Working past 67

I consider what I do as work. Cleaning mine and daughter’s house, looking after grandchildren and DH, travelling to see other grandchildren etc.

We live in a small space and DH is taking up more and more physical and mental space. Today is the first quiet day I’ve had at home in weeks but I just feel wiped out by it all. Still, I shouldn’t complain. I love my whole family and will do anything I can to help. I’d be devastated if anything happened to any of them or if I fell out with them.

Onwards and upwards

Ziggy, sounds to me like you have done well to continue working up until now, no one should have to be in so much pain at work
As someone else said, it’s not really about age, just what you can and can’t manage

Thank you x

I worked in a supermarket and often saw people who were crippled with arthritis, people who look really old, people with other visible or not so obvious issues. They would often say they would love to have retired but with the recent change in retirement age they were stuck in hard graft physical jobs for several more years. It doesn't seem fair.

I run my own business at 70. I needed a knee replacement at 68 but I've been fortunate to have nothing else wrong. Age is just a number - it seems silly to think that we must retire at a certain age. It all depends on individual circumstances.

I’m 80 next year and still working part time… but self employed from home. Which means that with health issues of my own ( chronic kidney disease, IBS, Asthma, etc) I can ‘flexi time’ myself. My sons want me to give up completely but I love what I do… I could NOT however do a ‘normal’ job and do regular hours any longer. Let alone a cleaning job! I hardly clean at home let alone other peoples, obviously I do the essentials, but it is never a priority!

I agree, many of us at seventy are still relatively fit, whilst others are less fortunate.
If I didn’t work in a family business, I might have to think about retiring, because I’m struggling to keep up with the new technology, as it is, I do what I can, and have sidestepped to less challenging jobs.
Our children have pretty much taken over, and we are happy to take on more menial roles.

I'm 77 and still work, but I'm a therapist (mainly Reiki) and work from home. I love it, but I doubt if I could manage (financially) without it.

I will be 69 soon and I am still working. I used to have 2 jobs but gave up 1 recently, because what's the point? Lol. So I work full time as a Bank staff. So I can work less if needed. I have a small pension. I will give up work by summer next year when husband who will be 68 (currently working from home half time) will fully retire. Health wise, I am diabetic, have high cholesterol and high blood pressure which could only be controlled by taking 5 , yes 5 meds.

Well this is most interesting. I’m 65 and might retire next Jan will be living on state pension and small lump sum. I’m a childcare worker worked 23 years and feeling the burn now. Know that the business has got tougher and not as happy as I was. Time to review and out things into place. Health starting to suffer.

Wow, you have done amazing to last till 65, which age group do you work with?

Worked full time until last Summer when my office moved 120 miles from home - found a part time job locally which lasted 2 months .. it hurts to say I was horribly bullied by one member of staff which, in my 50 years of working I've never witnessed or experienced the like of first hand. I believe it was age related, she told me on day 2 she didn't think I was up to the role (which was very much more junior than previous roles I'd held), withheld information from me, refused to answer my questions - all observed by other members of staff. With 3 months to my state pension age and blood pressure dangerously high I cut and ran. Police Admin. I walked in on a conversation where she was complaining that her friend hadn't been considered for the role I had. So unprofessional and unpleasant. Shame on her, and those that saw and said nothing. And the line manager I made aware on day 2 after that conversation with the bully. It's put me off applying for other roles, although I may consider volunteer work in the future -- quite honestly it's given my self esteem a proper beating.

NoraBone, I know someone who was bullied mercilessly whilst working in the admin department of the police.
Unbelievably childish and spiteful, it was worse than being back at school.

Im working 2 days a week as a GP.
I originally retired at 61 . The practice had joined one of the mega practices...and I hated it.
We moved just before Covid and then Boris put out his plea for nhs staff to return to help.
I did and started at a lovely local practice in August 2020.
It was for 6m but I am still there.
It's been fantastic.
I realise I was bored when I was retired....no amount of crafts etc filled the intellectual void like working.
These 5 years have been the cherry on the top of a wonderful career that started in 1980.
This year is the 50th anniversary of starting medical school!!!
However, I am almost 69
I'd hoped to make 70 but there are some rules about revalidation and I realise that I would now rather be knitting and gardening than keeping up to date with lipid management and listening to moaning worrying well ( sorry but true..although I love all my patients the majority really don't need to see me!!!,)
So I am planning to retire (for ever ) at the end of August.
Hope we don't get another pandemic!

Retirement is a matter of adjustment. No-one wakes up the day after retiring thinking Hooray, unless they either are starting something they have really been looking forward to, or hated their job.

But look at it this way: why go on working if you are 67 or over and your body is telling you quite clearly that you need to slow down?

