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susanreadsMeme via chagrined and alias_sqbr.
At 33:
I lived in: a mid-terrace house within walking distance of the town centre. I'd moved in at the beginning of the year, from rented accommodation, after getting a job that paid enough to get a mortgage. I barely knew any of the neighbours.
I drove: nothing. Nobody taught working-class girls to drive when I wor a lass! [when I was young in the North]
I was in a relationship with: no-one. I called myself celibate, because I didn't have the vocabulary I have now.
I feared: I don't remember. Probably big things like nuclear war and environmental disasters.
I worked at: a small software house a (longish, but straightforward) bus journey away, as a computer programmer, maintaining and developing financial management systems for the construction industry.
I wanted to be: the same, but better paid with a shorter commute and fewer annoying colleagues! Working part-time for an equivalent rate would also have been excellent, as I was definitely shorter of time than of cash.
At 58:
I live in: the same house. I've had some work done on it and I paid off the mortgage the first time I was made redundant. I still know very few of the neighbours; most of them are (comparatively) new.
I drive: still nothing. The jobcentre's "removing barriers to employment" doesn't stretch to paying for driving lessons.
I am in a relationship with: no-one. I now identify as aromantic (a word I'd never encountered until I met the internet) and asexual (which, back in the day, I only knew as the term for critters that reproduce by splitting).
I fear: Nothing? I worry about things - on a global level, mostly climate change; on a personal level, mostly cashflow.
I work at: housework (not as much as I should) and looking for work (same?). I've been unemployed since I was made redundant the second time, and have pretty much given up on ever getting another job. The most important thing I'm doing, actually ... mainly consists of waiting, because my financial advisor apparently doesn't want to issue progress reports until he's done All Of The Research, and is waiting in his turn for the company currently sitting on my money to respond to enquiries. (That's "my money that I earned in an earlier decade". It's grown under their management OK, but if they want to be my actual pension provider they need better customer service.) Recent changes in the rules mean that I should be able to derive an income from it that'll last till I can afford to retire properly, while being adequate in a way that my current benefits aren't.
I want to be: retired! A bit of "the change I want to see in the world" wouldn't go amiss too, but I can't see much beyond that horizon.
chagrined and alias_sqbr.At 33:
I lived in: a mid-terrace house within walking distance of the town centre. I'd moved in at the beginning of the year, from rented accommodation, after getting a job that paid enough to get a mortgage. I barely knew any of the neighbours.
I drove: nothing. Nobody taught working-class girls to drive when I wor a lass! [when I was young in the North]
I was in a relationship with: no-one. I called myself celibate, because I didn't have the vocabulary I have now.
I feared: I don't remember. Probably big things like nuclear war and environmental disasters.
I worked at: a small software house a (longish, but straightforward) bus journey away, as a computer programmer, maintaining and developing financial management systems for the construction industry.
I wanted to be: the same, but better paid with a shorter commute and fewer annoying colleagues! Working part-time for an equivalent rate would also have been excellent, as I was definitely shorter of time than of cash.
At 58:
I live in: the same house. I've had some work done on it and I paid off the mortgage the first time I was made redundant. I still know very few of the neighbours; most of them are (comparatively) new.
I drive: still nothing. The jobcentre's "removing barriers to employment" doesn't stretch to paying for driving lessons.
I am in a relationship with: no-one. I now identify as aromantic (a word I'd never encountered until I met the internet) and asexual (which, back in the day, I only knew as the term for critters that reproduce by splitting).
I fear: Nothing? I worry about things - on a global level, mostly climate change; on a personal level, mostly cashflow.
I work at: housework (not as much as I should) and looking for work (same?). I've been unemployed since I was made redundant the second time, and have pretty much given up on ever getting another job. The most important thing I'm doing, actually ... mainly consists of waiting, because my financial advisor apparently doesn't want to issue progress reports until he's done All Of The Research, and is waiting in his turn for the company currently sitting on my money to respond to enquiries. (That's "my money that I earned in an earlier decade". It's grown under their management OK, but if they want to be my actual pension provider they need better customer service.) Recent changes in the rules mean that I should be able to derive an income from it that'll last till I can afford to retire properly, while being adequate in a way that my current benefits aren't.
I want to be: retired! A bit of "the change I want to see in the world" wouldn't go amiss too, but I can't see much beyond that horizon.
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no subject
Date: 2015-10-05 08:06 am (UTC)Being retired is great. I love it and was lucky that I could retire at 60 after a spell of being unemployed. It's nigh on impossible to get a job when in your 50s. I gave up in the end and just waited for my pension.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-06 01:47 pm (UTC)I had given up and was just waiting for my pension*, but the Jobcentre people don't seem to want to let me, and my current income isn't enough, in general or to put up with the hassle for.
*not the State pension of course; the govt. say I should keep "working" till I'm 66. That was never going to happen!
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 11:27 am (UTC)Jobseeker's income is laughable and the job centre seems to be clueless about the challenges of the older unemployed person and keep on sending them on useless courses just to meet their targets. It's a waste of everyone's time and money.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-06 12:45 am (UTC)Entirely too much of our identities are defined by our jobs.
Best wishes with that financial advisor. Me & MyGuy have searched for a simpatico one without success. We've at least found one who won't pester us to get into the stock market every week.