Just glad I don't fall in to this, but what about after you have paid your thirty years NI contributions when this starts in 2026 (long time off I know), for some they will only be fortyseven and will mean another twenty years of paying in to the bottomless pit of NI contributions for the, 'I want something for nowt' mob, ;)
As someone in her early 40s this doesn't phase me, in fact I'm prepared for it go up to 70 by the time I get somewhere near.
My other half (same age as me) has already proclaimed he doesn't intend to ever give up work completely. As he, and I, are self employed, this is not as strange as it seems as it's a case of finding clients. The chap who came to service my woodburning stove earlier this year turned out to be 73 and still heaving large lumps of cast iron stove about.
'The bottomless pit of NI' - yes agree, more true with self-employed! But hey what can you do? Get it off your chest (here?) and get on with stuff.
I'll go and dig a hole now...
I'd be happier if I could find work so that I could fret about the retirement age... :-X
I guess it depends on what type of work you do; very high stress, very physical etc. I, for one, don't think I would make it that long in teaching. It is far too stressful. The kids are generally great, but the pressure, stress, red-tape and general b*** s*** is really not good. It won't get better either. I am already teaching about 25% larger classes and 25% more contact time than I did when I started in 2003.
Quote from: pg on November 30, 2011, 09:45:46
As someone in her early 40s this doesn't phase me, in fact I'm prepared for it go up to 70 by the time I get somewhere near.
My other half (same age as me) has already proclaimed he doesn't intend to ever give up work completely. As he, and I, are self employed, this is not as strange as it seems as it's a case of finding clients. The chap who came to service my woodburning stove earlier this year turned out to be 73 and still heaving large lumps of cast iron stove about.
'The bottomless pit of NI' - yes agree, more true with self-employed! But hey what can you do? Get it off your chest (here?) and get on with stuff.
I'll go and dig a hole now...
I'm twenty odd years in front of you. I think you will change in the next twenty years although I don't have a problem with people who want to work past retirement age, what would B&Q ever do if it was not for the retired still doing their bit,
I'm 51 and I'm sure it will be 70 by the time I get there ... must admit, I am a bit fazed by having another 20 years of working in front of me when many fellow citizens were able to take early retirement at my age. Still not much you can do but look after yourself and hope you don't get sick or injured. And save every penny you can, of course.
Does this mean the idle bugger's who have never done a days work can still draw dole till there 70???. >:(
I'm afraid we have to be rational and look at life expectancy as well as consider that NI contributions are not invested for your future pension but used to pay current day pensions of those already retired.
People who are coming up to 60, 65 now were kids in an age when life expectancy was only 10 years or so after retiring. Now it's more like 20 or 30 and that just can't be paid for with the current system so people have to work longer to balance the books and, to be honest, if you're fit and well would you want all that time on your hands with a low income?
I think they should consider phasing in retirement so people pass from a 5 day week to 4 and then 3. This would mean more jobs available too. Teachers and parents should be campaigning for more teachers, better facilities and smaller class sizes to make their jobs not only less stressful but more effective and have better outcomes for their students and thus better employment prospects for skilled jobs which would drive a healthier economy. Nurses and midwives and hospital doctors also need to be more numerous to reduce stress and improve efficiency and patient care but, like state pesnions, that all has to come out of taxes, doesn't it?
Can't have it both ways.
After an accident at work lead to my 23 year career turning into redundancy I have been rehabilitating as a Volunteer at our local hospital.
Yes im 51 too, and as a type 2 Diabolic I view future life through "uncertain" eyes,but when visiting fellow sufferers
in the wards who are in their 70,s and 80,s I smile inside.
Some of those same folks are also Long standing volunteers from the Ol Skool who still push and pull patients around the corridors,but are also members of the "Bank" who get paid as part time on call helpers.
They value life,and do not get disgruntled by the politics of lifes monetary woes,they just dig in and get on.
To them 67 was just a number along the way..!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gazza
My OH worked until he was 75 and I worked until I was 65 and still worked part time and did dressmaking as out work when we had the children. We both liked to work and we were fortunate to be able to work.
We have never claimed any benefits and we still have to pay for our specs and dental treatment.
So Froglegs I understand where you are coming from .It doesn't seem fair when others get more benefits when they haven't worked. I'm afraid that the system works that way.
Those who will have to work until they are 67 will be even more miffed
Quote from: Froglegs on November 30, 2011, 10:35:41
Does this mean the idle bugger's who have never done a days work can still draw dole till there 70???. >:(
From what I heard on the news yesterday it means a 5.2% increase in payments for some of the population, and the rest have to settle for 1%,
Yeah some days your the dog ....some days your the tree...
