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.

My state pension age will be 67.

However I have a workplace pension which I think may kick in at 65. I'm not sure but I hope this means I can retire at 65, if I can afford to.

On the whole I like my job, but like OP I feel tired often. I think that as I get older my decision-making process is slower, and also I feel stressful situations more. I have less tolerance and patience these days.

Sometimes I am counting down the years until retirement, but that feels like wishing my life away and it's short enough as it is.

I was chatting to a colleague about this recently. He is 55, in a very similar role to me. He said that when he's 60 " I'm out of here. Five years to go ". He feels he's had enough.

The unknown factor in anyone's plans is surely health ? You don't know how well you're going to be as you get older, or whether you will be able to continue or have to retire on health grounds.

I don't think "checking out" is that bad a thing. Dying of Alzheimer's in an old people's home and/or hospital is not a great way to go. I'll hope for "good innings" until then and concentrate on surviving and enjoying day at a time. I think there will have to be large changes to the way the country is run, as increasing automation and rising, poorer, old population will force it. I'm hoping for a wholesale change into a socialist, resource (rather than money, which is an imaginary/arbitrary concept to keep the rich staying rich and poor staying poor, for the model to work) based economy with reasonable citizens pay. However, I recognise that those on top of the money pyramid will resist until the bitter end, as will some "aspirationals" in the lower ranks.

*The amount you can do in a day isn't worth as much, because there's less use for it, is what I mean. That's a better way of phrasing it, I think.

I'm an NHS frontline employee and paying into NHS pension at the moment. I'm fifteen years off full state NI contributions. I very much doubt that I will ever see a penny of state pension because by the time I reach retirement age they will have axed it.

I know I will be flamed but can I go against the grain here and say .. pls chin up!
Suicide? Homeless?
Never seen such a depressing thread.
Invest in your health, stop worrying so much and actually try to enjoy the job you do and you will see that you will want to work until you drop.
Worrying is not going to help ...
Both my parents run their own business and only shut it down when they were both in their eighties when my dad got sick.
They still miss the hustle and bustle of running the shop and my mum blames my dad's depression on the fact that he doesn't work anymore.
Many old folks like that where I live. They all got depressed when they retired as they loved their jobs and it gave them a reason to get up in the morning and meet people.

I would rather try to be as healthy as possible for as long as I can by keeping fit and by the way a positive attitude and keeping worry at bay will improve the chance of you feeling better in general.

And of course it helps if you do a job that you love.

I'm 36 and already bored of working! However everyone's in the same boat, it's probably going to be 70 by the time I get there so you just have to plod along and do it.

I worked 26 years as a nurse until I got breast cancer two years ago and couldn’t bear to go back. I’m now retraining as a teaching assistant, my pension won’t be anywhere near what it should have been. DH is also NHS and his pension has been changed to career average (used to be final salary). He won’t get it till he’s 68, God knows how he will still be able to do his job then! We are looking at a frugal old age.

Lots of people work into their later years without even thinking about it. I will be 70 next year and I still work full time, I have no intention of retiring.
And do what??
I work with young adults and believe me, it keeps me young in mind and body.
My Dad built his own business and was still going into work at 85 and driving his lovely BMW automatic. He's 92 now and age has eventually caught up but he's still sharp as a pin and loves being shown all the new technology.
Keep working, if you can and for those of you who unfortunately won't beable to because of ill health, there will be some Benefit or other to claim.
Try to keep young, that's my motto!

Im 51, a single parent to an 8 year old, divorced and working off the debt my XH left. I work f/t and have a separate 2 nd job to help finances. I'm a renter. Have osteo arthritis in my hips and knees but too young for hip replacement. Just about to go into hospital for a back op too.
I have a private pension Ive paid into since the 80's but its not worth a lot
The savings I had paid for a divorce and court custody case. I live completely month to month and haven't been able to save anything at all in the last 8 years.
I dont want to think about how I'll cope in 10 yrs time, theres no way out of it.

Benefit to claim? Have you seen how many are turned down for disability benefits and then go on to kill themselves? I guess that's what the government wants, TBH.

Confusedlivingdoll...
Where is the evidence of that?
Scaremongering at its worst...

There is plenty of evidence. Have a Google. It's not scaremongering. It's reality.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31690979

As per my googling and link above:
"The number of old people in the UK killing themselves has fallen."

Read the article ...

Read on working age disabled people and the link of new style fit-to-work assessments and raised suicide levels.

Me too OP . Not what sure I can say really !

I am starting to invest In My health
I.e. Given up smoking and started exercising

Next is the wine 🍷

See you on gransnet!

