Retirement

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Personally, I would think a sensible cost saver would be to abandon the triple lock, and keep increase to the higher of CPI or earnings increases, and abandon the 2.5% .

I agree, though I note that the RPI is used whenever inflation is being measured as an excuse to put up prices.

[french frank]

so after 40 they can do the caring role, thereby saving the state whatever the difference is between care costs and a pension.

(Where inheritance is a factor, it seems right the offspring care for those from whom they will inherit and arguably they are more in need of a pension before that inheritance!)

At that rate they would have parents and grandparents to care for.

[Lat-Literal]

At that rate they would have parents and grandparents to care for.

Oh yes.

Still, it all fits in with the rise of robots which will enter employment more easily than they will enter social care.

Plus we can be like Switzerland after 2019 and have a referendum on a national living wage irrespective of work.

[richardfinegold]

A colleague retired today. She is in her late 60s and suffering from Pulmonary Fibrosis. She is on an oxygen concentrator. She has been so damaged by steroids that she managed to dislocate a hip a couple of years ago while attempting to do a gynecological exam on a patient. Most days her assistant wheels her out at her abbreviated days end in a wheelchair and she looks worse than every patient in our waiting room. Her life expectancy is about 3 months.
She had to be forced to retire by our administration and did not go gently in the night. I know how she feels. I've had to take time off after two surgeries in the past two years and found myself bored to tears. Although it seems as though I have so many retirement plans and projects, the loss of purpose seems to be a great detriment. I am not being critical of those that have found joy in retirement. If anything, a bit envious...

[Richard Barrett]

I've had to take time off after two surgeries in the past two years and found myself bored to tears. Although it seems as though I have so many retirement plans and projects, the loss of purpose seems to be a great detriment. I am not being critical of those that have found joy in retirement. If anything, a bit envious...

This kind of thing must depend to some extent on how full of purpose and fulfilment your occupation is/was. And surely taking time off work for medical reasons isn't quite the same as finishing work definitively, in terms of what kind of plans you might think of putting into practice. I don't know. The only thing that's going to force me into retirement would be inability to keep on working, which indeed I regard as a frightening prospect since it would have to involve some serious incapacitation.

[gradus]

There are any number of people who need help and retirement may free you to deliver it, should you so choose. How you deliver is up to you.

[Nick Armstrong]

the loss of purpose seems to be a great detriment. I am not being critical of those that have found joy in retirement. If anything, a bit envious...

I know what you mean - much depends on the individual, and I've always been very happy pottering around apparently doing very little!

Plus, it's amazing what turns up. In my case, one of the joys has been a project that arose from a combination of circumstances - my lifelong love of motor sport, the death of my dad (a former Barnardo's boy and lifelong supporter), the arrival of some inheritance money, my retirement. The result is that I'm helping sponsor one of our leading up-and-coming racing drivers in the British Formula 4 championship who was about to have to give up for lack of funds. The latter half of last year has rolled into a new season this year (which begins in earnest next weekend). Following the race series, and helping in other ways, involving trips all over the country and all sorts of new friendships and contacts, has been and continues to be a highlight of the post-work period!







You can follow the progress of 17 year old Billy Monger (who's become a Barnardo's ambassador) on 10 Sunday afternoons this year live on ITV4 - the Formula 4 championship is covered as part of the British Touring Car meetings

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Wow!

[BBMmk2]

Next season starting soon, Cali?

[Lat-Literal]

From my perspective, being retired is about still having to pay a mortgage, knowing that any extra expenditure is profligate even though if I released the money by sizing down I could purchase what I wanted, understanding that if I released that money there isn't much I would ever wish to purchase and recognising that I have an unwritten will because sadly there is absolutely no one on earth who I believe is deserving of the money trapped in the home. My parents are too old to need it. I regard most charities as con artists. And I think that my disdain for money makes the attitudes towards money of rich and poor alike in this society somewhat lacking in charm. A part of me wants to make a statement of good example by selling the property at the final hour and throwing the money into a ditch with full coverage of the story by the papers. It could do some good in symbolic terms - more good than handing it to anyone else, be that any cousin who I have never seen or a Chief Executive of something supposedly about giving. There is too much greed around.

(I don't doubt that there are genuinely deserving people around but I think you have to know them to be able to assess it properly and I don't know any of those people personally)

[P. G. Tipps]

I know what you mean - much depends on the individual, and I've always been very happy pottering around apparently doing very little!

Plus, it's amazing what turns up. ...

Couldn't agree more!

The number of people who enquired of me what on earth I would do once I retired genuinely astonished me. Not being a huge fan of the 'Protestant work-ethic', labour has always been a means to an end for me not an end in itself. In my later working years retirement couldn't come quick enough. Of course I'm fortunate to have reasonable health and pensions to ensure no more financial worries post-mortgage.

I now have lots more time to selfishly indulge my old hobbies and acquire new ones. No more clock-watching or being forced to listen to work 'advice' from snotty-nosed, half-educated kids straight out of university. I can say exactly what I like, when I like, without worrying whether it may be a good career move or not.

Marvellous ... can only thoroughly commend healthy retirement and the sooner it arrives the better!

[teamsaint]

Couldn't agree more!

The number of people who enquired of me what on earth I would do once I retired genuinely astonished me. Not being a huge fan of the 'Protestant work-ethic', labour has always been a means to an end for me not an end in itself. In my later working years retirement couldn't come quick enough. Of course I'm fortunate to have reasonable health and pensions to ensure no more financial worries post-mortgage.

I now have lots more time to selfishly indulge my old hobbies and acquire new ones. No more clock-watching or being forced to listen to work 'advice' from snotty-nosed, half-educated kids straight out of university. I can say exactly what I like, when I like, without worrying whether it may be a good career move or not.

Marvellous ... can only thoroughly commend healthy retirement and the sooner it arrives the better!

I can't believe I'd have much trouble occupying my time, mostly with good works of course.

Self evidently ,I guess the state of mind is what matters. I'm trying to sort out a four day week , on lower pay, sometime over the next year. Just the intention and thought of effectively 10 weeks extra holiday is a great help.
I'm also lucky in that I probably enjoy my current role more than any other I have done, so I'm happy( generally !!) . I'm still learning new things about this business too, which is a good thing I find.

Edit: And almost everybody I work with, both inside and outside the business is ( considerably) younger than me. That kind of crept up on me.......

[Dave2002]

This kind of thing must depend to some extent on how full of purpose and fulfilment your occupation is/was. And surely taking time off work for medical reasons isn't quite the same as finishing work definitively, in terms of what kind of plans you might think of putting into practice. I don't know. The only thing that's going to force me into retirement would be inability to keep on working, which indeed I regard as a frightening prospect since it would have to involve some serious incapacitation.

I can empathise with what you've written here, but many people have jobs which are only partly fulfilling.

One other thing - is there nothing else which you'd like to do or try out in addition to what you do now?

[Richard Barrett]

I can empathise with what you've written here, but many people have jobs which are only partly fulfilling.

That's what my first sentence was about. I know plenty of people who are looking forward to / relieved at not having to go to work any more. Regarding your question: I've never really thought about things that way. I'm always doing something different.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I haven't really retired from "work"; I've retired from working for others - and from getting paid.