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.

Me too. I am 53'and gave up my supermarket job for an admin job with the council 4 months ago.
Far from providing the security I was hoping for I am finding it exhausting. The pace, the volume, the multitude of different systems and expectations from all the teams I support.
Am very close to resigning from the pressure and going back to retail. Have recently divorced which makes it all the more stressful

Quite honestly I do think farmers are on a different planet work wise! There are probably very few professions that work as long and as unsociable hours.

I was lucky to retire from nurse management post at 61 to allow me to spend pre school time with my grandchildren. I knew I would miss out if I left it any longer before they went to school.
With retirement sum my DH and I worked 7 days a week with our jobs before retirement and renovated 4 properties to rent out to allow us to retire earlier. It was exhausting but worth it to give us an income .
We both felt we couldn’t and didn’t want to continue in the working environment at our age. Many are being forced to work on as they can’t afford not to. State pension at 66/67 is ridiculous however I worry about my children in 30’s who may not even get a state pension, another reason why properties with be left to them.

We work because we have to, to put food on the table and try to pay for heating. I am exhausted and feel ill most of the time now, but have no option. Not complaining. It's just how it is.

I don't really understand the argument that people are still working (in the same career) because they have to. Surely if you can't physically do a job you will either be forced out on capability grounds or will end up resigning on health grounds regardless of? You virtually never see TAs in infants classrooms past age 60 because of all the kneeling down etc. Scaffolders are very often in their 20s and 30s because it involves such heavy lifting all day every day. With the best will in the world and whatever financial pressures you have, you can't continue in a job you can no longer physically manage.

It's not a binary can/ can't thing, barring a significant accident or illness. Many people work when they feel knackered and it's making them ill physically or mentally but they stumble on. People can do all sorts of things rathef than face homelessness/ insurmountable debt.@

I can't see what the fuss is about. I'm going to be 71 this year and am still in full-time, 5-days-a-week work in a school, non-teaching. I enjoy being busy and quite frankly, can use the income as my pension won't cut it. My kids tell me to retire; that there are lots of things I can do like volunteering at charities; but I say 'why'? If I am to be kept busy, then I may as well receive money for it! The job keeps me active and my mind alert.

@ronstern thsts fine, but lots of other people have circumstances where they are knackered /burnt out / exhausted because they are caring for elderly parents, or partner etc. Both my adult kids have disabilities. If I was still working I would not have a minute to myself, and then there would be no caring taking place.
I no longer have the stress of trying to do a job where I couldn't do what the customers wanted most of the time. My job became a question of managing expectations. And that really is stressful.

I think that as a lot of the boomers start to die (sorry, bit grim, but that's reality) we will start to see a lot of people buying up properties in their 50s and 60s - I know a few people who have basically done this and bought a flat or house with money inherited from parents. So I do think a lot of older renting people will end up with somewhere to live.

I guess the problem is that because they are doing this so late in life, they will not have had much chance to build up other assets (pensions) throughout their working lives, as so much of their money has been thrown away on rent for decades.

I'm late 60s, work in a busy, stressful admin job. Dropped a day already and planning to drop another day but no plans to stop working. I am, for my age, incredibly fit and healthy - as user name suggests I have horses and I NEVER stop - i get incredibly bored and restless if I am not constantly on the go, at work, in the garden, involved with riding club, actually riding, working...... I do pilates, walk miles, am not overweight, a smoker or drinker and eat healthily.

But working on this late in life does depend hugely on your job, your mindset and your physical health. I know women half my age with half my energy and physical strength. I am one of the lucky ones to be able to choose to work on because my health and energy levels are good. Not everyone is so lucky.

I also work in the agricultural sector - where normal 'retirement' rarely applies - we have so many customers still working and farming well into their 70s and 80s. Even if they hand the business over to the next generation they are generally still out there driving tractors and helping out with the harvest and the lambing!

Yes I'm exhausted as 57. Hoping to retire at 60.

I don't sleep well either and job has become so busy.

That's a bit different though, as its not so much a job as a way of life. Farming is ingrained in a person from the time they are a child, so they aren't going to suddenly stop at a certain age - its part of their life. There may also be some scope for adapting tasks to accommodate an aging body, such as giving the heavier work to sons or other younger family members and continuing with some of the lighter tasks.

I'm 60 and would retire now if I could afford to. But I cant afford to. So on we go

@DickEmery , private pension plans have been around for a long time, outside of any schemes offered by employers. I tend to agree with @HeySummerWhereAreYou . I entered the workforce in 1990 and at that stage it was received wisdom that it was wise to not depend on company schemes or the state pension - I started one as soon as I could and I don't consider myself to have been particularly money-savvy throughout my life. Wish I'd paid more into it though.

When I was a kid, in the 60s there were ads from the Prudential, encouraging people to invest in a pension with them. A series of drawings of a man looking older and getting more depressed as he had no pension and wondered how he would manage in retirement. So for over 60 years the ordinary person, albeit a man in the ad, has been encouraged to start a private pension.

There's several million "boomers" renting (and reports have found that older renters are one of the poorest groups of renters - I don't have the figures to hand but will try to find the time to post them later). Plus many who own will lose everything in care home fees.

So no inheritance for their renting dependants.

The UK needs more social housing asap - including homes suitable for older people.

Lol. I was a child in the 80s and remember all the personal pension ads on tv. Some people only remember what they want to.

i don’t believe very many normal adults have “never heard of private pensions”. As pp says it’s like never having heard of mortgages or saving accounts. It’s usually just an excuse for not having made pension provision

Would love to have enough money to be able to retire now and travel, take up some different hobbies.

I do love my job which is just as well as I don’t think my pension provision is where it should be, I can’t afford to be unemployed, they don’t take buttons in the shops.

My partner and I will have to work until ill health prevents us due to financial circumstances. My partner's ex wife however, who took him for every penny bought a three bed house in Norfolk and retired at 63.

I retired at 62 when I got my State Pension. The last few years i was utterly exhausted. Work was stressful and very busy, despite being office based. I also had family responsibilities. My main health issues cleared up once I was no longer stressed and exhausted. Now I am over 70 I could still work part time but am much slower and do not have the stamina I had. One full busy day means I am exhausted the next.

I left teaching two years ago at the age of 57 because even though I was ‘only’ teaching 3 days a week, I was knackered and never seemed to be able to switch off. I still worked 5 days a week for 3 days pay. I now work 3 days a week (8am to 4pm) in the NHS. It’s an admin type role but I’m still on my feet most of the day. To be honest, after teaching it feels like a holiday and I could definitely do it into my 60s.

I'm seriously considering an NHS admin role. I look every week at their vacancies and know I could easily do any of them.

Did you just apply direct? Or do Bank work first?

that's my girl. The real one. Hope you get all you need and on time, as ever.