to think the whole idea of retirement is going to become unrealistic

[worksmartandfast]

I am sad writing this as I think it is a truely nice idea that people get to take some time out to enjoy life but my practical head says it can't continue. When the age was set to retire that was a policy made for a totally different era, people started work at 15 and died at 65 in general society has completely changed since then. It was never envisaged that education would last so long for children/young people it is really an accident of history that for the last decades it has been possible to effectively stop working in their early 60s/late 50s despite being perfectly capable adults and spend potentially 15/20 years living a life of pure leisure. While I'm sure this idea will be unpopular in reality I can't see how in a world with ever better medical care increasing life expentancy it can be expected that it will be possible for it to be the norm that most people can spend the final quater of their lives retired even if they are perfectly able to work. Aibu?

After a lifetime in the NGO sector, my pension pot is so miniscule I'll never be able to retire. I'm going to have to work until I die, just to keep a roof over my head. It's not a happy prospect.

I think I’ll end up working until much older than 67 but no way it’ll be in my current sector as it’s so fast paced. I just don’t think at 70 I’d be on it enough.

work places need to find roles for older people, not just b&q!

i am hoping I’d be able to go part time at that age but I’ll have paid off my mortgage; I can’t comprehend how those who are renting will afford it.

Agree. I have a family member who worked for 40 years and now been retired for 45 years. Stilly going strong

Unless we start upping immigration substantially we are going to experience a rapidly aging population with a lack of working young people to support the elderly. Mechanisation will only go so far to helping this as a lot of expanding roles e.g in the health and care sector can't be done by robots.

I also think a lot of us will not be able to afford to retire or will be forced to retire later. Disparities will grow, at present there is a 11 year life expectancy gap for males in the most and least affluent places. It will sadly be those with the lowest life expectancy levels than will be unable to afford retirement.

Unless we start upping immigration substantially we are going to experience a rapidly aging population with a lack of working young people to support the elderly. Mechanisation will only go so far to helping this as a lot of expanding roles e.g in the health and care sector can't be done by robots.

Yep but it's not popular.

Of my and DH's four parents, three retired as soon as they could (approx 60), and one is still working a three-day week aged 72, through choice. This parent is in a role where their "three-day week" can still equate to 40 hours.

The three who retired at 60 seem decades older than the one who is still working. They suffered an immediate mental and physical decline as soon as they left the working world and started to fill their days with pottering around at home.

The same is true of neighbors living on our street.

Based on what I've seen, I never want to retire. I want to work part time in something - anything - for as long as I possibly can.

I retired at 55 (NHS), one of the last few allowed with no cut in pension benefits.

I don’t have a great pension as I worked part time most of my career so returned to the same job a couple of days a week.

It’s great that I have that option, not everyone does.

And what is going to happen when they all reach pension age at the same time? along with others already living in the Uk of the same age?
Who will look after all/care, for those millions?

They are all part of what the op is talking about!

However, ageism is still rife in the workplace so where are the opportunities for older people going to come from

Exactly. I have been unemployed, other than a few temp/casual jobs since I was 59. My CV looks good, I have been highly valued for the temp/casual jobs - but will anyone give me a proper job? No, they won't and at now almost 63 I have lost hope.

Thats a very Tory view... work till you die, maybe have a crematorium in every office block?
I bet it wont apply to you though!

People pay in for their retirement and whilst folk may need to pay in more, i think 45 years of working is plenty long enough, how many people in their late 60s are really fit and healthy? among those who have done more physical roles, very few.

Many jobs are just not suitable for older workers to do, most forms of physical work, driving jobs, many medical ones etc

..and how are younger people supposed to get on if there is no where for them to go?

People maybe living longer (though i think that trend has reversed recently) but healthier?

Take look the next time you go to a hospital or a GP surgery, these places are packed with the over 50s.

Oh yes, I followed this for awhile along with Money Moustache. But inevitability you have to make money to save money. These people all brag about living on say £20k a year expenses BUT earn upwards of £100k a year combined. So it’s no wonder that by pretending to live in poverty for ten years they get that £600k pot of money that allows them to be mortgage free. (Not to mention that every “disaster” that happens they have cash to cover it and complain about being set back by “months”). Then in another five years and they start getting passive income streams from second homes or investments. So that by 40 they’re getting pregnant and working PT “only” earning £70k/yr or so.

This doesn’t apply to the majority of people, but to the privileged middle class.

Leave your age and some dates off your CV .

