Time at work is running out fast!

Carmen is 55, single and childless, loves her job but knows that her time at work is running out fast.

"The hourglass once defined my figure," laughs Carmen, "now it defines how little time I have left and I'm torn between loving my job and wanting time to travel and enjoy myself before arthritis locks up all my joints."

"I know that at 55 my time is definitely running out simply because I am thinking about retirement," explains Carmen. "Last year I just didn't think about it at all."

"Sometimes there's a sudden awareness - such as that related to illness and the fact that we may only have a short time to live," explains Carmen, "but mostly its a gradual awareness that there are other things we'd rather be doing than working and time is running out to do them."

"When you're not yet ready to retire and yet time is running out to do all the other things you'd rather be doing than working," says Carmen, "it's true that a good option is to ease your way into retirement with part-time work."

"This won't work for me right now," says Carmen, "not because it means less money but because it means less happiness."

Carmen admits that she loves her job and can afford to retire early but working part-time isn't an option for her.

"It will have to be a clean break when I decide to retire," says Carmen, "but because of the state of the economy and all the trouble and misery in the world I don't want to make the break just yet."

"I guess I would be worried about losing my retirement funds in a market crash," says Carmen, "but I don't see much joy in retiring and being unhappy about the state of the world."

"At work I am more or less protected from all the miseries of the world," explains Carmen. "I only get to know what's happening in the world when I get home at night."

"Imagine being retired and home all day bombarded with war and misery on radio and television."

"I'm lucky that I love my job and have no financial worries," says Carmen, "but if I hated my job and I couldn't afford to retire early then I'd probably cut my expenses and quit as soon as I could rather than go the part-time route. Why drag out the misery?"

"It's all about happiness," explains Carmen. "If you're happy at work and you're likely to be miserable retired, then what's the point of retiring early?"

"Someone stuck in a dreadful job, hanging on until eligible for the old age pension, would have to be living a deathlike existence," says Carmen.

"If I were in that situation I'd really need to get my act together and start bringing some happiness into my life before it's too late."

"I started bemoaning about lack of time in my 40s," laughs Carmen, "and yet here I am at 55 still working and it would be very silly of me to carry on working until my 60s."

"If the world situation doesn't improve - and my health remains good - then retiring in my 60s would be preferable to retiring early and not being able to travel and enjoy myself because of war and terrorism,"

"Yes," sighs Carmen, "I am terrified about time running out but right now I am better off working than retiring."

"Honestly," adds Carmen, "I don't see the world returning to peace and good times in the near future, so I think a lot of people who would otherwise have retired early and given their jobs to young people are remaining at work unnecessarily and justifiably earning the 'job hog' tag."

"Luckily I don't face the prospect of being called a 'job hog'," laughs Carmen, "but I do feel sorry for all those people who took early retirement just prior to 9/11."

"They can't be having a nice time in retirement right now and would have been a lot happier staying at work - if they had that option open to them."

"Like I said - it's all about happiness."