Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened. (Pratchett)

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03:54 pm January 22nd, 2016

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			Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened. (Pratchett) - Helen's journal and online home In which an old dog attempts to learn new tricks.

heleninwales


	Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened. (Pratchett)
	I may have misremembered that quote from one of Pratchett's novels, but that was the gist of it. Elsewhere on livejournal a friend posted about reaching the age of 65. This use used to be the standard retirement age for men in the UK (it's higher now). I passed what used to be the retirement age for women almost 3 years ago and passed my actual retirement age 6 months ago. Both G and I are retiring this year. G will therefore officially be an "old age pensioner" at the beginning of March, so once the college year ends, that's us finished with working for a wage. I find this extremely difficult to get my head around this concept. How on earth did this happen? Current Mood: baffled

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	Comments

	From: seaivy	Date: January 22nd, 2016 03:59 pm (UTC)		(Link)

LOL
just wait until you reach the age when they begin to refer to your group as "grannies"

Edited at 2016-01-22 04:35 pm (UTC)

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	From: heleninwales	Date: January 22nd, 2016 05:31 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I am already a granny! :)

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	From: sartorias	Date: January 22nd, 2016 04:24 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Yeah, the spouse said he's doing one more year, and I thought, "We really are old people. Who did the bait and switch?"

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	From: heleninwales	Date: January 22nd, 2016 05:34 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I know, scary isn't it?

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From: cmcmck	Date: January 22nd, 2016 04:26 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Himself is thinking very much along the same lines! :o)

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	From: heleninwales	Date: January 22nd, 2016 05:32 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I've been following your posts about potential new homes. It's quite a challenge, but I'm looking forward to being able to focus on my own projects without having to worry about a day job.

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From: cmcmck	Date: January 23rd, 2016 03:31 pm (UTC)		(Link)

It becomes easier to look now he has more time!

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From: ex_hrj	Date: January 22nd, 2016 05:18 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I suppose the simplistic answer is, "It happened by surviving."

One of my New Year's resolutions is to make an appointment with a retirement planning counselor. My work history has been odd enough that even I've had a number of good jobs, I can't just assume I have enough resources lined up to rely on. I also anticipate working past 65 for at least a few years to make up for some of those odd bits.

On the other hand, my gf just hit 70 and is still working full time, mostly because she loves what she's doing and work comprises a fair amount of her social life. (The specific number did freak her out a bit.)

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	From: heleninwales	Date: January 22nd, 2016 05:33 pm (UTC)		(Link)

If you still love your job and you have the strength and energy to keep doing it, why not? I'm quite looking forward to being able to focus on my own projects without having to worry about a day job, even though we'll have a greatly reduced income.

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	From: kaishin108	Date: January 22nd, 2016 06:35 pm (UTC)		(Link)

That wording 'old age pensioner' sounds SO depressing. If I do not find a job I will feel retired here at 60, so I am going to look for something! And Gene at 63 found something part time. I just don't want to go there mentally :-/

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	From: seaivy	Date: January 22nd, 2016 07:26 pm (UTC)		(Link)

my husband got a package he couldn't refuse for early retirement
we were delighted!
it let us move to where we wanted to be and do what we wanted to do
life is what you make it - it's not about age

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	From: athgarvan	Date: January 22nd, 2016 08:27 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Congrats. Enjoy the rest and take on no responsibilities.

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	From: julesjones	Date: January 22nd, 2016 08:46 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I'm facing down my fiftieth next week, and thinking much the same thing. "One day at a time" is how it happened, but that seems to be an awful lot of days.

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	From: gillo	Date: January 22nd, 2016 11:26 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I hit sixty last month, and seem to have drifted into retirement, though there are a couple of options for earning the occasional small crustlet. Or crouton at least. I have no idea how this happened to me, but I'm loving the whole "being a perpetual student" thing - which was really triggered by that DWJ conference.

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	From: birdsedge	Date: January 23rd, 2016 01:40 am (UTC)		(Link)

I won't ever turn down a regular payment from the government, but I don't think I'll ever be able to afford to retire. At least what I do, I do sitting at a desk in the relative comfort of my own home. That's pretty lucky because i could still (theoretically) be doing it when I'm ninety.

Retirement planning? Chance would be a fine thing. Our house is our pension plan, but we don't really want to downsize, so that's on hold until we do.

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	From: lizziebelle	Date: January 23rd, 2016 02:14 am (UTC)		(Link)

Reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw once: "Mirror mirror on the wall, what the heck happened?"

I'm continually gobsmacked when I think about my age. My parents seemed so old when they were 54. My dad was 63 when he passed, and the closer I get to that age, the younger it seems. I have friends who are older than that.

I think our generation is younger than our parents were at the same age. They probably thought the same thing.

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