Quote from: Froglegs on November 30, 2011, 14:14:19
Yeah some days your the dog ....some days your the tree...
love the quote.....
Unfortunately this will affect different people in different ways. As someone who works in a prison the very idea of having to work longer feels me with dread. We have to pass a fitness test every year as it is so this is just another worry...........
I think I'm probably just the scoop! :-[
Quote from: fitzsie on November 30, 2011, 21:32:08
Quote from: Froglegs on November 30, 2011, 14:14:19
Yeah some days your the dog ....some days your the tree...
love the quote.....
Unfortunately this will affect different people in different ways. As someone who works in a prison the very idea of having to work longer feels me with dread. We have to pass a fitness test every year as it is so this is just another worry...........
Since when have you had to pass a fitness test to work in a Prison ?, the POA would not put up with it,
This is such a difficult thing to find an answer to.
People who are getting to retirement age or are over retirement age often want to carry on working as they feel fit and still young and are not ready to stop working.
When you are young you look forward to not having to work and being able to pursue one's interests but when nearing retirement age you do not want to give up the routines and income so much.
However you could argue that everyone over 60 should be made to stop working so that the youngsters can have the jobs. But then they would have to work and pay a lot more tax for those jobs being freed up.
I agree with a lot that has been said, but when I or you all think back to our mam dads, grand parents, we have all done differant types of work. Heavy labour , Steel works Miners Heavy industry Everyones body is not the same, and I am not saying there should be one rule for you and one rule for me. When I started working in 1969 I payed into a pension, I could not afford it but my dad said you will need it when you finnish work. What I am saying is the people we put in charge of the country will still be drawing fat cat pensions when our grand children are dead and beriud look in the news , the papers where does it say they will not take the mass amount of money that is on offer if they lose there seat at the next elections. Sorry I have always been a Labour supporter right or wrong but that goes back to Mam and Dad who worked hard at more than one job in the 1950 to pay rent and put food on the table and i dont mean meat and veg i mean any food because they new the bills came first My Dad died at 65 did not draw his pension my Mam worked till she was 65 sister in a old age home died of breast cancer did not draw her pension AND THAT IS WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN
here in USA just because you reach the age you that can start to collect a pension has never meant you forced to retire. what make the young think just because some one retires what makes them think there will be job opening. I the climate of cost cutting most office job will be cut or replaced by automation. Only job that require actual physical work will like survive. you can load truck with automated forklift and stack boxes on pallet current only if the box are same size and weight.
the real job of future will always be in new tech and creative building like they always have been.
take the coal mines closed by strikes in uk in 1980's if they were reopened to day mostly the miners would be in control room and the mines face would have robotic diggers. the need for people in the would only be to fix the equipment. a mine that had 700 miners in the 1980's would only 80-90
workers with current technology and the safety issues would be a lot less.
as for teacher or of English and math striking is bad idea since there so many engineers and other people with need skills to teach those subjects.
The wifes grandad was forced to retire at 40. Hes now 75 and been drawing a pension for 35 years - half his life! >:( Hes really perfectly able bodied too, so he could have easily carried on working in some other capacity... ..... Does that sound fair to you, 'cos it doesnt to me.
People are living longer - its about time things changed.
Quote from: Froglegs on November 30, 2011, 14:14:19
Yeah some days your the dog ....some days your the tree...
Whats it like to be the dog. ;D
Quote from: saddad on November 30, 2011, 09:47:39
I'd be happier if I could find work so that I could fret about the retirement age... :-X
Me too!
Quote from: Mr Smith on November 30, 2011, 21:50:35
Quote from: fitzsie on November 30, 2011, 21:32:08
Quote from: Froglegs on November 30, 2011, 14:14:19
Yeah some days your the dog ....some days your the tree...
love the quote.....
Unfortunately this will affect different people in different ways. As someone who works in a prison the very idea of having to work longer feels me with dread. We have to pass a fitness test every year as it is so this is just another worry...........
Since when have you had to pass a fitness test to work in a Prison ?, the POA would not put up with it,
Unfortunately the POA did !! ::) (Where have you been !! ;D ). They've been about for over 10 years and yes, I knew what was required of me when I joined the job and in my mind felt, if I could last until I approached the latter half of my 50's I would be happy ( I only joined the job when I was 47) .
My pension won't be huge, but if these changes come in then it starts to look bleak.
