To ask if anyone else over 50 isn't desperate to retire

[LornaDuh]

I'm 61 now so have taken a look at the retirement board on here and various threads about pensions.

People stating that life is too short. They want to retire to spend time on their hobbies, and to travel and volunteer.

Anyone else not keen on the thought of retiring? I like my job, my colleagues, the structure work brings. Work makes me appreciate weekends, holidays. If I had endless leisure time I'd probably waste it on Mumsnet and napping rather than crafting and hiking in the Alps.

Everyone's different. I hated my job and went part-time in my early 30s! Now a sahm and never want to go back to work if I can avoid it - unless I'm lucky enough to find a job I feel passionate about. My parents didn't retire early but love retirement and some work colleagues (who DID love working) are travelling around the world and not missing work like they'd expected.

But I know other people who feel like you and were still happily working in their 80s.

Do what makes you happy.

I’m 60 this August. I like working BUT I’m tired of it after 44 years (left School in 1980, started work at 15 in a factory sewing zips in jeans. Unfortunately I doubt I’ll even be able to retire at 67.

62 and working FT. Can't afford to retire but would be happy to keep working PT indefinitely as long as I can. I do think I need some external structure and scheduling apart from the money. Will not be sorry to stop FT though.

I am mid 50s and I could see myself transitioning from a business oriented role to a more creative one.

I quite like the idea of being mistress of my own destiny a bit more rather than fitting into corporate expectations.

I’m 60 but if I could still do my job at 65 I would love to! It keeps my brain active (often have to type up Case Studies) and gives a nice structure to the day.

Two friends I have are aged 73 - the one who appears younger is the one who is still working part-time. My retired friend visits lots of garden centres and spends a lot of time at home despite having a couple of hobbies and going on regular holidays.

no one looks back at their life and wishes they’d worked more!!

@Huckleberries73 Plenty of people look back at their life and wish they had greater financial security, which could have been achieved through working

I think it's important to have a balanced approach

I'll retire as soon as I can afford to! It's a long way off for me though. I do think it's important to fill your time once retired. Caring for grandkids, volunteering, doing hobbies etc

I'm 60 and could have written your OP especially this bit: If I had endless leisure time I'd probably waste it on Mumsnet and napping rather than crafting and hiking in the Alps. 😄

But there is a part of me that longs for a bit of freedom...

It's a nice dilemma to have.

For me (51) it's not so much about retiring as living life differently. I want to pursue the things that I feel strongly about (nature protection/ restoration, environmental campaigning) rather than doing my desk job for the next 10-15 years. I like my job and I'm good enough at it, great colleagues, well respected etc but I feel like I'm wasting precious years of my life doing it. I've been funnelling every penny I can into pensions - plan is to do that until I'm 55 max and then make a change.

I'm 60 and working full time now in demanding role. I enjoy the stimulation and challenge of my work but it is tiring and I will want to slow down or reduce hours at some point. I have plans in place to be able to retire in 5 years so I'm going to up my contributions to my pension, savings and mortgage to max those out. Im lucky with me pensions so should be comfortable, But that doesn't mean I will fully retire at 65 - I just want the option to do so. At the moment all my friends still work so I don't feel like I'm missing out - but that might become less true as time goes on. I don't have clear plans for retirement but I know I will want to be busy and keep learning - maybe on creative things. I'm not a sit around and do nothing kind of person and I don't want to be de-skilled!

I’m 52 and have no plans to retire. I don’t think I have enough hobbies!

I am 60 and unfortunately have serious health issues that make it really difficult to work FT anymore. So, I have been able to go part time and think for me it's the best of both worlds where I have plenty of time to rest and take holidays but also the money coming in to do it (as well as renovating my house slowly). I like the mental stimulation I get from work too, and even though I WFH, enjoy my colleagues especially mentoring the more junior ones.

Past retirement age here and still working happily.

