to think most people will work till they're dead and won't see retirement age?

[tugging]

Ok massive generalisation but I see a lot of people talking about how they're 40 or so and have 20 + years before they retire.

As a society, we're more sicker, more stressed and more busier than ever. These things would shorten your life expectancy. I can't imagine working till I'm nearly 70- I'm not even 40 and I'm already knackered! I think I'll be dead before I reach retirement age. I know so many people who have died before 60. They never got to retire and enjoy a work free life.

I know people can retire earlier but not many people have a decent pension that i know of and are forced to work till they're nearly 70 or till ill health.

[quote Melitza]@Mia85 you might as well go to a psychic as use that calculator. 😁[/quote]
Well clearly anyone who uses it to plan their own funeral doesn't understand statisitcs but the title of the thread is AIBU to think most people will work till they're dead and won't see retirement age? and the current stats very clearly say yes YABU.

I'm not sure it's the menopause that's the problem, it's the peri menopause that's done for me (and I'm on HRT)

I'm hoping once I'm through the menopause my vim and vigour will be back! All my friends who have say they get back to drinking wine and become really productive

This thread has prompted me to start a pension today (or rather collate all the tiny ones I have and start putting in £300 a month)

AND IM OVER 50!

According to the pension bee website I joined I need to put in £1800 a MONTH for 15 years to get £13,000 a year back from 65 til DEATH

So that's cheerful... to think I will get approximately £200 a month pension if I put in £300 a month for the next 15 years

Yeah but hardly anyone buys annuities now, do they? That’s why the rates are so crap.

iamthewombat

I get your point but individuals experience menopause very differently. Both my mum and DSis just had their periods stop one day and that was it. Barely a hot flush between them! Even though I’m several years older than DSis mine are still persistently clinging on. I have a bigger gap between them now but it’s like a horror movie when it happens! I’ve suffered a lot and it has affected me physically and mentally.

Pre going into peri I was a fit, alert, active 40 something. The impact happened almost overnight, which is what I think some pp’s have mentioned, the fact you can be fine one minute and knocked for six the next.

Just because this doesn’t happen to all women, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen to any.

Just because this doesn’t happen to all women, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen to any.

Which is exactly what I said. I dislike the assumption that peri menopause means that you have to shift your career down a gear because that is clearly not the case for a significant number of professional women.

I don’t think it’s an assumption, more a “warning” of what “could” happen. I wasn’t prepared in any way for the changes I’d go through, other than the basics we all know. I have an adult dd and I’ve been very open with her and said this is what “could” happen, but also told her it might not, giving her aunt as an example. No one knows until they get there!

@LaurieFairyCake

This thread has prompted me to start a pension today (or rather collate all the tiny ones I have and start putting in £300 a month)

AND IM OVER 50!

According to the pension bee website I joined I need to put in £1800 a MONTH for 15 years to get £13,000 a year back from 65 til DEATH

So that's cheerful... to think I will get approximately £200 a month pension if I put in £300 a month for the next 15 years

But you don't have to buy an annuity that will guarantee you a paltry monthly income for the rest fo your life. You pension is a tax-efficient savings scheme and you can dip into it and use it however you want once you pass 55.

The big thing I wish I'd done is put money into stocks and shares ISAs over the years. Yes, they go up and down over time, but on the whole they make a good return — and because they're in an ISA they're tax free and you can take out whatever you want when you need it.

I really don’t want to segue into ‘who had the worst menopause experience’, so let’s just leave it there and get back to pensions please.

I mentor women over 45 to change their life midlife, start a business and become successful and financially secure. It is very possible to change your life don't keep feeling trapped.

I literally have hundreds of client success stories. Don't stay as you are if it's making you miserable. Come and join my FREE Life Begins at 45 group it might inspire you to take a positive step to change your future.

You know a lot of people die soon after retirement because that's when they slow down and get old. So important to keep mind and body going.

How many people constitute your ‘a lot of people’ dying as soon as they retire? The average life expectancy statistics tend to contradict that view. State retirement age at the moment is 65 or 66 but average life expectancy is much higher than that.

@finallymightbehappening

You know a lot of people die soon after retirement because that's when they slow down and get old. So important to keep mind and body going.

Could you show us the statistics or research to back this assertion up, please? The average life expectancy in the UK is 81.6 years which would seem to contradict your statement.

Most people, I'd lean towards being unreasonable, but it's possible most people someone knows won't as it depends on what demographics and other factors are involved.

There is still a major gap in life expectancy of the best off in society from the worst, even within the same area there can be several years differences and across the country there can be seen to be well over a decade's difference. Stats in other countries are even worse, but it's quite possible most people the OP knows won't with the expectation of rising retirement age. There are definitely issues there when it comes to what jobs people are doing and the areas we live in.

