Is it worth doing stressful jobs if the pension is good?

[malificent7]

So I am a former teacher , now a AHP...both have great pensions but omg...both are stressful and not that well paid imo.
My mum died at 58 from cancer after being forced into an early employment by her bullying nhs manager. She was an OT.

Therefore when people say that it is madness to give up a good pension, I often wonder if it is the be all and end all. Poor mum didn't see hers...I felt the stress of her job contributed to her early grave tbh.

I do love my job but i cannot see me doing mad , erratic shifts at 55. Im tired NOW!

Then you hear of some civil service people staying put for years for the pension.

So I guess my point is...yes...pensions are very imoportant but not worth staying in a job you hate or a very stressful job.

Job stress will destroy your life, unless you're the type who thrives on that. More usually it saps your will to do anything outside of work, degrades your opinion of yourself and stops you from even searching for other jobs. Also can indeed kill you off early, and given how late pensions are these days that's an even more significant risk.

Fuck stressful jobs.

I'm not down for stressful jobs. My family is more important and I work round that.

On MN, the ones I've seen who write in to say they're thinking of stopping pension contributions aren't doing it because of stress, but due to money.

I had a very stressful job, it was very well paid, the plant closed when I was 50, at that time you could get your pension at 50.

I took my pension and then worked very part time, my dad died in his fifties and I honestly thought I would do the same.

It was worth the stress and it's given me a comfortable life and I think I took it a bit too seriously and should have been a bit more relaxed about it all.

My friends mum was teacher 40 years. At her retirement she was so looking forward to spending time with grand daughter. Within a year she was diagnosed with Dementia. Is now in a nursing home. She never got chance to enjoy her retirement really

It depends I guess

The boring answer to the question is get a pension forecast and do the sums against the lifestyle you want, and find what you need to achieve it (downsize, no travel etc). You may not really have a choice after seeing the numbers. .

I did this and decided I want to retire early but in order to maintain my current lifestyle, if I work an extra day a week now (stressful) then I can do it and then some. That extra days pay goes into a SIPP so I don't have to pay tax on it.

However I would be happy to work for more years in a less stressful job so have managed to find a path that might get me that kind of a role, which might pay a little less but ease me into retirement.

So stick at it while actively seeking an easier final role if you can. Or do it for as long as you can and then see.

I can see myself topping up an early retirement with a local low paying job just to give me routine and sense of purpose.

I'm in my late 30s and have just left a reasonably senior NHS management position without a job to go to. For me, the level of stress wasn't offset by the pension, particularly as my dad died before he could claim his. Although my role was reasonably well paid when I first started in the NHS, inflation and lack of pay rises, alongside increased pension contributions had made the salary a lot less attractive by the time I left!

It depends… for a good pension I’d put up with a lot of stress. I’m more or less ok with a stressful job and would rather be at a good paying one vs a bad paying one (be that salary or pension).

I think that not having money or choices in my old age would be more stressful so with that trade off in mind I’d lean towards staying in a stressful job with an eye toward finding a less stressful one with the same salary/benefits

I'm in a high pressure job. I'm responsible for spending millions on projects at risk. I'm doing it for 15 more years then retiring at 57 (the year I can access my private pension). Mortgage is cleared, Im now in phase two of my plan, chucking money at my pension (40-50k a year).

Depends on your goals. Im happy to do high pressure for 20yrs and then have awesome times after.

Retirement funding is so important, the state pension is embarrassingly low and you can't claim it till you're old. Fuck that.

Enjoy life but Make a plan - work out how much you need for your retirement and get to it. Im saving in ISAs, defined contribution pension (shares) and guiding what shares the pension invests in. I'll also be starting my kids pensions soon.

Take ownership of it, best of luck.

I’m in a very senior role and pay 60k into my pension every year. My DC is only 2 so my plan is to retire as early as possible not least because the school holidays will be difficult to manage as we have no grandparent or wider family support.

I don’t find senior roles that stressful really as I’m very confident in my ability and know I could get another job paying a similar salary if I needed to.

Stress in work is worrying about earning enough to pay the bills or knowing that being laid off will be a financial nightmare.

I’ve been in that situation and trust me it’s far more stressful than being responsible for a significant chunk of a large plc.

Not having to worry about day to day costs particularly in the current economic climate is a huge stress reliever and offsets any potential work stress.

Ex teacher. Had I carried on I probably wouldn't have been around to appreciate any pension.
Nope, not worth it

I mean… all jobs are stressful in their own way. I’d rather have the well paying/high pension stressful job than the alternative.

Op said stressful as in nhs or teaching to get maybe 15k a yr on top of state pension max if she worked 30-45 years.
She does not mean those who put 40 to 60k a YEAR in their pension pots! A year! Jesus.

I feel lucky - I have a good job and good pension but I became unwell a few years ago - my job accommodates my limitations with same pay and pension . It's a very stressful job if frontline but I've now taken a backseat which is less stressful. I've done my time on the stressful side and I'm enjoying a more relaxed role . I realise I'm lucky .

I'm not on megabucks tho ! It's like 42k a year . I pay around 12% into pension and won't get a full pension as when I retire I'll only have accrued around 22 years. Worth having though.

Stressful job is not worth a pension, however, as an AHP you are certainly not short of options. As an OT, I worked across a variety of setting and teams and I am currently in a B7 post which happens to be very low stress. It's a community specialist service, largely WFH, small team and a lot of autonomy. These jobs do exist.
Previously, I worked in a rapid response community setting and on hospital wards and it wasn't a great fit for me. So I changed specialisms.