagine that going down too well in the UK, we don't have the same cultural heritage of ancestor veneration
Also it would only exacerbate the 'demographic time bomb' .....
if you're forced to support your parents you're less likely to have children, so more and more old people fewer and fewer and young people

I think a universal income would help a lot.

Its bonkers how much money I'm paying at the moment into an industry based pension / pyramid scheme....all so people retiring now will be paid more income per year than I am even though I'm working and they aren't.. My industry may not exist in 30 years time - or at least be unrecognisable from what it is now. Who on earth will be paying for me to swan about on international cruises? No one!

Which is why I am very seriously considering pulling out of my pension scheme and saving directly. You lose the employer contributions but if its implausible the scheme will ever actually pay out to you then whats the point?

I cant bare to think of anyone of you or people killing themselves.dont feel like that now please.dont put that in your head.imagine If you could cope.
instead of the dread feeling of what if,what does it feel like to think "what if I cope with this or something helps and I am ok" notice the whole difference to your body and outlook.please hold onto that everybody.
don't think of ending it.i know I know its hard.
big hugs to all.im begging the future to be ok for your all.what if...what if youll be ok.xx

MY DH is also older than me and we are both in our 50s. He does a physical job which I can't see him being capable of for very much longer and he keeps himself very fit. I do an office job but it does require a bit of mental dexterity and again I don't think I could still be focussed enough to be doing it at 67. The reality is that (along with millions of others) we will be looking for easier jobs in our 60s - the availability of those will be limited and the pay not great I would imagine.

Perhaps old people will get organised become empowered and live in communes where they pool resources, help each other out, share the use of domestic appliances
Become politically active, hold the government's feet to the fire.
The powers that be wont like that much
better for them to keep the old people ill confused and stressed

MonumentalAlabaster has it spot on - and on top of that, there seems to be a belief that the state pension was meant to support people through decades of retirement, which was never the reality.

Don't get me wrong - I'm no keener on it than anyone else, but realistically mindsets have to change. Governments should have been increasing the pension age gradually for generations, to decrease the feeling of unfairness when it hit in one lump.

OP, is there anything you can do about your physical fitness to make it a bit easier on yourself? Do you get some fresh air and exercise every day?

waxon No my private pension forecast is £4000. I will be okay when I get my state pension at 67, it is working until then I worry about.

ohfortuna Yes not going to happen here.

My parents have no money and rent a council house. At the moment they largely look after each other. Dad is physically fit but his mind is wandering. My mum is not so physically able but very alert mentally. So between them they manage fine. But when one of them dies or really deteriorates, we will have to be involved.

My inlaws - we are already financially supporting my FIL to pay for more carer hours. He is on end of life care and we visit and help as much as we can.

My middle class friends will get inheritances but we both come from very poor families.

I am not loosing sleep over this. Still trying to enjoy life. But yes, the future does not look rosy.

YANBU I worry about this and I'm 37. I commute into Central London and worry how I will continue to do this until I'm 68. DH is in the same position. I work in the public sector and have done for 13 years and would never have any intention of leaving before retirement.

What keeps me going is that I went down to 3 days a week when I had my first DD (who is now 6) and I have no intention of going back full time for the remainder of my career, if I can possibly help it.

When I'm old I plan to keep myself entertained by experimenting with hallucinogenic drugs

I will get my state pension at 66. I've always worked full time and I'm really fed up. I am nearly 61 and would love to have received my state pension at 60. I think it was unfair that men had to work to 65 when women could get a pension at 60 but I feel that the government could have started the process of staging pensions many years earlier. I started pensions for my children in their teens (now in their thirties) hoping that it would help a little towards their future retirement income.

'Children will stay at home for longer, unable to afford to move out and elderly parents will move back in with their children. It's only relatively recently that this stopped being the norm for elderly relatives.'

And it's only relatively recently that people started living so long with complex health problems like dementia. That old paradigm can't work when you have an elderly relative(s) with health problems that can be expected to worsen and when the children are both working FT. The extended living paradigm relied on one or more of the children, usually the woman, not working outside the home and providing what was usually only very moderate care. The other thing the paradigm relied on was housing large enough to accommodate near centres of employment and families not having to move for employment.

'I cant bare to think of anyone of you or people killing themselves.dont feel like that now please.dont put that in your head.imagine If you could cope.'

Why not? It's one's own life to decide if he/she wants to continue living it. Some people don't see death as the worst thing.

Whitney I already play sport, but do have chronic health problems that I have had since I was 20. Just find though that the older I get, the more it affects me., Not uncommon apparently.

The average life expectancy for someone my age is 79 for men and 82 for women. And poor people have a lower life expectancy than that. The reality it is mainly well off people who are living into their 90s fit and well, with private health insurance as well.

I actually don't care about living till an old age.

Much sympathy, OP. I know of people who are teaching part time to supplement their pensions, one in their early 70s, another just 80 (one classroom based, another more active).

I have has a final salary for 27 years. Hopefully for the future also but realistically doubtful as its costing the employer too much. So I am luckier than many.

My mortgage will not be paid off until I am age 62. Even though I bought first place at age 26. Have had to keep moving for schools / divorce etc.

At age 48 its the commute I find exhausting, I get my private pensions at age 65, but I cannot imagine finding the energy for the commute at that age.

Am considering a house swap with someone who wants greater london with good schools for a tiny place that is in zone 2 or 3 on tube.

I do think the everyone working full time will have major consequences for social care. The Government does not have enough money to pay to look after people who are old and ill. And the women who traditionally did it for free, will be working full time.

Both my MIL law and my father are about that age and are extremely active. If you are feeling tired at your age you may want to consider a visit to your GP, it is inevitable that people loose energy as they approach old age but you are still far from being old. It may just be tiredness but it may be something more.

I also await the suicide boots. I also do a poorly paid physical job. I fully expect to drop dead at work.

Sinceyouask, do you think pensioners might end up having to flatshare, similar to students, in the future in order to make ends meet?

Ttb I play sports, you would not know from looking at me that I get tired more easily. Nearly everyone I speak to of my age, including a friend who runs marathons, says the same. They may still be able to do a lot, but they can do less than they used to. I think that is fairly normal actually. And everyone I know my age who does a physical job, is struggling with it.

I can’t face it.
I have paid into a pention through work and hopefully I’ll have my mortgage paid off in about 10, when I’ll be in my mid 50s. Then save like fury.

How people who rent will cope I don’t know.

Oh, and no children so no one will look after me when I’m old.

My parents rent, but they retired younger on a state pension. Many people these days have mortgages until they are into their 60s.