Quote:
Originally Posted by Dingbat
Thought they would be there till retirement.
|
As did I when I joined my first employer in 1965.
There was to be a gold watch after 25 years (serviced free by the company) and a generous pension that encouraged retirement after thirty years service.
It all started to go seriously wrong after 15 years (there had been setbacks, but the maxim had been last in first out, so things had become increasingly 'secure'). The unions renegotiated terms so that the management decided on a 'random' policy for redundancies which encouraged those who could find alternative employment to jump before they might be pushed.
At a time when things in the country seemed to be worsening, I was offered a job overseas at what seemed to be a lucrative salary, so I jumped.
It gave my young family an experience that broadened their outlook.
The lucrative salary was subject to pernicious rates of taxation that reduced it to a 'comfortable' rather than lucrative level, but I enjoyed a period of international travel that, otherwise, I might have (almost certainly) missed.
Returning to the UK wasn't without problems - a long period of unemployment followed by two further redundancies and a couple of house moves.
I retired without the substantial pension that I would otherwise have enjoyed had I stayed put, but I have downsized such that I can pay my bills each month.