The fitness test is a mixture of tests which include being able to push & pull a certain weights and the worst bit , the bleep test. Not a high figure to obtain but the older you get the harder it is and I have never in my life been a runner !! ( I find a being a talker helps the most in my job !!) The worst part is that the police don't even have to do anything like it. Basically it is a means of getting rid of staff before they cost too much to pay. If you are a former employee you will understand what I am saying. It's worst for the new staff coming into the job now as they already have to pay a higher pension and on lesser pay. ........Getting ready for privatisation ::) oooooh I could go on and on and on.........................
Which is why I have turned to growing vegetables, and.......relax !!
Because the other has been retired for nine years, I can't stop laughing at this, the hardest exercise I have seen a screw do is lift a pint in the Brixton club, ;D
Is the government taking our octogenarians of today as an example of people living longer? These 80 -90 year olds went through the austerity of the second world war. They had to make meals out of nothing, no ready meals or burgers for them.
very small amounts of meat, sugar, butter and eggs. Do you really think that today's teenagers and twenty somethings with their takeaways, convenience foods and binge drinking will last that long? I don't. In 60 years time the government will be laughing all the way to the next budget.
According to today's news their livers are on the way out already... :-X
Quote from: Mr Smith on December 01, 2011, 21:29:47
Because the other has been retired for nine years, I can't stop laughing at this, the hardest exercise I have seen a screw do is lift a pint in the Brixton club, ;D
I can't comment on the London jails but I have worked at two in the east of england and the days of spending lunch in the Mess are way gone. As I mentioned before we are all heading towards privatisation (Birmingham being an example) which will mean working for less money, with less staff. At least your other half was there in the " good old days" because he wouldn't recognise the service now !!
Quote from: queenbee on December 01, 2011, 23:46:23
Is the government taking our octogenarians of today as an example of people living longer? These 80 -90 year olds went through the austerity of the second world war. They had to make meals out of nothing, no ready meals or burgers for them.
very small amounts of meat, sugar, butter and eggs. Do you really think that today's teenagers and twenty somethings with their takeaways, convenience foods and binge drinking will last that long? I don't. In 60 years time the government will be laughing all the way to the next budget.
Dead right!
My parents are both in their 90s having come from quite poor backgrounds where food was basic, they survived the war on meagre rations (here and abroad) and worked bl**dy hard. My dad started work as a farm hand and then a Hall Boy at 15 yrs of age. At 96 he is at last taking it easy.
Personally I'm not sure I'll make it to his age and I am even more doubtful about the younger generation.
Smile more, be grateful for what you have and don''t worry about those who have more. Enjoy what's yours. Life's too short.
Quote from: fitzsie on December 02, 2011, 19:14:55
Quote from: Mr Smith on December 01, 2011, 21:29:47
Because the other has been retired for nine years, I can't stop laughing at this, the hardest exercise I have seen a screw do is lift a pint in the Brixton club, ;D
I can't comment on the London jails but I have worked at two in the east of england and the days of spending lunch in the Mess are way gone. As I mentioned before we are all heading towards privatisation (Birmingham being an example) which will mean working for less money, with less staff. At least your other half was there in the " good old days" because he wouldn't recognise the service now !!
Not me but my Mrs
Quote from: fitzsie on December 01, 2011, 19:02:36
Quote from: Mr Smith on November 30, 2011, 21:50:35
Quote from: fitzsie on November 30, 2011, 21:32:08
Quote from: Froglegs on November 30, 2011, 14:14:19
Yeah some days your the dog ....some days your the tree...
love the quote.....
Unfortunately this will affect different people in different ways. As someone who works in a prison the very idea of having to work longer feels me with dread. We have to pass a fitness test every year as it is so this is just another worry...........
Since when have you had to pass a fitness test to work in a Prison ?, the POA would not put up with it,
Unfortunately the POA did !! ::) (Where have you been !! ;D ). They've been about for over 10 years and yes, I knew what was required of me when I joined the job and in my mind felt, if I could last until I approached the latter half of my 50's I would be happy ( I only joined the job when I was 47) .
My pension won't be huge, but if these changes come in then it starts to look bleak.
The fitness test is a mixture of tests which include being able to push & pull a certain weights and the worst bit , the bleep test. Not a high figure to obtain but the older you get the harder it is and I have never in my life been a runner !! ( I find a being a talker helps the most in my job !!) The worst part is that the police don't even have to do anything like it. Basically it is a means of getting rid of staff before they cost too much to pay. If you are a former employee you will understand what I am saying. It's worst for the new staff coming into the job now as they already have to pay a higher pension and on lesser pay. ........Getting ready for privatisation ::) oooooh I could go on and on and on.........................
