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?

I'm 40 and very much agree with a pp that we have to value and prioritise leisure time more when you are young. We could lead a much more lavish lifestyle than we do (we have average house, 2 old but functioning cars, don't spend much money on house or clothes) but we choose to work LTFT so that we can holiday lots and generally do the pursuits we want to NOW.
All of my DMs friends have retired and are doing at least 2 days per week childcare, no one is idling sitting around watching TV all day.

Depends on the job, fair enough if you're in an office at a desk. Not so much if you're a carer, a mechanic, a childcare worker, work in a factory. Also, if no one retires, where do young people get their jobs? How do people progress in their careers? The state pension won't be worth the time it takes to claim it by the time I retire even, so if we have our own pension pots that we've contributed to since we were 18, we deserve to enjoy them. We can't afford for people not to retire. I don't know why you're so against people finishing their working lives and enjoying their old age.

I definitely think there needs to be a change from the idea that you can a) not really start your career/pension contribs until approaching 25 (having done a degree, a masters, a gap year, often another year or two "working out what you want to do", then b) retire at 65 and start a 30 year retirement. It makes no sense to spend around half your adult life essentially in leisure or unpaid education/other pursuits.

However, I do think there's an issue with the fact that people live too long in a state of health where actually they arent really fit to work.

I think where we need to land is a) most people need to be working part time from 16 alongside studies, and trying to encourage people to be saving even a little from an earlier age as this is the saving that compounds and grows the most and b) planning to not fully retire but continue some work in lower responsibility roles for longer, into 70s. I think keeping doing something is good for you, keeps you young!

My mum was a teacher and retired basically at 60 - in reality, she could have been great as a TA for another 10 years or so.

I'm sure there are lots of professions where there are lower responsibility roles people could move into as they age. I think people struggle to accept the reduction in rate of pay however, and feel it "isnt worth it".

I don't think younger generations will get a choice. My parents had great defined benefit pension schemes but people my age don't and we just won't be able to afford long retirements. I work in a complicated finance role now but as I age I plan to move into doing a more simple bookkeeper type role to keep a bit of income.

Unfortunately, a 65 year old body is very often creaky, with disabilities. I'm not saying that this is the norm - there are people who are fit and healthy at that age, but many of us are not.
I'm 69 and there is no way I could make my body go to work. I can't even walk properly.

Tootiredtocare

I think most people under 50 simply don't realise their DC pots won't buy anything like the annuity they are expecting. People are quite shit at maths. Most people even with private pots just won't be able to afford it - annuity providers will increasingly be pricing in that someone retiring late 60s may draw the pension for 30+ years so you will need a huge huge pot to buy a decent annuity.

Reistically wealthy people will do whatever they want just like always.

Poorer people will work until they cant and there will be either unemployment benefits whilst they fruitlessly search for a job or disability benefits. These will replace pensions, cost the same but make the elite feel better than noone is having any fun.

Also, if no one retires, where do young people get their jobs? How do people progress in their careers?

Young people get their jobs because we actually have a labour shortage in many areas. We need more working people.

People progress in their careers but more slowly reflecting a longer working life. This is already happening.years ago in careers like accountancy or law people expected to make partner in 10 years, now it's at least 15, and firms don't let most partners stay at that level for more than about 15 years unless you are very exceptional - you are expected to move on and do something else, lots will scale back and do some part time consultancies etc from their mid 50s onwards for example.

Isn’t life expectancy now declining? So it might be a self-liming problem. Not that that’s a good thing….

That's brilliant! How fabulous, she must have been a bit of a trail blazer in her younger days.. so glad she's had a long retirement.

I think you should be able to spend more of your life in retirement than working, however, that doesn't really happen for most people.

If you retire around 67/68, with average life expectancy you'd be in retirement for 13-15 years.

That's not more time in retirement.

I honestly don't know how I'll manage to work to retirement age as I feel knackered now at 38. I've spent years doing 4-5hr daily commutes and now have a 2yr old and a 4mth old. I'm already dreading going back to work for the remaining 30yrs of my working life. I have back problems and some days I can barely move.
My DP is a firefighter and at 33 and only 5yrs on the job, he's already feeling the health issues start. He regularly has to rescue people twice his weight and his back and neck are causing him issues more often now. He knows he doesn't have many more years in such a physical job.

The only people I know who have lived a long, healthy life are those that barely lifted a finger during their 'employable' time in life such as the long term unemployed (through choice) and those like my great aunt who worked a handful of years in light work. She's 92 now with no health issues other than laziness and her need to complain at/about everyone who's life isn't revolving around her. She's never had kids and inherited a small house so has never had a mortgage or rent to worry about.

Retire at 67, who looks after the elderly parents if the kids are still working.? Who looks after the grandkids?

Tbf, neither of those things are required or should be expected.

I couldn’t have children. So I ended up working 40 years full time with no breaks (other than holidays). It all started to feel a bit relentless. I felt that being in a position to retire earlyish at 58 was some kind of compensation for that.

The number of older friends I have who are essentially raising their grandchildren alongside their children now (and in some cases are really the only stable figure in the grandchild's life) means that 'retirement' in any meaningful sense isn't really an option for them.

My parents both retired at 54 ,they were offered an excellent redundancy and were able to take their company pension at 55 ,they have both just turned 80!

And yet this is a valid point.
The elderly in our society are often not valued the same way that they are in other cultures.

if the retired people I know (parents generation) some have retired in order to look after elderly parents. That would fall on the state if they carried on working. Others look after grandchildren and if they didn’t the parents wouldn’t be working or just working part time. As always it doesn’t come down to the balance sheet.

I am now 70 and retired at 65, not because I wasn't able to continue in my job, but because the commute was getting intolerable. Rising at 5am, to catch a train at 6.20am, just about getting home at 7.30pm if I wasn't required to do unpaid overtime because an emergency had arisen.
I wanted to work part time for a few years prior to retirement but my employers weren't having it. So I reluctantly retired, the first year was great the sense of freedom was great, but obviously on a pension I don't have the funds to fully enjoy my retirement. DH is still working, albeit not full time, but we are horribly aware of, and worried about the rising cost of living, which when you get to our age is a pressure we could do without

I posted upthread about having to work until I die, as I don't have a private pension with more than a pittance in it.

I've got Long Covid and am really struggling with work and ordinary life now, in my fifties. I really don't expect to live as long as my mum (78) or my nan (92), even though I started off from a place of much better health than either of them.

DH is a builder and retires this year- age 66. He's lucky, he still has his health, but does suffer with dodgy knees.
Other friends in the trade are not so lucky- arthritis is an occupational hazard- imagine being a scaffolder, bricklayer, roofer or plasterer at 70? These are also jobs notorious for not having much in the way of pensions. Most of the office workers on here saying they would be happy to work or able to work rather than retire have no idea of the reality of physical labour, outside in all weathers.

Are you really getting CVs in with date of birth on? I’ve never seen that and would expect HR to redact it if someone did put it on.

I think you have to put your DOB on for HR purposes, but the people doing the sifting/interviewing don’t get to see it.

You can. No-one’s stopping you retiring today.

I retired in my late 50s from a non-manual, but stressful job. In retirement I still do consultancy work, but on my own terms and without managerial responsibilities. I think this may be the pattern for many people who are lucky enough to have built up a private pension. The real problem is for people doing more physical labour and who rely on the state pension. Re-training should be more easily available at the very least; no one should be expected to be working like a 30 year old when they are 60.

I’ve never included it, and never been asked for it. There are good reasons for leaving it off, but no good reason for including it.