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James Coyle
James has over 35 years experience in financial services with particular expertise in two of the key components of retirement finance - Superannuation and the Age Pension. He is passionate about providing the guidance and support that can help older Australians enjoy their best possible retirement. He lives in regional Victoria surrounded by dogs and chooks.
I am 71 years old and due to the pandemic along with colleagues I was retrenched last year. I loved working and loved my job and would still be working today if it wasn’t for the retrenchment. Understandably most people look forward to retirement for various reasons, most of my friends retired when they reached retirement age. What I have found odd is that once you reach retirement age you are expected to retire, before my forced retirement I was forever being asked “when are you going to retire?” I found myself constantly having to justify why I was still working at 65 and beyond. I enjoyed working and would still be working now if it wasn’t for the retrenchment, even if it was part time.
I absolutely agree with Molly. I am 75 and was retrenched by a university based on its own directive that because of Covid 19, they cannot employ anyone over 70.
I have worked for 54 years , of course part ime since 65 and I miss the mental stimulation.
Alas, no one wants to employ me any more.
I totally agree with Mollie. This is exactly what happened to me
Mollie is perfectly correct, the ageism shown by employers is incredible, made worse by the 30 year olds wanting those jobs others had to wait till 50+ to get then being considered over the hill
One of the reasons older people are retrenched is due to younger people feeling threatened by the knowledge and experience of older people. When experienced people are forced out of work the business sometimes realises too late that the experience that has been lost cannot be replaced easily and the business suffers.
Totally agree with the previous comments- have you thought about Volunteering at your local Living and Learning Centre??They may be very grateful for your expertise ( not just in teaching- also in IT , administration, book keeping, Marketing etc etc) and offer you a chance to keep on using your skills and knowledge plus having contact with nice people whilst supporting a worthy cause -further education for people who really need it!
I would have to agree on the other comments. To easy to down grade some one because of age.
I agree with all the above. We have a family run business which, at 73, I am still active in and enjoying it. We often employ “retired” people who retired “as soon as they were eligible for the pension and superannuation” .
There seems to be a strongly held belief that “work isn’t enjoyable” and that one should quit as soon as possible to “enjoy their retirement”
Many of my peers who retired many years ago and are now “bored” and really don’t know what to do in retirement.
Everyone needs a good reason to get out of bed each day and “achieve something”
We all need to find what that “something” is PRIOR to retiring
Like some others, I retired when I was retrenched after 30 plus years. Like others, ageism was an obstacle to even getting a job at Coles or Woolies (I was looking for a non-desk job). Kids and uni students are.preferred, particularly because under 21yo is a lower payrate. I was lucky at 9 months retired, a young interviewer saw ‘work ethic’ and submitted my application up for hiring. It is hard to keep looking, it is easy to give up, volunteering helped not just mentally but also for references and friendships.