Which is why I have turned to growing vegetables, and.......relax !!
Just had a word with the Brother-in-law about the Fitness test and the good news is even I could pass it after an afternoon in the pub, but he does agree it could be used as a way to get rid of staff,
We have 3 prisons here, both my father and father in law were officers there. Retirement at 55, bought their houses on the prison officers estates at knocked down prices, pensions rated on final salary which was very good as most of them had to work double shifts before the 'new start' came in.
Most of the old school officers had long retirements, not so now, what with modern diets and lazy habits most of the newer officers end up on boot hill long before their 3 score and 10 The cemeteries are full of graves that have ages less than sixty marked on the headstones. So they are not paying out the pensions they used to pay. Fitness tests seem a good idea as I am always seeing working parties of fit cons being guarded by their fat controllers stood with hands in pockets and chain smoking the pass the boredom. Heart attacks must go with the job.
Quote from: ACE on December 03, 2011, 09:16:15
Most of the old school officers had long retirements, not so now, what with modern diets and lazy habits most of the newer officers end up on boot hill long before their 3 score and 10 The cemeteries are full of graves that have ages less than sixty marked on the headstones. So they are not paying out the pensions they used to pay. Fitness tests seem a good idea as I am always seeing working parties of fit cons being guarded by their fat controllers stood with hands in pockets and chain smoking the pass the boredom. Heart attacks must go with the job.
Actually, the opposites can also apply. I remember the days when officers had access to cheap booze in the Mess and could be seen visiting at all hours. ( During the working day as well ! ) Together with the cooked breakfasts that they could get , meant that some of the officers had dreadful lifestlyes. I've attended a few funerals, of officers who have retired and a few years later have died from heart attacks or similar.
I think it is a benefit having this fitness test as it does mean that you end up making an effort to look after your own health. However it is still galling that we have to have this test when no other organisation ( like the police officers ) have to do one...............Kenneth Clarke does not like us :o
Interesting thread this. I really hadn't given much thought to the age I might retire at until forced to last year, when us NHS types had to do a 'pension choice' exercise. As a midwife, I could in theory retire at 55 (which seems a bit near now, only 5 years away!) but would face a much reduced pension because of the number of years service...but the reality is that I really don't think I could cope physically with 'hands on' midwifery much beyond 60, and I am fit and well at the moment.
Doing at least 1 week of night duty every month, 12 hour shifts (my choice to do that, otherwise it is 5 x 7 1/2 hour shifts a week with up to 10 on the trot) this job does not is not for the faint hearted and really does not take your age into account at all. I still feel very privileged to do my job, and will happily carry on until I drop, but hope that isn't literally! ;D
I did have a letter ages ago to say I could get my pension at 63.
Must say I love my part time job selling Antiques but weeks when I have done lots of extra shifts I really feel it.Being on your feet for a long time is something I notice now.
Had to give up my Gardening round due to two ops but determined to stay as active as possible.
As I live close to town I only get the car out when I go out of town.Tend to walk most places.
I don't fancy retiring full time.........work gives me money....new friends,meeting people from all over the world...yes have the lottie in the summer but can imagine winter could be trying.
67 seems very old to me. I found my job working with figures increasingly stressful and in the end decided to retire at 55. I was very short of cash until my state pension kicked in. But certainly no shortage of things to do.
I think if people are going to work that long there will be a need to find second careers. I suppose that allotmenting has become my second career. Someone will have to look into creating millions of part time jobs. Seems odd to me to get older people working longer and then not have enough jobs for the youngsters.
I know someone who has 4 MacDonald's,he has a thousand applications on average every month from kids looking for jobs. :(
Over the weekend I bumped into an old friend who took up a creative second career doing silk paintings, in her sixties. She's now well into her seventies and I think it's the work that's keeping her young. She once worked as a school nurse and later stopped because of health problems, but she has found something that combines little-and-often work at home with dates in the diary for craft fairs at weekends - a good balance of quiet industry and sociability. I've admired her for years and continue to hold up her as a role model for later life.
For myself, I've worked as a teacher and as a food writer, but now regard my fruit and veg growing a purposeful hobby that puts food on the table and allows me to put my health and my family's interests first.
