How on earth do people work into their 60's and beyond.

[BG2015]

DP and I were talking earlier (he's now asleep at 7.15pm) and saying how do people work into their 60's and 70's.

My DP is 59, he works in demolition which can be quite an active job. He's out of the house at 6am as they travel all over the country and he often isn't back until 6pm.

I'm a teacher recently dropped to 4 days after ongoing health issues after having breast cancer in 2021. Im 55, 56 in February.

We're both knackered. Neither of us sleep very well at all. We eat healthily and used to go to the gym 2/3 times a week but now only manage walking as our form of exercise.

I'm desperate to change jobs, planing to retire at 58 and get a part time job in an office. I think once I retire DP will reduce his hours and slowly retire.

But how do people have the energy to keep working. A teaching assistant at my school has just retired at 71 and I really don't know how she's kept going.

I work with a 68 year old widow. She works 6 days out of 7. I don't know how she does it. I tell her every week!

I think it depends on your job

I WFH and write very boring quotes for a living

I could do this at 60 (health dependent, of course)

I'm 55 and down to three days and I'm knackered. We are in rented tho so I will have to work until I die.

Because they dont get their pension until 67 and they need the money?

I am. 63, loving my teaching job but have only done it for 8years (previously in business career)
However leaving at Xmas as want o enjoy active years (an

I’m not of that age yet. However many women at my gym are well in to their 60’s and 70’s and fitter than I am! Most of them work at least part time.
One or my fittest friends is 64 and just cycled the length of France in 2 weeks.
Many people I work with are late 50’s- early 60’s and working full time. I dont know what the secret is but I plan to keep active and strength train as much as possible for longevity

m still healthy and vigorous so want to make the most of that

I'm not sure what you mean when you say that you're planning to retire at 58 and get a part time job in an office. That's not retirement. I'm almost 50 and work part time in an office, and find it exhausting. I find the volume of work and the pace of it hard, and then there's the ever-changing software, systems and methods of communication. I don't know how I'll cope with it as I get even older.

Depends on your job, and your health.

Your DH works long hours in a physically tiring job, and you’ve had cancer. Very different to somebody with no health issues who sits at a desk all day.

DM worked until almost 70 because she is a widow, and it got her out of the house and socialising daily, and kept her mind active (payments clerk). Otherwise she would be going days without seeing anyone (DBro and I both live an hour away - we actually do both see her weekly, but that is only two days out of seven).

I'm 40 with two kids, work 5 days a week in an office and knackered. I think it's just par for the course now. Most people I know are tired.... but I'm my own worst enemy, instead of going to bed at 8pm once the kids are asleep that's when we adults get a couple of hrs so we're usually up until 10-11pm. Life is a slog, doing something you enjoy, with good people, makes the difference for me.

I have an easy admin job. Physically I could do it forever, but my organsationall skillsi might not last. On top of just feeling that I am T OO OLD to be bossed around all day.

I can retire now if I want to and claim my teachers pension but I can't quite afford to yet. I could then get an admin job for 2 days a week to supplement my teachers pension which will allow me to walk out of the door and not have to plan and prep school stuff until 8pm.

I've been teaching for 28 years and have a wealth of experience but I still spend at least 2 hours a couple of nights a week doing school stuff.

I've had enough.

Depends on your job, and your health.

This ^ wot @Saschka said

I'm 65 next year, love my job in project management, love being in touch with people doing genuinely cutting edge technology work and the way as a team we come together to move mountains.

A few years ago I started to look for things that might be fulfilling in retirement. Some people might enjoy working with volunteers, as many people do in retirement. I do not enjoy it anything like as much as this work.

They are going to have to prize my fingers from my 'ID' to get me to leave.

I think there is a big difference between working because you have to (particularly in physically demanding jobs) and working because you want to.

I've had enough.

^

Don't blame you!

No idea how people work til nearly 70!! Me and DH are nearly 60, and are hoping to retire at 63. Both work part time - 20 hours a week me, 26 him - and would love to retire soon. (He was full time up to 52, and I was full time up to just before 30 when I had my first child. Never went full time again.) Still been a good earner though.

I have a good and decent private pension coming to me at 60, and I will be putting that away for a few years towards me and DH retiring at 63.

We have both paid our fucking dues!

.

Please don’t think that an office job will be easy or stress free. You will compete for those jobs with much younger candidates who have more relevant experience.

I've recently started an office job in a sector new to me at 60. I'm loving it and I'll keep going as long as I can.

I'm supposed to teach till 68 but that won't be happening. I intend to be retired by 60 and using my private and teachers pensions to enjoy life until my state pension kicks in!

It depends on your health, your job, how much you enjoy working and how much you need the money!

Plenty of self-employed people continue for many years past state retirement age. I work with plenty of people who are 60+, 65+.

I know plenty of volunteers putting in serious shifts.

Maybe it’s down to feeling enthused about what you’re doing. I seem to know a few people starting new careers in their 50s and I’m thinking about it myself after 30 years doing what I do now. It’s hard to maintain the enthusiasm for decades.
Heartened to see your comment, @63isMe How did you find starting over as a teacher?

New sector! How exciting. Had you previously done office work?

When I had an office job I often stayed much later than 8pm more than 2 nights a week, and sometimes we were even told we weren't allowed to leave until something was done. Plus we didn't get school holidays amounts of annual leave. So you would have to pick your office job carefully and set firm boundaries, including being prepared to walk away from the job altogether.

It's all well and good saying talk to HR or a union or whatever, but unions are rare for office jobs and there are plenty of ways the employer can get back at you or make things difficult by refusing the annual leave days you want, withholding pay rises or bonuses, taking the "reasonable other tasks" part of the contract to extremes, removing or reducing responsibilities, having performance plans etc. When we we under the EU working time directive, we were forced to opt out of it to receive an inflationary-level pay rise, for example.

I am a 50 year old teacher. I shall be working until I drop as I cannot afford my rent otherwise.

This is precisely the reason I have strongly advised my child and nieces and nephews to go to university and get desk type jobs. Laws surrounding disability and retirement do not account for the fact that some jobs are simply too physically demanding to keep doing when you are sick or old.

Meanwhile, I was able to work through all but the worst few weeks of my cancer and I have plenty of coworkers in their 70s who work because they enjoy it.