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’m almost 65, work 2.5 days and have elderly parents to keep an eye on. I do lots of gym classes a week and run 30 minutes x3 week. We are all different.

It's not normal; you need to see a doctor. Don't let them fob you off.

Until last year I worked in a physical job with women who were mostly in their late fifties to early seventies, and the woman who was over 70 was sometimes pretty tired at the end of a long day, but she was working much longer hours than you. The thing was that they were all healthy and took care of their health so they could do that job. It makes a huge difference and I think it is more necessary as we get older, because GPs told to fob women off with 'oh, this is how you can expect to feel'.

62 and still working full time plus caring for ill DH who can't work. Don't really have a choice

I'm 57 and always tired. I was on HRT for 4 years before my cancer diagnosis but sadly had to stop taking it immediately and won't ever be able to take it now. I take medication that does the opposite of HRT where it removes all of the oestrogen in my body. This results in lots of side effects, one of them is lack of sleep. I can be awake 3-4 hours a night sometimes.

However I still work 6-8 days a month, walk and swim weekly. But I'm tired. Everyone has a different body that may age at different rates. Stress affects people too. Life is hard for many people.

@BG2015 I'm interested in how much it cost to train to deliver speed awareness courses and how much work is available?

I trained with a company called TTC. You need to have some training or teaching qualification. I applied via their website back in February 2025 but because I wasn't leaving my teaching job until July I had to wait for my interview.
So I had an interview via zoom in the June, had to do a 10 minute micro teach on any subject and then a brief very informal interview. I was offered the role there and then.
It's a self employed role so you don't get holiday pay or sickness pay but you can do a much or as little as you want. The courses are 3 hours long you can do online or in a classroom. The basic pay is £65.75 for each course. If you do 11-22 a month it rises to £67.75, if you do 23+ it goes to £71.75. Evenings and weekends pay more too. If you do classroom courses I think it's more.
Training was free and good, seems that lots of teachers, ex police, driving instructors make up their pool of trainers. You do about 18 hours of training over 4 sessions, you aren't paid for the training. You then get paired up with a mentor and you deliver training alongside them (you are paid a fee for these)

I didn't end up liking it, the tech stuff put me off plus I'm used to physical people in a classroom but I know lots of people find it really good especially as a very flexible part time job to supplement a pension etc.

I used to know someone I work with who was in his mid-seventies. It’s a sad story, he sadly passed away at work. Public Transport. I don’t know why he worked for so long, I heard from others he had side-hustles, but maybe he didn’t want to be at home more? I decided I would not wait until then to retire, I would try and get some “post-work” life at least.

I'm nearly 62 and mainly WFH - still full time. I definitely do not have the same energy levels as I used to but I still like doing things - holidays, going out etc. I am single so getting out of the house is important and you need money for that!
I do things with my kids too. I also rent so will always have that to cover. I'm not sure how long I can keep working full time - there has definitely been a dip in energy/enthusiasm over the last couple of years. But I will keep going for as long as poss- unless I win the lotto!

I’m 65 in July and retired from my school office manager’s post last July. I had 6 months off and then realised I missed the structure. I now work 2 days per week in an administrative role in a hospital. It’s a perfect balance and helps top up my small pension which I’m drawing down until I get SP at 67.