I’m sure you can think of much worse things than retiring …….like your family dying……like you getting a terminal illness…….fucking ridiculous thing to say ……and yet you felt the need to say it twice in one post 🙄

Being 50 and being 60 is not like the difference between 40 and 50 ( which is minimal)…..and that’s even if you consider yourself fit and healthy

I’m 60 and plan to reduce to 4 days in the next 5 years, then 3 days until my retirement age of 67, after that hopefully 2 days in current job or some consultancy work
I enjoy what I do, love the people I work with and want to keep my brain active

Defo not rushing to retire - I love my job. Would like to be able to go part-time at some point, but we’ll see. I like the structure of work, my colleagues, keeping brain active, etc.

Mid 50s here and just started a new career!! Love it, though would not have the energy /inclination to work full time

I think there are so many factors. I have a very pressurised job, it’s rewarding, but frequent long hours, weekend working, travel and cancelled plans. I’m in my 40s and after 20 years I’m tired and want time to do other things, see family and friends more, have the headspace for creative pursuits, volunteer and have an exercise routine.

I’ve loved my career but am burnt out and absolutely could not continue at this pace into my sixties. I can see that if I had a pleasant, relatively stress free job with regular hours I might feel differently. It sounds as if you have a good work life balance OP, but not all jobs allow that.

I am 59 and retiring next month . I am quite ambivalent towards it , I didn't plan to go but through restructuring I have no interest in the job offered . I am so pleased I can afford it as opposed to be forced into a job I don't want .

I have a massive list of things I want to do when retired. It's a variety of things; indoors/outdoors, physical/mental, social/ solo etc
I will consider volunteering but not immediately & I'll choose carefully what, when & where

I was planning to retire at 60 but the opportunity to lead a onec in a lifetime legacy project is likely to keep me working to 62/63/64 maybe, I'll probably look to part time work for some of that addional time (providing I actually lose some of my work load & I'm not expected to compress it into my shorter week.)

I'm finding I don't want to deal with colleagues batshittery and flakiness. I will need to go before I'm too blunt with someone.

My husband retired and was back in full time work within six months. I love my job, even though it’s tough, I’ll drop a couple of days but don’t fancy retirement.

I am early 50s, I have a good, interesting, highly paid career that is not physically taxing. Until I turned 50, I was in no hurry to retire. Now, I am counting down the days until I turn 57, and I can take my pension.

I don't know exactly what changed. I don't like my company culture in part, but will not move now, as it would be too disruptive. In part, I just see so many things I want to do. By 57, the mortgage is paid off, the kids have left school/home. I won't need as much to keep afloat so it will be time for me to look after me.

Actually my husband died 5 years ago. Work was one of the key things that kept me going, gave me purpose and focus, enabled me to be me, took me away from thinking about terminal illness 24/7 and played a big part in my rebuilding my life. So perhaps there’s very little I can think of which I would like less than retiring in my 50’s . Obviously anything happening to my health or anything negative to my children but I don’t think we really need to be quite so pedantic do we?

I am 50 and my husband is 53, neither of us has plans to retire. We are both self employed and love our jobs. We would like to be fussier over the jobs we take and scale back on our hours (he works silly hours at the moment), but neither of us wants to give up entirely.

God I have found my people. I personally regard the idea of retirement with terror. I love working, it gives my life structure, purpose, intellectual stimulation and a social connection which I would really miss.

I certainly would like more control over how much I work and would like to work fewer hours and have more time for hobbies. But I will always want work to play a part in my life. A good job is massively life enhancing.

I am sure people will be along shortly (as they invariably do) to say that people who like working are “boring”, “lack creativity” or are “cogs in a machine” and everyone would be better off just doing hobbies. There is a rich seam of hostility on here towards people who enjoy working, not to mention a lack of awareness that for some of us work is a financial necessity. I think a lot of people regard it as an affectation to want a good job

And certainly work isn’t for everyone and fair enough. But for me it’s a massive positive and a privilege and I want to do it until I drop.