Warning: this post may cause a little envy… but only a tiny bit 😏

[Flowerofdestiny]

Does anyone in their 50s actually exist who does nothing all day?

I feel a bit silly asking this, but I’ve been wondering…

Does anyone in their 50s exist whose kids are grown, who doesn’t work full-time, and literally has days completely free of obligations?

I’m genuinely curious: is it as boring as it sounds, or actually a little paradise?

I feel a bit nosy for asking, but I’d love honest answers 😅

I’m pretty much like this but early 60s. I do have a little stress free part time job a couple of evenings a week but my day times are totally free. I’m a few year’s off state pension age but have work pensions. I love being at home (I’ve always been a homebody). I found working full time in offices stressful a lot of the time and did it for many years. I am never bored even when I have no plans because being at home is my favourite place to be. I have family and friends and a dog so I’m not isolated. I see my adult kids. I answer to no one. I have put well over the required years of NI contributions so there’s no guilt there.

I do not think anyone can be happy without a full on purpose. Either raising children, keeping a cosy, clean and tidy home, learning something new, crafts or gardening, charities, childcare for others...
If you do have something meaningful to put your time into, then you get a lot of pleasure from that type of living.
I only know retired people over 60 in this situation. Others are mostly home, due to health issues and that is proper depressing and soul destroying.
I think those able to be full owners of their time, without a job to tend to, are very lucky indeed!

You live to pay the tax man?

If you've worked all your adult life, you've contributed enough.

I'm 56 and work, but with seniority I'm paid for responsibility and knowledge more than activity, so my main roles are decision making and can carrying. And when there are no cans, it leaves me with more leisure than I've ever had.
My children are adults, my elderly relatives are dead, and while I do GC care, it's not as much as it was now they're getting older. I spend a lot of time on excercise, socialising, reading and wasting time on here.
Truth be told, while its restful and pleasant, it's not anywhere near as stimulating as it should be and I often get a sense of filling time and pottering about which I don't think is good for me, on the basis of the less you do, the less you want to do. Sometimes it almost horrifies me that this will be my pace and extent of my life for the next 30 years and I'm worried it will age me before it should.
If I could muster the motivation, I should change jobs and do more, so the idea of retiring and doing even less is the last thing I'd consider.

No one said anything about not contributing to society. If you’ve worked, raised kids well, or just been a decent law abiding person then you have contributed to society. But if you want to work till you drop then all power to you.

What about disabled people, then? I'm disabled, and while I've worked in the past, it caused me to be in and out of employment constantly because I'd get so burnt out no matter what type of job I did. I'd get so burnt out, I'd become physically unwell, and therefore I'd be off of work, which would then lead to me being fired because when I did try going back to work, I'd have a mental breakdown from stress, panic and anxiety, which would lead me to being on and off benefits like a yo-yo depending on if I was working at the time or not.

So yeah, maybe I don't contribute anymore to tax, but I contribute by being a damn good parent, helping other people (charity donations, emotional support, etc) and just being a generally good person.

Unlike you, who seems to pay tax but is very fucking judgemental of those who are unable to work and therefore pay tax.

My MIL never worked after she married and her children left home when she was in her late 40s. She had a couple of hobbies, but as she always fell out with people they never lasted. FIL did a lot in the house & garden so I have no idea how she fills her days, then or now as an elderly widow.

I would say she has shaky mental health, which has definately declined over the years - this may be the reason for her never leaving the house much, but I sometimes wonder if not having to didn't help. Chicken & egg, who knows? But it's her life. I certainly don't envy it.

Can you expand on this? Why?

@sittingonabeach That's all true - but if it is their partner who has worked which has facilitated them not to, then it isn't the individual paying taxes is it? It's their partner. You can't pay something from nothing.

If money = happiness, then do only "poor" people suffer from MH/take their own lives etc? Of course not. Being very wealthy can cause a huge set of issues of its own (as @Gnarab24 has perhaps suggested).

But they may have worked since they were 16

I’m 56, stopped working because of some quite traumatic events that left me struggling to function. For several months I’ve been basically recuperating. DC at university, DH working in an extremely full-on job so I’m broadly home alone most of the time.
in lots of ways it’s been lovely- I’ve been learning new stuff, meeting new people, walking LOTS, exercising, keeping on top of the housework, catching up with friends, going to the theatre and exhibitions, reading - so much reading! And sleeping. Gardening, supporting parents with appointments etc. It’s been very healing to just have time and space to process what’s gone on and I have colleagues who were in a less fortunate position financially and are still struggling through in the same workplace so I feel extremely lucky.
However, I do miss the sense of purpose so will start volunteering. At the same time - if both of us were not working, we could very easily lead a healthy and fulfilling life living like this and I do know other people my age who’ve sold businesses or burned out etc that do exactly that.

How much income tax are you paying on a house wife's salary?

It isn't just about tax. Being a 'housewife' is surely a hideous prospect for anyone with any degree of intelligence. There's no mental challenge, no strategy, no ambition, no promotion opportunities, no intelligent conversation, no stimulation of ideas, no change, no entrepeneurialism. The same goes for being a SAHM. Yes, you may be busy but there's no brain required.

Exactly what I was going to say. Besides we pay taxes on everything thing and services in this country so you always pay even if retired so long you live here and shop and use services.

People do what's right for them but it shouldn't be hard to see why people retiring in their late fifties and most of them living for thirty years does have an effect on the economy and the amount of taxation needed.

Assuming you drive, you'd still have to pay tax on your vehicle, and there's VAT on goods and services. Unless you buy Jaffa cakes.

Most people have worked since their teens

Is there a statistic for this because I do not believe the majority of adults have worked full time since their teens till their 50s/60s.

If you've worked all your adult life, you've contributed enough.

The majority haven't paid enough tax for their state pension let alone free healthcare and education!

Oh, I do feel envy :-)
DC are teens, both have complex needs, one will always need locking after 24/7. I work part time when DC are in college. No family and support network and on my knees. What you describe is pure bliss, not boredom! Enjoy.

That is a structural issue - the government need to address that robustly and quickly.

@mumofoneAloneandwell 😹 your comment really made me lol

The best way to maximise your obligation-free days, whether you work or not, is not to have children.

"In many ways, I think women (and it's often women) who can give their time without pay keep the world going round."

I'm convinced they do. It's just one of the reasons capitalism is so flawed.

Just think if all the women stopped doing the following unpaid: infant childcare, the wraparound care, the school drop offs, the school holiday care, all the endless tasks that come with raising children just to be basic functioning members of society, the housewife/SAHM work so husbands could have their big jobs, the bulk of the extended family caring, the volunteering, the checking up on that elderly neighbour / family friend with mental health issues who us spiralling a bit...

@Gymnopediegivesmethewilliesit sounds more like virtue-signalling than vitriol from @HoskinsChoice- or maybe just envy. As many have pointed out out, pension income is taxable and there are other ways of contributing to society.

Sounds like paradise to me, I honestly wake up everyday and think how am I supposed to work for another 40 years!?