Working full time until 67 - is it possible or realistic?

[Hopthegoodgod]

I will not be able to take private pension until 67 yrs as I started paying in later in life.
Is it realistic to assume I can work full time
( state school teacher) ? Colleagues suggest I am being naive. I am in good health atm and not overweight or a smoker/drinker. However recent comments about how our working memory/body deteriates have got me doubting myself.Would welcome comments on personal experience or opinion?

A cellist, in London? I know a chap just like that!

Your job doesn't sound like it is very strenuous. I would have thought it would only be hard if you had a very physical job.

I'm almost 65. I have a full on, professional job working about 50 hpw. I also have a substantial home to run with a very large garden. I am relatively fit and pain free despite severe osteoporosis.

Over the last year I have found I have to pace significantly. If we have the family home for the weekend with lots of catering, nowadays I need Monday off as otherwise I am utterly shattered the following week. Similarly, we don't do a midweek dinner or opera/theatre trip any more.

Add in two very frail mothers who need very frequent visiting and full-time work is no longer sustainable.

I am reducing to three days a week after the summer. Never thought I would feel the need to. Sometimes after a full time, full on week it feels as though my brain has run out of space.

We slow down and it creeps up. Rather like being 36 weeks pg when at 34 weeks you thought you could do a day's work before going into labour.

Fortunately, I can cut down from a financial perspective - I'll see how long I can keep going part-time.

Also a dear friend of ours retired at 66 last year. Three weeks later they were diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia They just reached 67. I have worked very hard - I want some quality retirement.

How old are you OP if you don't mind sharing. I am in a teaching role in FE, similar situation to yourself. I am 60 no health issues atm , I don't get all the holiday though. I currently feel absolutely fine, I have had a few weeks recently where I feel my brain has left my body forgetting daft things but I

am just making myself do double checks to make sure I am more on the ball. I am going to reassess in two years where I am upto both physically and financially, but otherwise keep on keeping on.🙂.

I think it's 100% luck, if your body is fit enough to do it. And your roll plays a part too, someone with a desk job has a better chance than someone doing manual labour spending their days loading and unloading a cement mixer.

And it's not just body, the mind has to be sharp too.

Something like 30% will be on sickness benefits before they reach retirement age. And I've no doubt they'll be others who end up looking for less physical jobs or reducing hours.

I’m 62, working full time and expecting to have to do that for another 5 years. I’m very fit and well, but if I could afford to retire today I would, simply to have time to do the things I enjoy.

When l read your heading l thought..of course you can unless you are a teacher!!! It does take a huge amount of energy especiallywith very young children. . I retired at 64 but had worked in Special Needs towards the end so not dealing with a whole class which l loved. Is there a way you can shed some responsibilities? And of course some schools are easier than others.

I’m retraining now in my 50s so that I can have a career longer term, I’m currently in the creative sector and I’d like to move into the medical field.

Depends if you're teaching A Levels or early years really?

I’m nearly 68 and still working about 70% of my previous hours. I was working full time until a few months ago. I don’t think my standard of work has declined as I’ve got older and I don’t have a physical job so that’s not an issue. I will probably continue to work on a much more part time basis into my 70s. I can still remember one of my colleagues when I first started at my last job telling me she was 85 😆

It will become much more normal to work until 67 and beyond, then it won’t seem so bad. We have staff who are that age at school and also have Saturday jobs. In fact most support staff have second jobs.

There are very few people in their 60s where I work. I’m almost 60 and can’t afford to retire until 67. I find it really depressing. I’m fit and capable of doing my job, but do I want to work until I’m 67? Absolutely not! I want to be out there travelling, seeing friends, living without the restrictions of the Mon-Fri drag. I watched my parents retire at 60 and then die within the decade. So does that mean I’ll only have 3 years of retirement? Seems a bit rubbish after working for 40+ years.

