Retirement

My Mum (on the right) and her good friend Pat living it up on a trip to London from Ireland when they were young and carefree. Retirement and pension clearly the last thing on their minds!

Trying to figure out the right time for Mum to retire was a bit of a balancing act. It was important to keep her mind active, for her to socialise as much as possible and for her to continue to have a purpose. At the same time we didn’t want to overwhelm her too much. It was apparent that the time had come when she was struggling to cook and use appliances. Also her timekeeping started to deteriorate. All those every day tasks which we take for granted no longer came naturally to her.

My Mum didn’t have a private or company pension. As she didn’t return to the UK until later in life her state pension didn’t add up to much but her best friend told me to look into pension credit which thank goodness she was eligible for. I think she was the last year of women eligible for the state pension aged 60. When you are dealing with this illness you have to take these silver linings where you can get them!!

When I discussed retirement with her She expressed concern she was letting people down but I got a sense of relief.

She was initially a tad confused not realising she was now a lady of leisure so a few false starts before she got the hang of it!