Morally obliged to volunteer if retired?

[notnownorma]

Just that, really. If one has no grandchildren to care for, is one morally obliged to give something back to the community if no longer working and in good health? If so, how much time is "enough"?

Inspired by a conversation I recently had with someone thinking of retiring soon.

I used to volunteer.

It was fine whilst it was indeed voluntary but then mandatory "training" and the rolled eyes when you needed to take some time off... More and more responsibility and demands. All the pressures of a paid job but without the pay and very little appreciation.

I no longer volunteer.

I did a lot of voluntary work when I was a single parent.
I enjoyed it and it fitted in with school times. Plus it looked good on my CV when I could eventually get back to work.
Now I'm retired I have no inkling to volunteer at all.

Nope. That's what volunteer means

I think it's good to volunteer. It will enrich your own life and make communities a better place. It's a philosophical question, but if an individual ends up costing the NHS a lot, and, meanwhile, cut -backs mean that younger people can't get free services that used to be available, then yes it's a positive thing ethically.

For instance, many people can't wait for the lengthy NHS dentistry queuing, so will pay out saving to get their tooth ache fixed privately. If an older person lived through a time which made upward mobility easier, then, yes, why not even things up.

'Ethically' seems to be a different meaning to 'morally', somehow - more of an intellectual concept relating to societal structures. Morally seems more about private morality, and that will be affected by how strong people feel and how able to give of themselves. But volunteering is what makes things better and I always like the concept of Cameron's 'big society ' - albeit I didn't agree with his policy making in every theme and detail.

Is this a wind up?!!!

Your obligation is to your own health and life. I am all for having hobbies, they actually help you live longer, but as for being morally obligated to volunteer that’s complete and utter bollocks.

Not a fucking chance will I be volunteering ANYWHERE when I retire. I thought it was just people who are lonely who do this. (To make friends/socialise/mix with people...)

Well aren't we smug?!

@Dotjones

It depends on your ability. Generally I'd say there's no obligation provided you don't have any children or grandchildren to care for. If you do, you probably do owe society something, so yes 20 or so hours volunteering would be a good way to pay back your debt.

Not all pensioners are physically or mentally capable of course, but people who retired "young" (eg in 50s or 60s) should pay society back. The problem is pensioners on final salary schemes retiring in their 50s then just enjoying life at our expense, they're the ones who ought to be made to do unpaid work.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!! 😂Are you taking the piss?!

@YumYummy

No moral obligation. My DH are early and mid 50’s, we spend out days going to the spa, me seeing friends, him playing golf, me caring for my mum, us being around for our DC, days out, costal walks, lunches and cinema trips. We paid 100k in taxes per year for many years so feel we’ve contributed a great deal already.

CLEARLY a piss-take! 😂

Fucking hell, there are some corkers on this thread!

I have heard this about volunteering too.

Dotjones takes the piss on a lot of threads. On the one about benefits, they are saying that under 25 year olds should not be given a penny and should live with their parents, even if they have a child.

It's like voting. You're not obliged to do that either. But you might feel a sense of social obligation to do so for a myriad of complex reasons.

Childfree early retiree here, I'm in!

I don't think there's a moral obligation but it's a good thing to do if you can, and there's benefits to the volunteer. I retired early due to ill health which obviously limits what volunteering I can do too, but what I do helps keep my mind active, gives my week some structure, makes me new friends and is very rewarding. So I would recommend it but don't think anyone should feel obliged - it wouldn't be volunteering if there was coercion.

Most of my friends and family volunteer in some capacity (as do I and my children). I wish everyone wanted to volunteer to help out others/their community/school/church, retired or not.

Most people find a volunteering role to ease the transition between working full-time and not working at all. It provides structure and purpose, and it's social.

I might, and then again I might not. No complex reasons involved, myriad or otherwise.

Work with volunteers. Each and every one of them are generous hearted, friendly, fun to be with, willing to share their skills, and interesting.

I'd hate to work with volunteers who are forced to be there. Who aren't doing it by choice. Who might not have the right skill set.

No. Its a terrible idea. Forced volunteers won't carry out the role properly. I'd much rather people 'give back' by paying an appropriate level of tax on their wealth, not trying to evade taxes using loop holes, declining benefits they are entitled to by age not necessity, not looking for ways to hoard assets to give to their children and not voting for governments that will increase their own wealth at the expense of other people.
Volunteering is often only necessary because of the huge gaps in provision in areas that should be state funded. If all those people comfortable enough not to work at 50 accepted a little less in the way of personal affluence, there would be fewer gaps for volunteers to fill.

No moral obligation as long as you then don't get upset that services run by volunteers cease to exist. That isn't a dig at you personally but the reality is many volunteer activities are operating without enough people to get involved.

I recently had to close a community service due to lack of volunteers -everyone sees it as "someone else's problem".

Not all volunteer run services are for the benefit of the community.
There is a garden centre cafe in my town that is staffed by volunteers. It is fucking expensive too. Don't tell me that it is for the good of the community.

I have thought about volunteering but have been seriously deterred by hearing and reading (including on here) about how sometimes volunteers are not valued and even exploited by various organisations - taken for granted, guilted into doing more than they wanted and not treated well.
And yet many felt they ought to carry on with it nonetheless.
Not for me.
I think it can sometimes be a 'thing' that some things freely given (time, effort, money, goods) are not valued as much as they should be.

They are. I knew someone who suffered burnout from volunteering. It was for a homeless charity and he had a car. the fact he had a car seemed to mean he was on call 24/7.

That’s been my experience as a volunteer. You jump through hoops to take on the volunteering job, then you look forward to meeting new people and spending time doing something useful. Then you find you’re given the jobs the paid staff don’t want, or people forget you’re coming and have nothing for you to do, or no one speaks to you or offers you a drink. That’s after you’ve spent money getting to the place that you’re volunteering, so it actually costs you money.

I’ve tried a number of things. I’ve also filled in forms for others, or phoned about opportunities and been told there are none, or heard nothing from the app,icarions. My time is valuable to me, so I’ll spend it doing what I enjoy, allowing for the constraints of finances. I don’t have lunch out, or holidays, or spa days or any of the other things that are generally regarded as things retired folk do. I did enjoy exercise classes and that was a good way to meet people, but gave it up when it got too expensive.