How can I carry on working until I'm 67?

[hulmegirl1]

I work in the NHS and it's a physically and mentally demanding job that although vital is not well paid.
I am in my mid 50s and am definitely a lot more tired than I used to be.
Quite often I get home (my job means I'm standing most of my shift) and I'm exhausted physically and mentally.
I can't see that I can carry this on until I'm 67. My husband is five years older than me and self employed and doesn't earn much so we rely on my meagre salary to ensure the bills are paid.
Does anyone have any ideas how we are all going to cope with this new reality?
I know if I'd been advised a lot sooner I'd have made very different decisions.
I still have never had a letter advising me of my retirement date and really was not aware until well into my 40s.

Well planned OP!

Thanks Knitclubchatter! Hopefully it means I can carry on working longer.

I think the salary cut will be worth it. Congratulations. Remember you can always do the odd bank shift if you wanted to top your wages up.

Where I’m from a salary cut sometimes isn’t much of a cut as you then pay less income tax.
If your hours are better, it may also improve the meal budget.

Thanks NicoAndTheNiners, the advice on here really helped me to make up my mind about what to do.
Yes indeed Knitclubchatter. I'm hoping I'll be less knackered and be able to plan more.

Glad to hear this OP. It will also help your health. Being exhausted all the time is a recipe for poor health as you age.

Glad to hear you've found a solution op. I'm in the same predicament you were in. You can tell the posters who have no idea of physically demanding nursing and social care jobs and the inevitable strain on the body.

Good luck op. Have found this thread really interesting as I am pretty much in the same boat, early fifties, luckily still fairly fit but I work a physically demanding job with a varying shift pattern - I feel so mentally tired of it all, peri menopause is at play and my husband is working long shifts in a manual job (made redundant in his mid fifties and at his age he'll never be able to return to a similar role, ageism is well and truly alive). The thought of working like this for at least another fifteen years is quite depressing. I am now going to explore my options.

Thanks so much everyone, and thanks for the encouragement. I could no doubt carry on for another five years or so but one poster advised to do it "sooner rather than later". I'm worried about the drop in salary but we will cut back and manage. I just think that if I leave it too late ageism will make getting another job difficult and by then I might be too bloody exhausted to even try. Interviews take energy.

I am in an allied health position where not many people are in the NHS over around 50 or so. You don't half feel silly working alongside 22-year-olds

I am also an AHP. But there are lots of 50s plus people where I have worked. I've also never felt silly alongside 22 year olds. I have not found age a problem at all.

Maybe it depends on which AHP @autumncolours9 :)

Not really as we work as an MDT.

On MN anyone over 50 must be on their knees with physical and mental exhaustion. They can't possibly have a job that's physically and/or mentally demanding but still coping with - and even enjoying - working and getting along with colleagues of all ages.

No not everyone. But this is the decade that many age related health issues start to appear like arthritis, and when chronic health issues you have had all your life can start to have more of an impact. Also many people who have been in physical jobs all their life develop issues in this decade because of their job. I have seen that in friend who is a plumber - the knees, and a friend who is a nurse - the back.