Retirement did not always mean you put on your slippers and did nothing from the day you stopped working until the day you died. There was once a very important sector of society who provided (often unpaid) childcare, worked in volunteering positions, helped out in their local communities and so on and so on. The idea that we need to have paid employment until we die is one that totally disregards the importance of that unpaid section of society.

Furthermore, although we are living longer, health problems connected to age are still prevalent. I am in my early sixties and, to be honest, I had totally accepted the fact that I would be working long past the time that I would be able to draw my old age pension. I did not mind. I love my work and I like the income. Then I was diagnosed with a progressive illness. It is an illness that creeps up on you and often manifests itself as you get older. Already, I tire easier and I cannot cope quite so well with stress. I have realised that in five years time, when I can draw my state pension, I will not be in a financial position to retire, yet I could very well be struggling to work.

So, yes, it is great to continue working for as long as you can, if this is something you want to do and you are still able to work. Yet, those people who can retire can still make a valuable contribution to society.

The nightmare scenario that I can see emerging is that there will be an increasing number of people who really should not be working either through age and/or failing health, who continue working because they cannot live on £185 (or less) a week.

Unless we start upping immigration substantially we are going to experience a rapidly aging population with a lack of working young people to support the elderly.

The data doesn’t support this. You’d be right if we had a bow wave of middle aged people about to retire and need elder care. But demographics by age are pretty much an even column- meaning that our age distribution population wise shows no evidence that scenario would happen. We don’t actually need more working age people.

Dont forget, people die off as they get older in all age brackets. The entire top of the chart from age 70+ are the baby boomers. The largest generation ever born. But even though later generations are smaller you can see there are still enough of us to care for this generation (who are the current elderly).

Employers will just throw it in the bin, D.O.B is a key fact to put on a CV.

My former employer called folk in their 50s "Grey Tops" unsuitable for on going training or advancement.

Ageism is rife in the workplace and thats from a SeeTec advisor, working with the DWP, to try and get longer term unemployed into work, she said once they see the applicant is late 50s or older, they know its a waste of time.

Leave your age and some dates off your CV.

Thanks, but my age isn't on my CV, and as I have only had two full time jobs if I leave off the first one they will think I am 20 years younger than I am - until they see me!!

Yes you do have to age proof your CV.

• Drop dates for all education/degrees/qualifications


• If qualifications names have changed, use the current equivalent to what you have.


• Only include the last 15yrs of job experience if you are using dates doing a chronological type CV


• Or do a functional CV that lists ~ 15 yrs of positions by relevancy to the job advert.


• Don’t do any video CVs

I think we might work in the same team! We have a lady who is 67 (no intention of retiring), can’t (won’t) use Teams, can’t (won’t) learn a new system we have and we can’t see how otherwise she can do her job for the foreseeable future. She is no longer able to do a lot of her role due to her age (she simply cannot grasp anything beyond the stuff she was doing 15-20 years ago).

God no, never put your date of birth on a CV.
And no employers don’t throw those CVs in the bin.
My DH (over 50) lost his job during Covid and it was only after he’d age proofed his CV that he started to get interviews..,.which led to a really good job. Literally, the changes he made to his CV were what I listed above. So a CV showing less work experience was better than his CV showing all his work experience. Because ageism.
The changes he did were advised to him by the Job Centre work coach as well. So it’s not like we came up with this ourselves.

My DM started working in mid 20s (doctor, lots of training). She retired at 55 and she's 90 this year and shows no signs of dying 😀. She's already been retired for onger than she worked.

The are places in the UK where average healthy life expectancy fall so short compared to pensionable age that it seems like a cruel joke.

The place with the lowest male healthy life expectancy at birth is Blackpool (53.7 years), followed by Belfast (54.4 years) and Glasgow (54.6 years).

I'm not sure what the answer is but I think it needs a strategy to include the staggering differences in health equality across the country.

I potentially agree about government funded retirement but for many people (our family included) I can see a time when the mortgage is paid off and our children have left home when our income requirement is a fraction of what it is now (we put about half our income into the mortgage as it for instance).

So once we have a much cheaper life we may be able to live on retirement savings that we are now accruing.

A lot of my child-free friends express envy and say 'I wish I could go part time'. But why can't they? Financially it's a hit but they don't have children to pay for so they could have a really nice balance to their lives. It's just not seen as acceptable though, and the idea that we must grind all the time until we retire and finally get a rest or time to focus on other things seems really unhealthy to me.

Childfree women who want to work part time are judged though. They are seen as lazy. Where I worked, if you had no school aged children there was little chance of having a request to go part time approved unless you were very senior and had a lot of clout.