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.

Healthy life expectancy is 62.7 years.

Where'd you get that from?

Almost 62 and still full time. I can cope and quite enjoy my job but don't think I want to have so little free as I get older. Currently exhausted in the evening on work days so by the time I get home about 5.30, I am only fit for dinner, sofa and bed. Weekend tends to be visit mum and get the shopping, chores, cooking for the week and about an afternoon and two evenings for leisure. Retirement is starting to look more enticing but part time work for a few years is more realistic after about 64

It's all from the ONS

I retired last year and must admit I really miss my job, it was very sociable so I was meeting and chatting to lots of people and I miss that. I have lots of friends and I was already doing a number of different voluntary roles so I do have plenty to occupy me but I miss the 'structure' of work. I have found additional volunteer jobs which I love, one very similar to my previous role so I can utilise my skills.
And I know this isn't a popular opinion but I am not particularly interested in travel and holidays so that doesn't appeal.
Its not the financial situation either .. I wasn't highly paid so my private plus state pension is more or less what I was earning ... I suppose to be perfectly blunt being with my retired DH day after day - plus a very elderly parent to care for - doesn't fill me with joy !

Don’t you enjoy doing things with your husband, @Ragwort?

Curly - not really! We have totally different hobbies and interests plus separate friends. His idea of a great day out is a 20 mile hike ... mine is pottering round a local town and visiting a tea shop ... of course we do compromise and find some things we enjoy but it is not one of those blissful retirements where we love spending every minute together .
We've been married a very long time .. I am almost certain that if we met now we wouldn't get together ... in fact we. probably wouldn't even meet as we have no joint interests ...

I did worry before retiring that being with DH a lot more would adversely affect our relationship. It hasn’t. 😁

Waves to @Ragwort I can identify with this. DH and I share similar values but enjoy doing very different things.

When I retire I will join U3A and step up my volunteering. I have hobbies, but they aren't time consuming enough for me to fill my non working days.

We don't have the £££ to travel as much as every other retired person I know.

I'm 61 and retired 3 years ago after working for the same company for 41 years. There was an early retirement package available during covid that was not likely to repeat itself and it made sense financially.
My DH died 7 years ago but I have never regretted retiring for an instant.
I didn't hate my job but I didn't love it either and don't miss it at all. I have a hobby that takes up a lot of my time , which includes some volunteering also.
My DH didn't get a chance to retire after not loving his job either. I was determined not to have that happen to me. It's rare that you hear people saying that they wished they worked more.
There is so much more to life if you are lucky enough to be able to retire. I don't feel it's aged me at all. I feel far more energetic , now that I don't have to do the daily commute and have the stress of constant deadlines.
Yes, I don't look forward to Fridays and holidays so much but I also don't have the dreaded Sunday evening feeling or the awful feeling when coming to the last few days of holidays when I knew the drudgery would start again soon.

No, that is for women. See the link that @JaninaDuszejko posted. The average total life expectancy for girls born now is around 82, but healthy life expectancy is only 62.
For those of us in our 50s, total life expectancy is a few years lower, as is healthy life expectancy.

I am doing all I can to make sure I am on the right side of the average, but the reality is, things can happen health wise that are completely outside my control.

But the ONS healthy life expectancy is at birth. If you've already made it to 60 or 65, your personal one is higher than the average, because you've already avoided the health issues that start earlier.

I have heard it said that if you make it to 60 without being diagnosed with cancer, heart disease or diabetes you are likely to live another 30 years or more.

I had originally planned on working until I reached the state pensionable age; it was 60 for women when i started work but after the stat pensionable age for women was raised I realised I'd have to stay on a bit longer; Ideally I'd have liked to carry on working until 68 making 50 years working but a stroke in my early 50's in 2006 put an end to those plans!

I get back to working full-time eventually but I just wasn't up to it any more as my stroke had affected my ability to plan ahead & think logically - noth of which were essential requirements for the job I had at the time, as there would have been serious legal consequences if I'd sent the wrong papers to the wrong or at the wrong time. In the end I had to opt for early retirement at age 55 in 2010.

It took a while to adjust to being at home full-time and initially I felt guilty at not going out to work when I was of working age and not obviously physically disabled, but I got used to the change of pace eventually. Since my separation in 2014 and divorce in 2017 I've had to move home and now I honestly wonder how I ever found the time to go out to work 😀.

The change in lifestyle and the diffeernt pace of life des take some getting used to, but you get there i n the end.

Blimey, don't fancy that much.

I’m 41 and looking forward to retirement 🤣 I can take my pension at 50, though massively reduced obviously so not affordable. Hopefully I will be able to go at 60

im early 50s and dh and I are def talking about it. He’s over 3 years older snd wants to start winding down soon - he’ll be 57 end of this year. I def don’t want to be stuck around the house and we would like to travel a bit, and also move house for our last home as this one isn’t suitable for later life and I’d rather get 20-odd years out of a house I love (never been keen on this house). We said we’ll look at finances when DCs finish uni.

I can’t wait for retirement!
My daughters make plans, ask me to join them and it’s my day to work, so I’m looking forward to spending more time with them and the same with my grandchildren, also it seems anything I’m interested in falls on the days I work, we have a 2 week rolling rota so I never work the same days every week.

But the ONS healthy life expectancy is at birth

I just don't understand that.

Very much so. Can't see me ever retiring. As long as I have enough spare time for me I'm keeping it going.

This is the main thing which would make me want to retire I think. As it is my grandchildren will be into their teenage years as I retire and I don't have that much quality time with them as when I am off they are at school as it's hard to get leave in the holidays.

What, living?

I guess it's not compulsory ... 🤷‍♀️

It means if you're already 50+ your healthy life expectancy is what it was when you were born ie lower than 62. Basically your healthy life expectancy is significantly lower than the age state pension kicks in. If you're 50+ you've got less than 10 years until you're likely to develop a significant chronic condition.

Just as well you don't want to do anything other than work, because chances are you won't have any healthy leisure years.

I would like to emulate my mum. I think she got the balance right. She left her full time position around 60 and then contracted for about 10 years or so. In reality she ‘worked’ for a contracting firm but only picked up contracts when it suited her. So she worked in the winter and took her summers off.

I’m almost 48 and my husband retires in 2 years. I think I will be in a position to do something similar and have picked up enough skills that contacting makes sense… Ba, UAT, project type work, etc.

My plan B is to recertify and be a data monkey somewhere.

I may or may not be designing my ‘work shed’ for when we move and relocate

I could have written this myself.
I'm 63 and happy at work.

I'm 61 and have applied for flexible retirement. The difference between taking my pension and working FT means that I am working approximately 10 days a month for £20 a day! You would have to be crazy to carry on with that!!

I can't fully retire as the sums don't stack up, not until my state pension kicks in at 67. When I started working I had the expectation of working until I was 60! Have one DC paying a pittance to live at home while saving for a house deposit, one DC who is wholly reliant on us doing a course abroad with zero funding, and one student DC who isn't paying for anything. It's pretty much as though none of them have ever adulted (though two of them did live away from home for years!)

The perils I suppose of being older parents!

My job is quite stressful and challenging, and with a lot of ailments including arthritis, I CBA any more!