For a lot of people the retirement age is set by the government and people feel lucky if they manage to retire early by a few years. Using very rough numbers the average person will start working when they are 20. Put in 8 hours a day 5 days a week and retire 45 years later at 65.
This weeks question requires imagining you were back to being 20 and the government gave you the following options to choose from:
- Increase your working day to 10 hours, but retire in 36 years (at the age of 56)
- Decrease your working day to 6 hours, but retire in 60 years (at the age of 80)
There is no choice to keep things the way they are and retire at 65!
Which would you choose?
both options add up to working the same number of hours in total, so how would you like to use them? Retiring early is always an attractive idea, however would you be able to work long days for that long and not suffer some sort of stress related illness or a career burnout?
Maybe you like the idea of working until you’re a lot older and the second option seems better? there’s a lot of research showing that a mentally active job at an older age is very good for overall health so being able to go to a challenging job for stimulation and social interaction appeals to you?
Note : I did try to do the initial question for 12 hour/4 hour work days but the retirement ages changed to 50 and 110 which seemed a bit extreme.
As always stick your answers into the comments section below and thankyou for taking part.
Money Corgi 
haha 80? I don’t know if I will be alive 😀 I need to choose the first option
#bestandworst
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I think I read somewhere today that the average life expectancy of people worldwide is now 90, so the odds are in your favour.
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80 sounds forever away, so I’ll take 56. Or to be more realistic, work 10 hours a day and retire at 65 anyway. That seems to be the way of things for many people now.
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seems mad the amount of people who work these super long days and don’t seem to be doing anything to try to fix it. Almost as if they feel powerless to.
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Tough question. I’ve done lots stints of 10 hour days but not sure I could manage it for 36 years, so I’d probably plump for option 2. But this is with the mindset of ‘I can save enough to retire before the state pension kicks in.’ To be fair, state pension might be so dismal that’s it’s irrelevant by the time I retire.
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I might lean towards that to. Treat the state pension as a plan B and hope to retire early from your own efforts first.
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I’d prob want to work longer days as I only do 3 days a week. Definitely would like to retire earlier! Another good one and thanks for sharing with #bestandworst x
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Interesting one and the answers that have come up. I’ll take the shorter hours and work longer I think also with the view I may nest egg to retire off my own back!! Hasn’t the state pension changed 67 now? My Mum is having to work till then now. I think by the time I get to pension age it won’t exist or the goal will have been moved to older. I think I’d rather work less in the week so I get more free time to spend with my family while they are young. They won’t want to hang out with me when I retire!! Another good question! Thank you for linking up to the #familyfunlinky
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yeah its 67, no idea what it’ll be at in 30-40 years from now. I imagine the whole pension concept would be vastly reworked
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Hmm I read the title and straight away thought work harder. Having read the post you did sway be a little but I still think I would rather retire earlier…I think. I can see the merit in working a little longer and few hours over the day but I still think calling it a day at 56 wins for me. Thanks for joining us at #familyfun
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