You can have a much better life doing less, but you need some hobbies, something to get you out of the house, and other interests than house-cleaning or gardening in my opinion. It may take time to find them, but it is worth the effort.

Hi Ziggy 62. I worked until I was 71, although it was temporary work which wasn’t continuous working towards the end. I did have to stop for about 9 months in my late 60’s as zi had a knee operation.

I'm 68 and working. I do four days a week, two at the office and two at home. I'm a qualified accountant so the work is desk and computer based, and the most physically arduous bit is the commute on office days (90 minutes each way on the train).

I'm a fan of working as long as one can but I'd prefer to do three days rather than four. However the money's okay. It's an interim position which I started in February; they want me to go permanent but I don't think they can pay me as much as I'm getting though the agency so I suspect I shall be job hunting again in a couple of months.

I’m nearly 72 and still work 3 mornings a week. I enjoy my work it’s stressful but not physically tiring .

I’m waiting for quite a serious spinal operation and will be off a while recovering. I think I may have to make a decision then about whether I can continue . I hope so managing without my salary would be financially challenging

I worked in the City of London in shipping, insurance, foreign banking, foodstuffs for about 20 years followed by having my one and only baby and starting an international dating agency, well before it became mainstream. It meant I could work from home and my husband lost his job a few days after our son was born. I am now 73 and have my eBay shop. It gives me a little spark. I am my own boss of course and if I don’t sell, don’t care but although difficult to learn at first, I know how to make it happen now. As long as I am the boss I am happy. It’s not an easy ride as many friends have asked me to teach them. Selling clothes? Sleeve length required. Washing instructions required. It takes time and patience but I have that and it pays for mini holidays and maybe major holidays in the future.

From someone who thought she would work forever, I am so grateful I left at 66. The new contract company were HORRIBLE and I can feel the release of the stress now I am at home. I devote 2 whole days snd nights to GC care, sleeping over. They are little for such a short time, I would have missed this. Now that’s work! Keeping fit to play, lift, push a double buggy is key! I also work one afternoon until nightfall and I love that contact with the public. Not one single regret and I was the most sceptical of all about retirement. I had a big managerial job but don’t give it another thought 2 years on.

My sturdy Yorkshire aunt was still working full time at the age of 87 as a pharmacist. Her employer , a private prescribing doctor, paid for a taxi for the 5 mile or so trip each way each day
She would sometimes berate herself saying 'You are such a lazy girl' when she believed she had let her standards slip.

I told her that I had seen in the national press that Margaret Thatcher had gone to visit the woman in Cornwall who was believed to the oldest full time working female at 89. MT gave her a kiss and a photo was taken

My aunt was horrified , exclaimed that it would never happen to her, rang the doctor and handed in her notice immediately.

Regarding working and having a young baby. My son and DIL have a 9 month old baby. She was desperate to be a stay at home mum, and it would have been cruel and damaging for her to be forced back to an unappreciated teaching profession, and leave her beloved child. I gave them my life savings to allow them to put down a deposit on their 1st house, buy a second hand vehicle and to fund her lack of wages and stay at home for the first year until she got back on her feet. She never returned to the teaching job she had previously, but opted to still work for the school from home. I am in the mindset, that mothers who want to raise their children should be allowed to do so. Working until you are 70 and handing your babies to a stranger doesn't always suit the mother or child. I know from experience, lots of mothers n fathers I have spoken to have regretted their decision doing this, with hindsight. When speaking to grown up children, the same regret was voiced. Some adult children even expressing that they are only really getting to know their 70 year old parents truly now, as they were never really present during their childhoods. It's a shame, we are slaves to the system. Xx

I work full time, I am 65. I should retire in January 2066 when I am 66, the project I am on will probably be finished by then , thought I had retired 4 years ago and they came knocking and then I moved to another project (construction) Doc Control and general running of the site. I love it.

I work part-time in our own business; it’s mainly proofreading, editing and general admin and the amount of work I do fluctuates week by week, but is always interesting and never onerous. We're not planning to tender for any work during the summer, but I’ll be hosting International School students for six weeks and I’ll also run painting and jewellery workshops alongside that. Additionally I look after a man who has a learning disability and another who has severe mental health problems (unpaid).

I’m 71 now and have arthritis and other health issues, but because I have a lot of control over my work I feel as though I have the best of all worlds. I work as and when I want and also enjoy what I do.

I have had doubts about a 'retirement age' for many years. I ran my own business until I was 75 and then stood down for the family to take over. I would love to have continued in a lesser capacity but not appropriate when its your own family!
I believe the idea of a retirement age should be scrapped. We should be helped to continue to work (in a lesser capacity?) along with the disabled etc. I believe it is the worst thing for our mental health to give up something we have loved and are experienced in just because of a number. Allowance should be made to encourage part-time working for retirees so that their tremendous experience can still benefit the younger workforce.