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?

Absolutely loved my job - until earlier this year. The excuse of a manager we have now means one person has left, another has been on long-term sick, with those of us left covering the work. This is then torn apart by the manager. We spend 3/4 of our time going from one meeting to another where we have to explain why the work's not finished yet. Err, it's because we're at these pointless meetings nearly all day.

Detest the job now, and hoping the current manager leaves soon (neither of the last two stayed long).

Yes, it is a very good salary - yet I know people on that salary who still can't save. I am dubious of young people in professional graduate jobs who say they "can't" save, because I've seen what my friends lifestyles are like. My friend once complained that she'd have to choose between a "bender" or saving to go to Bali.

You see I believed that age is but a number bullshit.

What I'm saying, is just because you're a certain age, doesn't mean your life is over. You may no longer be capable of full-time work, but I know plenty of people in their seventies who do a couple of days volunteering per week, for example.

The poster I was responding to said there was no point in helping her MIL because she was eighty - as if at a certain age we should just not bother anymore!

I don't know people earning that amount. Wages where I live are low. The average wage is £26k where I live.

*NiceLegsShameAboutTheFace

I'm approaching 53 and the thought of retirement fills me with dread. I work full time and absolutely love it. My (completely robust) mental heath would cease to be so if I didn't work.

But we're all different, I guess. I think that loving what you do must help massively blush*

I'm the same, I love being busy and part of a team. I have anxiety (have since I had a tragic bereavement).

No one is saying your life is over at 80. Honestly we are not idiots. We are talking about the reality of working full-time as you get older, and often have elderly parents who also need help.

@Inliverpool1

Perhaps your ex MIL enjoys sitting in a chair reading? I know I do.

My DM is 85 with advanced dementia. I suppose you think she should have been bumped off at her diagnosis. I can see the little things she enjoys that still give her quality of life, and so thankfully can her carers. Which she is paying a lot of money for. Am I morning that paying her care is reducing my inheritance and the likelihood of early retirement? No I'm not . She has earned the right to her life and maybe your MIL has too.

I really really dislike your attitude. Nasty.

Yes, it is a very good salary - yet I know people on that salary who still can't save. I am dubious of young people in professional graduate jobs who say they "can't" save, because I've seen what my friends lifestyles are like. My friend once complained that she'd have to choose between a "bender" or saving to go to Bali.

Considering that your friends earn 60k a year you surely realise that they aren't the norm so why are you extrapolating their experience/attitude to everyone else? Your friends don't want to save rather than can't save, but if they are earning 60k in their mid 20s they probably won't be the people with problems saving for houses or retirement in the future anyway. No wonder they don't feel that motivated

@caranconnor a poster called @Inliverpool1 did actually suggest that the life of her ex MIL wasn't worth living at 80

26k is quite decent, you can be comfortable on that. I started on that in London and saved a few hundred while renting a room and reverse-commuting. However I was single with no kids so probably not relevant to most on here.

I watched a documentary (The True Cost) where something one guy said really stuck with me - things like clothes and phones and toiletries have become cheap, so we feel "rich" and get told to buy more, treat ourselves, etc. Yet the truly important things, housing and education, are prohibitively expensive and out of reach for many.

I find it a pisstake that even well-paid people in good jobs still have to spend basically their entire working life paying to own a modest house or flat. When you think about it, that's ridiculous. You can't just buy one - you spend your entire life working off a debt. And now many people can't even afford that, so you can now own 1/2 and 1/3 of a house. Soon we'll work our whole life to own a room in a house which we'll share with our whole family.

@shinynewapple Fair enough, she did. And is being roundly criticised for it.
My MIL is elderly and does not really do much. She mainly potters around at home and in the garden, but seems happy. She gets tired easily and finds anything more than going out on short trips, too much.

@caranconnorif she was doing “anything” at all I’d say fine prolong her life. Literally the woman is rotting, having drawn a pension for 25 years.

