Any retired teachers out there?

[Hopthegoodgod]

I am a full time teacher (60yrs old). For various financial reasons I'm not able to retire from full time class teaching until 67 when I will take both teacher's pension and state. How did you find working in your 60's? Can you suggest anything i can do diet/exercise/workload wise that will help me reach this point? I am very tired at the end of the day and just flake out on the sofa. Also keeping up with the latest rounds of new initiatives and software can be challenging and I really have to focus to remember everything I need to do to keep up. Any advice ?

Moved the goalposts didn’t they? You should have been able to retire now and have your state pension.
How many years full time teaching have you got in. Have you got a projection from TP? No option to go part time?
Could you retire and do something less stressful? TA, librarian, supply or private tuition?
Full time teaching is exhausting and stressful for anyone. Not really an option to slow down whilst doing the job full time. Think of your quality of life and stress levels.
Good luck.
I retired early after 35 years full time but not by choice ( family illness)

I am not a teacher but have close relatives who are. I am in my 50s and following something of a health wake up call and needing to cope in a stressful long hours job means that similar issues have been on my mind.

I am working on improving my diet due to the health issues and in particular cutting saturated fat as much as possible. Lost weight as a result, although my BMI was in the normal range, my weight is closer to the middle than the upper end. Improving my diet is still a work in progress.

Found I was low on iron so supplementing and that has made a huge difference and no longer feel I am battling a hazy feeling which has helped at work.

I am hugely struggling with stress, due to workload, so have organised some help with this, but yet to have a first session.

I have always loved exercise, but health wise I was prompted a few years ago to take up swimming and cycling which I enjoy and the variety has helped. I need to do more for strength and flexibility. Outdoor exercise is a great mental health boost.

One ex teacher I know can't drive so has always walked miles she is very fit in her mid eighties.

Another one made a career shift to work in education admin. which meant she got through the final part of her working life supplemented with exam marking.

You have my sympathy.

I got out at 58. So did all my colleagues as they approached late 50’s.

l don’t have any advice but l do feel for you. I got ill health retirement as teaching destroyed me physically and mentally.

Good luck.

I have just retired after 38 years. I am now 62. I found the last year very hard but I tried to remain as fit as possible - walked at lunch time, tried to do an online barre class every day, mainlined magnesium glycinate / l-theanine for sleep and tried to keep it all at arms length. No school related stuff on my phone and the computer turned off at 17h.
Good luck - it is unremitting but entirely possible if you put yourself firmly first.

Which TPS scheme are you under? At 60, you could be eligible to take your TP now and reduce your working hours. Have you looked into this?

I went at 62 but wished I’d gone earlier as I could have done easily. The people I know who’ve been happiest are those who left in their late 50s. I just dithered and worried about how I’d cope in retirement. The feelings of relief when I finally did retire were immense. I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like to keep teaching full time in the classroom until 67. Some people I know have retired on grounds of ill health as they just couldn’t cope physically into their 60s.

You have my absolute sympathy OP.

This is good advice.

If some of your pension is payable at age 60 and you don't claim it then those payments are lost forever. Watch Dave Fountains videos and make sure you fully understand the scheme. It may be that you could reduce hours and still have similar income. I'm 68 and have gone part time. No way could I keep going full time. Exhausted.

Unable to unfortunately, not due to get FS pension until 65 and CA until 67. Plus need to retire with a certain amount in my pension for various reasons. Part time not an option .

This is really helpful, thanks .

Alas ,I didn't join scheme until after 2013 so my final salary part is at 65 yrs not 60. David Fountain's stuff has been really useful. It's only that 90% of my pension is career average rather than FS. I came late to teaching. Just keen to know if anyone in same boat and how they coped health /workload wise.

You've given your OP the wrong title then. Because it's not retired teaches you want to hear from. It's working teachers in their sixties.

Have you considered moving to an online school? Little behaviour management at least.

It’s surprising how we are able to manage financially on less money. I took early retirement at 58, with a slight reduction in my pension, but continued working initially FT then reducing to PT. I’m now almost 66 and have been teaching days a week. I plan on continuing to do so for the next academic year, so until August 2026, when I shall either drop down to 1 day or retire fully. My income has dropped from £55k as a full time SENCo to £30k. When I fully retire my income will drop to £27k with my TP and State pension.
We downsized - which released £50k in equity - paid off the mortgage with my lump sum and renovated our new smaller house so there will be no need to spend big bucks on maintenance for many years to come (hopefully). My DH has just stopped work after reducing his hours over the last couple of years and will have no income until his SP kicks in, in 2029, but we are still managing well. We run 2 cars, have been on holiday 2x this year and get to spend quality time looking after grandchildren once a week.
I know everyone’s circumstances are different, but there’s usually a way out of the hard work of full time class teaching.
I would advise you to check out two Facebook groups. Teacher Pensions - Teacher to Teacher (UK) is excellent at finding out how teachers can access their pensions early and how to make the best financial decisions on optimising your teacher pensions (it doesn’t give financial advice, just advice on navigating the Teacher Pension scheme) and Life After Teaching - Exit The Classroom and Thrive. This is a very supportive group that advises teachers on all things to do with being a teacher, how to navigate challenging management practices, how to secure positions out of teaching. There’s also a podcast started by the founders of LAT called The Pit Pony Podcast which is well worth a listen to. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-pit-pony-podcast-life-after-teaching/id1775695096

@Soontobe60the OP is already a member of David Fountains group.

OP what do you teach? Primary or secondary?

Primary - Year 5/6. Positive environment and colleagues are great. Challenging
classroom behaviour but nothing I can't deal with . Workload manageable generally.

I have only currently got 12 yrs accrued of pension so far as late to teaching
If I go at 67 then it's going to be approx 19K ( according to personalised calculation on TPS website. I also have a small private p3nsion ( from previous job ) to take then too, abd obviously my state. I wish I had been more pension savvy younger I really do.

I've just retired from primary . I'll be 57 in February but I've been teaching for 29 years so my pension, although reduced is manageable and I've got another self employed role which will help boost my pension. We downsized last year so mortgage free and kids are working and independent.

My last year of teaching I didn't have class responsibility which made a massive difference to my workload and stress levels. I covered PPA and management time at my school which meant no parents evening, no reports, minimal contact with parents, no class assemblies or trips to organise. It made a things things much easier.

Don't know if that's something you could do.

I am 60 next summer. I am retiring at Christmas/taking redundancy.
i will have some redundancy money plus my TP pension. Also can’t get state pension till 67(obviously). I am hoping to do some daily supply in my old school plus exam marking to top it up. I am nervous as I will drop to an income of around a1/3 of what I am currently earningz