Forced to retire but still active
EDITOR - What chance of getting a paid job at age 79?
Today, not much I guess. Yet I am healthy, strong, not afraid to work for an honest living.
Being put out to pasture by age 65 should not be allowed to happen. People today are living longer. So what happens to a man who reaches that age 65 and is forced to retire?
I had been in the Insurance industry for over 43 years, without realising that age and not enough pension is a very bad combination.
I was forced to retire at age 70, and from there life has gone downhill. Nobody wants to employ an old man of 65, let alone an old man of 79.
People forget that at the end of the day, or their old age, there are still bills to pay. Medical, bonds, day to day expenses. They are still active and no matter trying to avoid them, they still need to be paid.
Your pension is not enough to cover those expenses so retirement goes out the window and we have to look for an alternative.
I still owe R500 000 on an overdraft to survive the bad few years after being forced to retire. My grown children have their own worries and we cannot expect them to help us out. So where do I go from there?
Are there any old man jobs out in the field and if so, where do I go to apply?
RE Tregaskis
La Lucia