The Age of No Retirement-I hate this name!

The lady who said she'd only had paid employment for six years didn't say she'd done nothing else. How do you know what she might have done? Bringing up the kids, looking after the old folks, lots of helping the neighbours and so on. I think it's a bit cheeky to say stay at mums can't have opinions. Anyway, I don't think much of yours.

Books, radio, TV, libraries, lectures, talking to other people - I don't think acess to these is restricted to the hours at work. In fact, I suspect it would not go down at all well to spend the time supposed to be used doing whatever you are paid for in finding the facts and figures on which to form opinions.

Discussion with workmates? Yes, useful to exchange ideas with them, but there are actually lots of people around in other places, probably a lot more of them and a different cross-section to the same ones met repeatedly at work.

I joke that my sis-in law took early retirement at 20 when she married my brother but being married to someone in the armed forces can be a job in itself. I grew up in the RAF it but marry into it? No thanks!

My gym went bankrupt a few weeks ago which left me in a dilemma as to whether to join another one [I do enjoy going] or whether to devise an exercise eroutine to do at home. I then tried out the local council gym only to find that they didn't give concessions until everyone reached the age of 65. I pointed out that it seemed unfair given that I was living on my state pension plus a tiny works pension and, lo and behold they've now changed the ruling to 65+ but also people getting state pension. Makes perfect sense to me, given that they want us to stay fit and healthy. Having said that, I have friends that are just a bit younger than me that have got to wait another couple of years before they qualify for state pension, even though they're over 60. One friends husband has a bus pass but they end up using the car all the time because she has to pay bus fare. 60+ is now a shady area with some people receiving things and other not [adding insult to injury to those having to wait several more years than they expected before they qualify for their State pension]. I had to work for two extra years [62] and have only recently realised that it's taken me nearly a year to actually unwind enough to enjoy retirement.

Jingle may have only worked six years but she may well have packed a life time's experience into those six years. Discovered penicillin ? Split the atom? Fed Africa? Who knows. As a new mum I had people on one side saying you're not going to stay a home looking after children are you? And on the other side saying you can't bring children into the world and give them to someone else to bring up.

When Old Age Pension was introduced, its starting point was set at just a few years before people's average life expectancy, as it was intended to help them when they were unable to work due to old age.

Many people have come to expect to have a long retirement when they can enjoy themselves but there is no reason why society should continue to support that.

Here is a quote from the campaign to create the "Age of No Retirement":

"We hear constantly about the demographic time bomb, the baby boomers who stole the nation’s prosperity, and the unsustainable cost of paying for retirement in the future. But there’s another side to this. A really positive side.

35% of the UK population is over 50, and we are healthier, more skilled, better educated and more dynamic than ever before. So why are the over-50s in the UK not playing a more central role in the economy, in society?"

Because ageism is alive and well and still out there!

I think a lot of us are spending a great deal of time looking after our grandchildren so that our children can work to pay for their mortgages .

I think that is true for a lot of Granparents, tegan.

So in actual fact the over 50"s are playing a central role in the economy/ society FAR

That's a good point, Tegan and Nonu.

Galen Go private, have your own practice !!

I know Private is not ideal but you don't have to charge the earth.

tcherry what sort of practice are you suggesting that Galen has exactly?

I have been gainfully employed all my working life, job, family etc and now I am self employed. Have been for 7 years.
I do miss work colleagues and get lonely working from home, but the compensations outweigh the drawbacks.
My boss is a stickler for punctuality (oh that's me then) the work colleagues are terrible gossips (oh, that's the dogs then) but who cracks the whip?
Moi!

If it wasn't for gransnet I don't know how I'd cope with not having people at work to chat to these days.

I've never claimed benefit in my life!

I've definitely got opinions. Stick around Silverfish. You're bound to notice sooner or later.

I like your opinions

Thank you.

Blimey jingl, SuFlay thinks you're a lady!

Child allowance is benefit isn't it? Did you forego that Jinglebells?

Must say I feel very sorry for those who fear retirement so much. There is so much out there to learn that we never had time to do before- be it painting, or photography, or history, or whatever- there are so many groups to join if one wants to, so many things to discover or re-discover to make ze little grey cell work- languages to learn or re-learn, etc. When we work there is just no time- it's wonderful now to have that luxury and joy.

Retirement takes on many forms. I took 'early retirement' at 60, 15 months before my state pension retirement age,to look after my disabled husband. I had a fabulous career and tried to keep on working and looking after him for a couple of years but it took its toll on both of us so I reluctantly gave up work. People who know me said they couldn't imagine me not working and if truth be told neither could I but I must say I love being retired. I am fortunate to be a part of my young grandchildren's lives which was difficult when working full time. The only downside is the limitations of my husband's disability but we treat every day as a new day and are grateful for what it brings.

FarNorth have you got a link to the site where you got that quote from please?

Looking back over this post (haven't been on for couple of days) I defend my opinions that stay at home women (don't have to be mums) can have intelligent opinions , they cant. They see what they read in newspapers, see on tv news etc . I would never take anyone seriously who tried to tell me something or tried to criticise me when they had never worked or worked for a decent period of time. How can you compare sitting at home all day washing dishes etc to the pressure of say a conference, a meeting in the boardroom, or in my case meeting the public at all levels, striving to meet deadlines and many other interesting and educating parts of a working life.
I stayed at home for a while (a month while my little one was tiny) then went back to work as a community worker. I really felt my mind was numbing each day that I faced another round of dish washing and nappy changing, much as I loved my little girl I couldn't face all the hassle of domesticity. At work I felt alive and my mind opening. I am sure many others feel the same. I actually look down on people who don't work because I pay taxes to fund their lifestyle.

Jane, it's in the Gransnet Latest list at the side of the page.

silverfish I am stunned by your condescending attitude. Working or not working is not the key to being a whole person.
You disliked being at home full time, many people would dislike your choice of work. Many people are in mind-numbing work and might be much happier home-schooling their child(ren).
Many people who are in work still manage to have blinkered, prejudiced views, maybe you've noticed that?