Grim statistics on retirement age and life expectancy

[Marco]

I'm Catholic, that's pretty much the same basic idea.

Lol... Yes, but I practice my Christian faith, and that means being kind to and considering strangers, no matter where they live.

Marco.

[Caber10]

Obviously the answer is just to keep on working in a job that you enjoy and keeps you fulfilled. There are los of things I would like to do if I retire but whether I could afford to or have the energy to do is the question!

I have a colleague who is now over 80 and still working well over 40 hours a week including driving up and down the country for meetings. He really enjoys the work including its social aspects and remains incredibly healthy. I think I would rather emulate him than some much younger ex colleagues who took early retirement and seem to have a hobby of visiting hospitals for tests and doctors for pillls!

Caber

[Macca]

Obviously the answer is just to keep on working in a job that you enjoy and keeps you fulfilled.

True, I have had jobs I enjoyed going to (not many. One in fact and it lasted 2 years). But generally speaking if they are having to pay people to do it then it's probably not fun.


On the other hand I have known people whose jobs I would not do in a million years - coal miners for example. And they all loved it, didn't want to finish.

[Marco]

Obviously the answer is just to keep on working in a job that you enjoy and keeps you fulfilled.

Absolutely, but even still, there's a time to stop and enjoy the money you've (hopefully) managed to save, and indulge in your other passions!

I have a colleague who is now over 80 and still working well over 40 hours a week including driving up and down the country for meetings. He really enjoys the work including its social aspects and remains incredibly healthy. I think I would rather emulate him than some much younger ex colleagues who took early retirement and seem to have a hobby of visiting hospitals for tests and doctors for pillls!

Yup, the key is to do whatever works for YOU. As long as he's happy with the situation, and also his family or partner, if applicable, that's all that matters. For some though. who do what he does, that's not the case. It certainly wouldn't work for me, or my wife.

Marco.

[Macca]

Absolutely, but even still, there's a time to stop and enjoy the money you've (hopefully) made and managed to save, and indulge in your other passions!



Yup, the key is to do whatever works for YOU. As long as he's happy with the situation, and also his family or partner, if applicable, that's all that matters. For some though. who do what he does, that's not the case. It certainly wouldn't work for me, or my wife.

Marco.

What if you're about thirty, married, two young children and a big mortgage and you're stuck in a job you hate but it's the only job you can do that pays enough to cover all your costs?

I mean it's all very well saying you should do what makes you happy but that just isn't an option for anyone in that boat or similar and there must be quite a few people close to that description. I knew a load of them when I worked in telesales.

[Marco]

What if you're about thirty, married, two young children and a big mortgage and you're stuck in a job you hate but it's the only job you can do that pays enough to cover all your costs?

In the first place, think about whether you can properly afford to have kids and take on a big mortgage, before you commit to it, and don't overstretch yourself or live beyond your means?

More seriously (well, a little), you need to reduce your costs as much as possible, and be ruthless about it!

Therefore, if I were in that position, as indeed I've already said, if it were at all possible, I'd downgrade and move to a smaller house and/or a similar one in a less expensive area, and cut down on any unnecessary 'fripperies', such as I've outlined previously (it's amazing how much money we waste these days on bullshit), particularly on technological gadgetry, stupidly expensive and unnecessary Christmas presents/clothes for kids and toys in general.

Sell your car (or one of your cars, if you have more than one) and take a train to work instead, thus saving on fuel, road tax and insurance. Or if you can, walk. Take less holidays or go on cheaper ones. Shop in Aldi or Lidi instead of Sainsburys or Waitrose. Give up any heavy smoking, drinking or gambling. Cook from scratch with cost-effective ingredients, rather than buying expensive convenience meals. Eat out less in restaurants, and/or stop ordering takeaways. Drastically reduce your energy bills.

Essentially, do whatever was necessary to ensure that any money coming in was judiciously spent, and learn to budget properly and live more frugally, rather than thinking your children or you are 'owed' some sort of lifestyle that in reality you simply can't afford.

Marco.

[montesquieu]

In the first place, think about whether you can properly afford to have kids and take on a big mortgage before you commit to it, and don't overstretch yourself or live beyond your means?

More seriously (well, a little), if I were in that position, as indeed I've already said, if it were at all possible, I'd downgrade and move to a smaller house and/or a similar one in a less expensive area, and cut down on any unnecessary 'fripperies', such as I've outlined previously (it's amazing how much money we waste these days on bullshit), particularly stupidly expensive and unnecessary Christmas presents/clothes for kids and toys in general.