I take it that most of the pps are under 60. I was always under the impression that we gradually age, until I hit 60. Suddenly I can't see in dim light, my balance is shot and I fall for no reason. All sorts of aches and pains that weren't there before. When it's really hot I need a nap in the late afternoon - where has that come from? I've always been healthy, do lots of activities, don't drink or smoke and I've never felt my age but I do now. I am working full time but I'm not going to make it to 67.

Huge health changes at 40 and at 60

Nope, but I'm guessing it's a thing because musicians have such freelance type careers. He's a lovely chap, energetic and enthusiastic and has definitely brought something to his second career and not just there for a pension.

It is possible if you keep yourself fit and healthy.

Yes it’s possible, my father worked until 70 (manual job) and I have a friend still working (non manual, professional) at 77. Health obviously varies between people but most 67 year olds are healthier than much younger people 50 years ago, my grandparents were elderly and incapacitated in early 70’s whereas my parents have more energy than me!

I think that whether you feel a sense of purpose and/or enjoy your role has a significant impact on whether you can continue to work until 67.

I have changed careers from a very active /physical role to a desk job. I miss my active role but I can cope better with aging in my current desk job.

The only problem I have is that I feel slow and old compared to my work colleagues who are a third of my age...

Perhaps do a spreadsheet and work out the absolute minimum amount you need to live on and go from there. Then you might reduce your hours/days in the run up to full retirement.

It's hard because when I started working 60 was the retirement age and 67 seems a long way off even though I am in my early 60s. The workplace has undergone tremendous changes and there are much more demands on each employee.

My DH is still working at 67. He’s self employed, usually starts work around 6:30am but he gets a few hours of free time in the day. Sometimes done by 5, sometimes works til late. Days off sometimes, and at peak season there’s about 7 weeks without a day off. He manages fine but I’d like us to wind our business down in the next year or two so he can retire. I do think it’s very health dependent and a combination of good habits and luck - he is active, normal weight and on no chronic medications.

I think in the future retiring due to age will be replaced with retiring due to ill health. Which is of course correlated with age. But unless you are wealthy, most people in the future will work until their health no longer allows it.

My DM worked full-time from 16, she was very happy to retire early when she became a grandma at 56 losing a good chunk of her pension. We started noticing a deterioration in her not long after and by 60 we were begging for an assessment. She was finally assessed and diagnosed with dementia at 61. It would not have been safe for her to be working even before 60. Thankfully they were mortgage free and DDad was receiving a good pension.

I have a colleague who is 75 and going strong but I’ve other colleagues who have said they have found full time working and commuting much harder as they turned 50. They are then trying to change working patterns to try and make it a bit easier and feeling pressure to take on childcare for children on top of working and being tired.

Yes it’s possible. It being realistic will vary from person to person depending on their role and health.

I know of plenty of people who have worked into their late 70s and beyond; some for the money and some for the joy of working. I know of others who stopped working in their late 50s due to circumstances, be it ill health, an older husband, or they felt financially that they didn’t need to work and managed on a modest private/occupational pension by cutting their cloth accordingly. I also know of others who continue to work until their state pension kicks in as they don’t feel that their occupational pension will be sufficient for the years before state pension kicks in.

Plenty of people work til and past 67.

Colleagues suggest I am being naive.
How old are the colleagues suggesting this?

Oh this made me chuckle — classic farmer logic! I’m a farmer’s daughter myself, and honestly, the idea of retiring at 65 in farming circles is basically unheard of. My dad did retire in his 60s, but only because the tractor finally gave up before he did and we practically staged an intervention.
I swear, there's something in the soil that keeps them going — maybe it's pride, maybe it's diesel fumes — but the competitive spirit is real. “Can’t let old Bob over the hedge outlast me!” is practically a retirement plan in itself.
Tell your dad he’s still got a few good years left in him… if he can lift a sack of feed and beat the neighbour to the postbox, he’s not done yet!

Nobody is teaching in my school past early 60s. You might have a chance if you are promoted and not in the classroom. You could keep working, but in a different job. You might find yourself managed out anyway.

This thread is encouraging. So many people working past 65. I think is good to keep brain active but perhaps parting will be better