To not really want to work anymore?

[caranconnor]

I am 50 and although I have enjoyed working in the past, I would prefer never to work again. I feel I have done enough. It is not an option, I have to work for another 17 years. But anyone else feel like this?

I feel like this at 31. Been working since 14 and never really found my 'thing'. I like my job well enough but I am not a live to work kind of person. On maternity leave now and plan to have another child in a couple of years and then work part time for a few years. That should get me to nearer 40....just another 35 years to go after that then.

I am not tired of working yet but as I approach 50 really can't see myself working until 67. But at the same time don't have enough to retire in 5 years as I hoped. Looking into ways of saving more and that might mean working longer hours over the next few years ...

So does anyone have a get out plan if it all gets too much? Mine would be to downsize from the South to Scotland perhaps. But the rain and weather is holding me back a little!

I'm a part time pensioner at 55.

Took my work pension this year and went to work somewhere else 12 hours a week - 3x4 hour shift where you walk out at the end of the shift and go home, no extra work, no stress, no pressure - to put it up to a liveable amount. BEST thing I ever did.

Yanbu whatever you think about it is fine. I'm the opposite. 56, never had more than 3 weeks off at any one time, still loving it and want to carry on if I can.

I can sell my house and downsize, but that is my plan to help with retirement income. 17 years is far too long to fund without working.

My hope is that I will get more energy after menopause. I really had no idea what menopause could be like. I know some women have an easy time. I haven't. I actually have good health, but some days I feel as if I am 90.

@TrixieMixie The longest I have had off is 3 months maternity leave. I am NOT a slacker.

My plan is to sell my house too. It’s only a two-bed so not a great deal of downsizing is possible.

I will get about 100k by downsizing, so ideal to help with living as a pensioner.

My plan such as it was was always to sell up and buy abroad somewhere hot where I could be in the sunshine in my dotage. Spain for preference because I speak the language and, frankly, like it there. But now there's Brexit. I truly feel that every time I make a retirement plan something comes along and fucks it up.

Btw the guy who fucked off my first pension is now a Sir. Ffs.

Yes lots of young people don't realise all the pension scandals that happened before protections were put in place. I also lost nearly all of my first pension, when I was working long hours.

I'm 57, planning on retiring at 60, got some savings, shares, will downsize, put money in bank. And see if I live till 66, to claim state pension.

Tell me about it. All of that money I blithely handed over - twice - thinking I was securing my future. I wish that I had spent it on bloody booze and drugs. At least then I'd have some nice memories rather than a massive clenched knot in my stomach every time I think about it. That was my fucking money.

I'm so glad that this won't happen to people again now. It's absolutely soul destroying when it does. (Twice.)

Sorry but such gloom on this thread. if I live to 66, worn out at 37.

Not feeling it at all.
50s/60s is no age, we do need to take greater care in terms of weight/fitness/diet, but the chances are that we will live another 30 or 40 years.
I have no intention of living a gloomy later life if I can help it.

@caranconnor

I didn't mean to imply you were :-) I'm sorry if it sounded like that. As I said Yanbu whatever you feel about this, it's a personal thing. Some people love work, others hate it and most of us are mixed. My sister and some of my cousins haven't worked much and I don't think they are slackers, they just lead different lives and do different things. Good luck whatever you want to do - go for it if you can

@berwicklad Yes it is shit. And then you get people lecturing you about how you should have put more into your pension.

@speakout For women the average life expectancy if you are my age is 87.

@TrixieMixie Thanks. I actually used to love work. I can remember after a fortnights holiday looking forward to getting back to work.

If I manage to retire at 67 I will have worked for 53 yrs :-(

But maybe I have found this harder because it is such a change to how I used to feel? I don't know.

If you are tired, it would be better to reduce your hours than stop working altogether, especially without a really good pension. It was like walking off a cliff, losing the esprit de corps, tea and coffee culture, general friendliness, and gossip. And the feeling of having nothing definite to do every day. I loved my job, but the company closed the branch. I do a lot of voluntary work now, to be a useful part of something.

@IndieTara :( And many young people don't start full-time work until 21 or 22 years of age. Most of the young people I knew as a kid started full time work at 16. Hardly anyone went to university then.

Fucking hell this is a depressing thread

I'm 42 and had this realisation 7 years ago. I woke up to the fact that all the hard slogging I was doing (self employed plus working two paid jobs), was pointless.

Had a major rethink and completely overhauled my life. Made MASSIVE personal sacrifices for the first two years, but now I have a solid work and investment plan (no pension, don't trust them), that will hopefully enable me to retire or at least only work part-time by 55.

Oh ffs. I'm sorry but that is such Pollyanna bullshit. You really think you're going to live to 100/110 with no health issues and that this is typical? Most people will have chronic health problems by the time they're in their sixties. Most people will have had either a brush with cancer or some other major health concern by then. I certainly have. We're all going to have to go on working though and after something like that it's hard, it just is. I had half of my torso removed 18 months ago. Another friend is still being treated for the brain tumour she developed aged 58. Another friend now has blood cancer in remission. Another friend tripped over a kerb and fractured her knee and won't get mobility back. This is just off the top of my head. It doesn't matter a damn how fucking positive your outlook is or how much yoga you do (I do lots of yoga): once you get to a certain age you are more likely than younger people to have a chronic health condition. That is just how it is, and fucking Davina McCall has fuck all effect on that.

It's sad to hear all this. The idea of a 4 day week accross the board needs to be seriously considered in order to help people balance work with caring responsabilities; self care, skills development, avoiding burn-out. It sounds radical, but we need a radical solution. This thread shows it is damaging peoples health-wellbeing and 'productivity'.