I was just talking to a relative who is now in the position I was in a few years ago. A teacher who gets into the system young can retire young, before the age of sixty, and enjoy those years. I did teach for thirteen years starting in my mid-30's, which isn't young by teacher standards. But if I had gotten into the system, retirement pensions and all, I could have retired with a pension a couple of years ago. That job had no rights. I got my salary from a special "fund" and had no idea that I should be thinking of my future. I never took my work seriously in terms of long-term finance.
I repeated the mistake when I became an English teacher, and when I finally signed up for a pension scheme/insurance I committed to teach more years than I could handle. So, I'm stuck without a pension.
In my clan, I'm not the only one to begin teaching in my 40's, so I hope my relatives have the health to teach long enough and live long enough to enjoy their hard-earned pensions.
ps I do enjoy the work I do now selling and tutoring, but as a school-teacher I'd be making more money and have a better retirement financially.
Sometimes in life one discovers a better way of doing things and what one really likes to do and says, gee, I wish I had done... But here we are now, so enjoy what jobs you do, whether it's in teaching or retail.
ReplyDeleteI can't undo what I've done, and I can't imagine going back to the classroom. It tried it and it didn't work for me or the kids. So I just have to do my best with what I have. Life's an adventure, B"H.
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