She literally gets double what a family of 4 receives in benefits with no end in sight. Had she died the second time medical science stepped in she’d have still had a decent run.
I’m popping off at 70 at the absolute latest.

No one is saying your life is over at 80. Honestly we are not idiots

A PP has implied that, though!

@ItIsWhatItIsInnit I am not talking about £26k as a starting salary, but as average salary. I think it is fine though as house prices are also relatively cheap here. So you can buy a terraced house for £100k.

I’m popping off at 70 at the absolute latest

Good for you. I'm glad nobody decided that "popping off at 70" would be the right thing for my grandparents, else I'd never have met them, nor would I have had a wonderful 20+ year relationship with them before they died.

I think the NHS has become a victim of it's own success and realistically, whether we like it or not, a LOT of money is pumped into it that could probably be used elsewhere to better effect.

Keeping people alive artificially (by prescribing medicines, instead of nature taking its course) is a huge expense, both to the NHS & in pensions/benefits.

I'm also interested in the PP who mentioned that retiring early has been proven to be Not A Good Thing.
If the retirement age for women was still 60, would these 'studies' still show that I wonder?
So, are the Govt being thoughtful and caring and doing us women a favour by keeping us at work until 67+ thus reducing our risk of dementia, etc? 🤔

I’m popping off at 70 at the absolute latest

I'm 65 and the idea of my 'popping off' in 5 years apalls me!

I think it is fine though as house prices are also relatively cheap here. So you can buy a terraced house for £100k.

In my town you can't buy anything for that - just shared ownership. 2-bed terraces are 300-400k, it's ridiculous.

Also, please be careful, when cashing in work pension things, before the due date. You could lose thousands, really. I have a "Managed Fund" thing, whatever that is. If I choose to have it now, a year early, I will lose some £2000. Next year, if I'm spared, I will receive the full amount, of some £6000. I could have merged this into my Work Pension thing, but again, would have lost £2000 in admin fees, for merging. LOL!! I want to be that Admin Fee person!! I can only say, please, be very careful. Please, read EVERYTHING!!!! Please, be aware, I know nothing about pensions. I don't mean to advise anyone, except READ THE FUCKING MANUAL!! This is your future. One day, there will be role reversal. Your kids will be the parents. When you're dribbling. Incontinent. Doubly incontinent. Carers, 4 times a day. Shower. Breakfast. Lunch. Toilet. You can only visit the toilet if the Carer's are there at the right time. Otherwise, you have got to wear pads. Poor Carers. They do what they can, in the time allotted. This is when your children step in, take over. Become parents. Do not allow you to glide down stairs on a sleeping bag. Do not allow you to lower your walking frame over the bannisters on a rope, when the lift breaks down. Do not allow you to go up or down, the stairs, on your bottom, when the lift has failed. Do not allow you to become incapable of turning over, in bed. They do, and should do, allow you to have dignity, at all times. Every time.

RetiredAndLovingIt nah the government don't like 'useless feeders' that's all. Any adult not working must be punished one way or another. They like us to live in a permanent state of worry and stress - leaves us too tired to rebel!

I’m popping off at 70 at the absolute latest.

My DH will be 70 next year. He is an academic and though he has formally retired from his university post he is still in demand for his expertise in his subject area and does freelance teaching abroad for another university.

There always has to be someone who pops up and says how important they or their DH still is at an older age.
No one will be asking me my work opinion about anything at 70. But that does not make me a waste of space. I have a right to carry on living, and if that leans lying on the couch all day reading, so be it.

I should think that after a lifetime of working, we can lie on the sofa as much as we want.....that's basically all I do when I'm not working!

59 and can’t wait To get back to work having had 2 months off. I plan to work another 5 or 10 years.

I got made redundant at 57, then my (now ex) husband decided to trade me in for a younger model. I now find myself at nearly 60 going from 17 hours a week to 37.5 with a 45 minute commute each way, having to take on a new mortgage so I will have to work until I am at least 70. I am exhausted, and would give up tomorrow if I could.