Sell your car (or one of your cars, if you have more than one) and take a train to work instead, thus saving on fuel, road tax and insurance. Or if you can, walk. Take less holidays or go on cheaper ones. Shop in Aldi or Lidi instead of Sainsburys. Give up any heavy smoking, drinking or gambling. Cook from scratch, rather than buying expensive convenience meals. Eat out less, and/or stop ordering takeaways.

Essentially, do whatever was necessary to ensure that any money coming in was judiciously spent, and learn to budget properly and live more frugally, rather than thinking your children or you are 'owed' some sort of lifestyle that in reality you simply can't afford.

Marco.

Sorry Marco that's just not a satisfactory answer for many people's situation. I was in exactly that position (not 30 but mid 30s), two kids, a wife who wanted to be at home until both kids were at least well into primary school (about 8 years) before going part-time, yes a mortgage that felt pretty big at the time, yes two cars but cheap ones.

The fact is you want to give those small kids the best you can which in our case meant regular trips to Scotland (and a couple to New Zealand where my wife at the time came from) to see grandparents and extended family. You want to to give them a nice environment to live in when they grow up with access to green things (or the beach in my case), good food, hospitality to their friends and so on. (Though we were pretty anti just pouring money at them and a bit shocked at the plastic crap some of their friends accumulated).

Frankly the only option for me was to bust a gut as hard as I could and get promoted, which I did by means of a part-time MBA, during the process of doing which - with six months off study to write a book in the middle - I almost trebled my salary and moved company twice. Huge amount of luck in that though.

Yes of course budgeting/sensible expenditure but there are just times in life (if you have kids especially) when earning and spending are simply unavoidable and where skinflint/retire early planning is simply inappropriate. You just have to bite the bullet, minimise what spend you can and soak up the rest So what if I have to work a bit harder and longer in life? (right now daughter is in the US as an exchange student but it's BLOODY EXPENSIVE to keep them at uni more generally). However at least I have the satisfaction of helping the kids set themselves up in life. You do what you can and your own comfort is not the priority.

The idea that somehow people who have set themselves up to retire early have been smart when everyone else has been stupid and spendthrift is a bit blinkered if you ask me ... all sorts of things can get in the way, from redundancy to ill health or mental breakdown leading to marriage breakup and so on. Not least the fact that some people make children and not retirement their priority.

Also it's remarkable just how many people who have done well in life and take all the credit themselves for their situation somehow reveal a different story when you dig into the details ... they might have parents who helped with start-up capital, or useful connections, or who knew things about specialist areas that the average person can't access, who give their children a first rate education affordable to the person next door. Un so weiter.

Of course people born into these advantages still have to take and do something with what they are given, but the fact is they do start off with enormous advantages over many other people. This is particularly prevalent in the USA where there's a bizarre attitude that wealth = virtue and that financial struggle is always the result of bad character. Life is not so simple.

[Marco]

Good post, Tom. You raise some interesting points. I'll get to it later, as I have to go out now for a bit

However, just to clear this up:

The idea that somehow people who have set themselves up to retire early have been smart when everyone else has been stupid and spendthrift is a bit blinkered if you ask me...

That's certainly NOT what I think (or meant). As you correctly say, life isn't as simple as that.

Marco.

[Pigmy Pony]

Lol... Yes, but I practice my Christian faith, and that means being kind to and considering strangers, no matter where they live.

Marco.

Well as strangers go, they don't come much stranger than me, and I live in Chorley, so you can see my problem. If you want to be kind to me, I can pm my bank details

[dave2010]

Obviously the answer is just to keep on working in a job that you enjoy and keeps you fulfilled. There are los of things I would like to do if I retire but whether I could afford to or have the energy to do is the question!

It is fairly "obvious", but many people don't have that option. Firstly some don't like their jobs, but they pay the billls, so they keep doing them. Others may like their jobs, but either the job changes (restructuring, or redundancy not necessarily being helpful), or their own circumstances change.

I have a colleague who is now over 80 and still working well over 40 hours a week including driving up and down the country for meetings. He really enjoys the work including its social aspects and remains incredibly healthy. I think I would rather emulate him than some much younger ex colleagues who took early retirement and seem to have a hobby of visiting hospitals for tests and doctors for pillls!

I knew (briefly) someone who was over 90 and still working. Not only that but he was still flying across the Atlantic to attend meetings.

Some people are very lucky health wise, but others really can't make much of things after (say) 50. I am now old enough that some of my friends have already "gone ahead" of me - and some were either younger than I was or younger than I am now.

Emulating healthy octogenarians is great if you can do it, but if one's own health is not good there may not be too much to be done. Some things may be "desirable", but not feasible choices. Just try to keep going as long as possible. However - within reason - it's better to keep active even if there are underlying problems, rather than to submit to the difficulties. For myself, I really do need to do more exercise - while I still can.