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My mother turns 76 this year, and she’s still practising medicine - she no longer has a permanent position, but she’ll work two weeks as a locum in one place, t

My mother turns 76 this year, and she’s still practising medicine - she no longer has a permanent position, but she’ll work two weeks as a locum in one place, take a few weeks off, spend another couple of weeks as a locum somewhere else, etc. In my grandparents’ generation, people often retired in their 50s and had another 30-40 years left to live. If you don’t stop working until more than half way through your 70s, you might only have another 10-15 years of life left to financially support instead of 30-40, which makes it more likely you’ll be able to do so with your own accumulated retirement savings instead of having to rely on the taxpayer

rsynnott 1y ago
That's to some extent a weird doctor thing, not a general thing (doctors seem to often have difficulty fully retiring). It was never normal for the average person to retire in their 50s, however it is also not normal for someone in their mid 70s to still be working. You're talking about major outliers in both cases.
- skissane 1y ago
  It isn’t just doctors, my father isn’t a doctor (chemistry degree + MBA => pharmaceutical company executive) and I’m not sure if he’s worked this year, but he was definitely working last year (when he was 74/75). And a big reason why he’s cut back on working is his partner has dementia and she’s now deteriorated to the point he can’t really leave her at home alone any more. And his dad was a tax accountant, and he had “trouble fully retiring” too. He retired from his job at a mining company, then started an unpaid job doing accounting for a charity. Then he retired from that, but still did the accounting for his church for a few more years thereafter. Yes, he wasn’t getting paid, but that was his choice, I’m sure he could have done the same work for somebody else and gotten paid for it. If I’m still alive and healthy in my 70s, I imagine I may well follow both my parents’ examples and still be working too-having a job can be good for your health

rsynnott 1y ago

That's to some extent a weird doctor thing, not a general thing (doctors seem to often have difficulty fully retiring). It was never normal for the average person to retire in their 50s, however it is also not normal for someone in their mid 70s to still be working. You're talking about major outliers in both cases.

skissane 1y ago
It isn’t just doctors, my father isn’t a doctor (chemistry degree + MBA => pharmaceutical company executive) and I’m not sure if he’s worked this year, but he was definitely working last year (when he was 74/75). And a big reason why he’s cut back on working is his partner has dementia and she’s now deteriorated to the point he can’t really leave her at home alone any more. And his dad was a tax accountant, and he had “trouble fully retiring” too. He retired from his job at a mining company, then started an unpaid job doing accounting for a charity. Then he retired from that, but still did the accounting for his church for a few more years thereafter. Yes, he wasn’t getting paid, but that was his choice, I’m sure he could have done the same work for somebody else and gotten paid for it. If I’m still alive and healthy in my 70s, I imagine I may well follow both my parents’ examples and still be working too-having a job can be good for your health