I worry about this a lot. I'm in my early 50s, work full-time with a 3-hour commute per day. I have a pension that that will pay a few hundred a year. But my greater fear is imminent redundancy - my job is being taken over by AI and it won't last anywhere near until my retirement age. I've lived frugally all my life - not had a meal out in years, not had a single holiday in about six years. I think a lot that I need to retrain - God knows what as. I feel that anyone who works for the NHS or is a teacher at least has a vaguely decent pension and I'm envious. I'm thinking of training to be a teacher myself at this stage, if I'm not too old.

I am really shocked at how many on here don't seem to have provided for their old age. We all know it's coming, don't we

I’m shocked at the people who really really don’t get it.
Yes we all know that old age is coming but the gas bill comes a lot sooner.

I had a child 30 years ago, and planned to go back to my job as soon as humanly possible. Unfortunately my child was born with LD, and a rare (but recently diagnosable) syndrome which meant that her needs were too complex to ask a nursery or childminder to support.
For example, administering rectal Valium during an epileptic fit, or rushing her to A&E if the fit did not stop after 15 mins - and this can happen on a daily basis. That's only one aspect of the 'above and beyond' care that she needs. She has no speech and is doubly incontinent so needless to say, I never had the time or the opportunity to go back to work.

So as well as not having the income I'd expected to have post-baby, imagine my surprise when I found that I won't even get a state pension until I'm 67. And still saving the government hundreds of thousands of pounds annually by single handedly caring for my daughter for 30+ years. Of course I get the sixty odd quid a week carer's allowance, but I still feel cheated out of something, although I'm hard pressed to put my finger on it. A decent works pension I suppose.
My dh has a works pension that will keep us on the right side of being able to pay the bills, but I have nothing monetary to call my own. As a carer, and having worked for several years before that, I have accumulated 40+ years of reckonable service (well over the required amount) but very late in the day realised that it would be delayed by 7 years. That's a big massive deal, for me. I have a close friend who is 13 months older than me and yet she has her pension almost 4 years before I will.

I know. First world problem. I won't starve. Yet I feel massively overlooked and undervalued. That's it really. I just needed to get that all off my chest.

Most people don't get free bus passes at 60 either

I could get a bus pass but we don't have any buses go through our village. Nearest bus stop is 3/4 of a mile away. It's ok living in a small village when you are young enough to walk or can afford a car.
Not so much when you get older. You don't think about this stuff when you are young and idealistic!

It's really hard . And compared to some I am OK as will have at least a roof over my head and a small pension

But it scares me . I want to put my kids through Uni . And how can I do my job (stressful and needs mental dexterity ) when I am 66 !

I don't think our consumer society helps either but hey ho / all these restaurants , candle makers and hairdressers also employ people

Reallly should I spend the £300 I saved for xmas ? Annual holidays yes but more fucking cack?

And I am conscious that many many many are worse off

Tiddlywinks63

I'm nearly 64.
I've seen my state pension age move from 60 to 62 to 65 and 3 months

I'm in exactly the same boat as you, Tiddlywinks.
It's so disconcerting to keep having the rug pulled up from under your feet. The only saving grace is that it came as a last minute surprise.
Otherwise we'd have been worrying about it for the past 20 years.
So with a positive spin, it's saved us 18 years of worry

This idea that you simply have to keep fit and healthy and you will be able to work into old age makes me laugh. Or I could cry.

At 50 I was very fit and healthy, which was just as well because DH had to retire in his late 40s with a disability and we have two sons, one of whom is also disabled. The whole family depended on my earnings, plus DH’s small pension plus DLA.

From 50 onwards, my health deteriorated to the point that I developed multiple chronic conditions plus severe depression. But I had been so fit and healthy and sooo positive!

I am now retired, desperately ill, so is DH. Both of our DSs have jobs, but they cannot get enough hours or anything above minimum wage and so have to live with us. We will also have to look after elder DS, with ASD, until we die.

Luckily, we can manage on our pensions, but what will become of our sons?

Don’t assume that you are in control of how your body and mind will age.

For me (and this is only a bit related to the financial side), it’s a question of the point at which life becomes more burden than enjoyment. I couldn’t stand the idea of an existence where I no longer had my marbles - let alone having to give up whatever I’v acquired in life to pay to keep me like that.

Never mind paying for a trip to Dignitas - there’s a plant that grows in many parks that offers a pretty ‘quiet’ way out (don’t ask how I know about this in detail ). The only problem with DIY is of course by the time it’s time to check out, you may no longer have the mental wherewithal to do so...

My dad is still working full time aged 70. I sure you will be fine OP

There you go OP. This poster's dad is still working full time at 70.
And he is fine. So you will be fine as well. Because across the board, everybody who is 70 is still perfectly capable of working full time.

End of thread.