It would be nice to think that someone else will create appropriate opportunities for us to work at different stages of our life, but in practice, only I can judge what works for me. It took quite a while to adjust from being a public sector employee to being self-employed, but my life was richer for making the journey. I really enjoyed food writing, but stopped when the time and effort of writing proposals got out of all proportion to the remuneration available in a recession, plus the ever-increasing competition. So I decided to focus on the growing, shopping (parsimoniously!) and cooking, and I find it a very satisfying way of life. With my husband's earnings and my ability to be flexible, we are very happy and, as life events have shown, we are well-placed to deal with the unexpected.
I wish everyone else sufficient income and the level of life satisfaction that we've reached.
Spudbash :)
im 57, ive called it a day. And from the age of 15 ive worked for 39 of the last 42 years, and paid more than £200,000 into the system in taxes. I am now extracting whatever benefits i can from them, and doing cash in hand. I refuse to pay anymore in, and i refuse to work till i drop dead at 66 , bearing in mind ive already had a heart attack and bowel cancer. I exepct a reasonable retuyrn on my £200,000 - if i had not paid any of that and invested it, by now it would be making me about £10,000 a year in a bond.
Quote from: lincsyokel2 on December 05, 2011, 12:50:55
im 57, ive called it a day. And from the age of 15 ive worked for 39 of the last 42 years, and paid more than £200,000 into the system in taxes. I am now extracting whatever benefits i can from them, and doing cash in hand. I refuse to pay anymore in, and i refuse to work till i drop dead at 66 , bearing in mind ive already had a heart attack and bowel cancer. I exepct a reasonable retuyrn on my £200,000 - if i had not paid any of that and invested it, by now it would be making me about £10,000 a year in a bond.
You have taken the words straight out of my mouth, I don't blame you I will be on the same bandwagon next March, :)
Quote from: lincsyokel2 on December 05, 2011, 12:50:55
heart attack and bowel cancer.
Both must have been very hard - you have my condolences, but in your calculation to justify tax dodging have you deducted the cost of your treatment? I reckon the CT scan I used to get every 3 months (now 6 months) costs a few thousand a pop, on top of the cost of surgery & medical expertise.
Due to being deemed disabled I had to take early retirement 10 years ago. I refused to accept that I was unfit for work but nobody would employ me. After 40 years in the forces and local authority I was given decent pension, but the big gap needed filling, so I started up on my own. In a months time they will give me another £500 a month and I will be a bona fide pensioner. But I'm not ready to stop yet and I cannot ever see the day I have will not have a spade in my hand. Modern medicine has given me back my full mobility, why waste it.
Mind you these new walking frames do help. ;D
(http://www.adamphillipsplanthire.co.uk/images/diy-mini-digger2.jpg)
Love it ACE....
Medicine is great.... was pushed out on ill-health... too young for pensions... too old (expensive) to get back into my line of work... :-\
Love the fancy zimmer, Ace! ;D
You give us a brilliant example of self-reinvention and it's for each person to find what suits him or her as the next stage of life comes along. Sometimes that'll mean a change of career or going into voluntary work, or simply living life to the full, I guess. On the Action for Happiness website, they talk about meaning and purpose and connection to something bigger. (http://www.actionforhappiness.org/10-keys-to-happier-living/be-part-of-something-bigger (http://www.actionforhappiness.org/10-keys-to-happier-living/be-part-of-something-bigger))
I get a lot out of knowing that there individuals out there in the great allotment site of life, logging on and sharing their time and experience with other gardeners. And look how much money we're raising for charity this Christmas, and the Movember thread - I think there's some meaning and purpose and connection to something bigger here....maybe you all do, too?
Spudbash :)
Quote from: Aden Roller on December 03, 2011, 01:50:56
Personally I'm not sure I'll make it to his age and I am even more doubtful about the younger generation.
oh you will. The advances in modern medicine in the last 20 years and the next 20 mean that most of us will live into our 80's, many into our 90's, and a record number of 100+ will exist. In fact, its commonly accepted in medical circles that somewhere in a primary school, somewhere in the world, the first human who will live to be 500 years old has already been born and is walking around.
Quote from: lincsyokel2 on December 06, 2011, 17:04:46
Quote from: Aden Roller on December 03, 2011, 01:50:56
Personally I'm not sure I'll make it to his age and I am even more doubtful about the younger generation.
oh you will. The advances in modern medicine in the last 20 years and the next 20 mean that most of us will live into our 80's, many into our 90's, and a record number of 100+ will exist. In fact, its commonly accepted in medical circles that somewhere in a primary school, somewhere in the world, the first human who will live to be 500 years old has already been born and is walking around.
I'll let you know in 50 years time. ;D