Financial education is on the national curriculum in maths and citizenship in primary and secondary - most schools aren't really bound by the NC anymore though are inspected based on it. I don't think putting more on teacher's shoulders is the answer, but I think more accessible options for adult education both into retraining into less physically/emotionally demanding jobs for those who could benefit from that and in life skills. We need better lifelong learning access and making it desirable to do so beyond googling it.

I think people should be able to go part time after 50

You can go PT at any age. I've just returned to FT work at 50 and have no intention of retiring early unless I'm hit by ill health, I've still got children at home (my youngest is 8) and will need to support them through university into my 60s.

Well this thread is depressing... hard to see so many giving up so early. And to be clear 40 is early.

@saltinesandcoffeecups I think there is literally one person on this thread who talked about retiring in their 40s, and who says that retirement is giving up ?

@Yawnthisway

I find it really grating when people criticise An average wage of £31k on a pension of 5% + employer 3% would put away £4K per year. That’s about £120k in a lifetime of work (on the basis they wouldn’t start on that salary) if I retired tomorrow with that pension pot it would get me about £4K per annum. £300 per month. So even with sensible saving etc not enough to live on. And that’s the average wage, half the country earns less than that. So can we not repeat the “avocados on toast” stereotype with pensions? Yes some people bury their head in sands but it’s not as simple as cutting your cloth, the cards are stacked against a lot of people.

If you start at 21 with you paying 5% and employer 3%, with annual growth of 7%, which isn't unusual, you would have over £700,000 at 60 yrs old.

That would be equivalent to £320,000 in today's money and you would allow you to draw £22,000 per year in today's money from 60yo to 85yo, and of course you'd still have a state pension on top of that from whatever age it then is.

(The above assumes 2% inflation and pay keeping up with inflation, no promotions, etc.)

That's a very realistic estimation of what a pension can do for you with a very modest contribution and normal growth figures.

I think there needs to be a massive change i. the way we think about pensions. It shouldn't be a case if 'if I can afford to put money into a pension I will' it should be the first thing we think about.

If your parent paid in the max for a child from age 0 to 18, by the time that child gets to 60, the pension pot will be over a £1000000. That's after paying in around £45k over 18 years. More than enough for a healthy retirement.

I'm not saying parents should pay into a pension for their dc, but if you pay in a small amount early enough you can then stop paying and leave the pension to do it's stuff over time

[quote rookiemere]@saltinesandcoffeecups I think there is literally one person on this thread who talked about retiring in their 40s, and who says that retirement is giving up ?
[/quote]
I’m referring to all the “I’m knackered” “Don’t know how I’ll go on” posts.

Good grief, it’s a self fulfilling prophecy.

They are definitely a lesson in “a body in motion tends to stay in motion and a body at rest tends to stay at rest”

@harknesswitch

I agree.

So many people look at it and think "£100 per month will do nothing as a pension, might as well spend it now".

It can make an absolutely huge difference to your retirement, and even to your 40s and 50s where what you did in your 20s means you aren't now left scrabbling to put every possible penny into a pension to catch up.

Oh I see @saltinesandcoffeecups . Well I'm 51 and I do exercise and eat reasonably well, but much as I'd like it not to be so I don't have the drive or energy I had when I was younger. No I don't need to go to my doctor to get my bloods taken, it's a perfectly normal state and I'm absolutely fine with it. I am ok working now, but I can see in a few years it may become tricky for me to continue at my current level.

We may like to pretend that it's going to be perfectly achievable to have people working until they are 67, but the reality is that isn't sustainable for a lot of jobs.

@TheMoth

I'm early 40s. You really don't see many teachers over 60, so it will interesting to see what happens as we age. My mum was heading into dementia by her mid 60s, so that should make my lessons.... different. Unless I've been managed out by then, which is what I suspect will happen.

I retired from teaching at 62. I was a primary school teacher and found it increasingly physically difficult to continue teaching. Arthritis in my hands made it very difficult to get down to children’s desks and my patience was wearing thin. Luckily, I was one of the very last who could claim pension from 60. I would have found it very difficult to do my job properly at 65 or 66 (my state pension age)

That should read. -Arthritis in hands made it difficult to write and arthritis in my knees made it difficult to crouch down

I disagree, I think a lot of people bury their head in the sand about pensions etc when in their 20s and 30s, retirement seems a long way off and they are too busy 'enjoying' themselves. When they hit their 40s and realise they've made no provision for retirement, they look around for someone to blame, and inevitably go for the easy option - it is their schools fault
I agree with this.
The fact some adults try to blame their own lack of responsibility on their schools not telling them about retirement finances aged 14 is a childish outlook.