Retirement

[Albert Bishop]

Now that compulsory retirement at 65 looks set to be scrapped in the UK, It makes me wonder if the rule ever applied to the MN? It may have been because I was younger in the fifties , but I seem to remember a few crew members who seemed a lot older than 65 at the time. Any Ideas??? Cheers, Albi . ( and does it mean we can all go back now?)

[wilky]

Hi Albi, Im not sure if the rule about retiring at 65 applied then, I remember a lot of old hands on my ships. I was in my late teens early twenties when I was at sea, anybody over fourty [ at the time ] seemed old , so I cant say I remember anybody of that age but that was in the late sixties early seventies.

[jimmys]

A lot of the lads I knew went on medical grounds. They could not pass the medical.
I don't know any engineers that made it past 60 a hard game. Not like ashore when you could have medical problems and still work on.

regards
jimmy

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi Albi, Wilky , Hi Jimmy, What do you think ? can we all go to sea together,how much will I bribe the pool doctor to go? any ship any trip thats my new saying now .

[jimmys]

Around 1984 I was made redundant by Texaco I had 15 years continuous service, I had 7 years with Blue Flue. Making 22 years all Company contract.
I though I will just nip down to the British Shipping Federation(The Pool) in Glasgow, put by books back on and get some money while I wait for a ship. No such luck it was all closed up. An office boy in a cupboard says we don't take anything to do with you seaman. I went up to the Union the MNAOA which was just up the road. They said the system was all being run down but I was due a payment. This payment meant I was finished with the pool forever. I was 42 and that was me paid off and retired. I never went back to the pool.
There was agencies setting up all around Clyde Marine, Silver Marine and others. I got work from them.
I don't know what some of the lads who had relied on pool ships were doing, it must have been a shock!!

regards
jimmy

[Ray McCerery]

Post (1)

RFA 60!!! I have sailed with ABs in their late sixties also Engineers well over 65 so I suppose as long has you have your ENG1 it's OK.

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates',If the retirement age keeps going up can I be a deck boy again? or will I be the old man?

[Allan Jeffery]

As you may know,I work offshore in Norway (after 30 odd years deep sea)
My official MNOP retirement was 60 but the latest news is we old farts can work until we drop.but the Norwegians dont retire until 67 (pension age).
Me? Ill swallow the anchor next year (62.5)

[jimmys]

The MNOPF had got down as low as 57 for retirement on full pension. That was a few years ago.
When I left deep sea in the late eighties I had 25 years in. I went in to the Dept. of Transport as a Surveyor. It was the Principal Civil Service Pension Fund. It was compulsory retirement at sixty. You had to go. I think that has changed now. I took the MNOPF and Civil Service at the same time.
The old age pension (retirement pension ) in UK is rubbish. You cannot rely on that, with full contribution record I get £117/week. Wife gets just over Fifty pounds she wont tell me exactly.

regards
jimmy

[Gulliver]

I paid 20 years contributions into MNOPF. Over those years,like many of us in any pension scheme,I sometimes begrudged that huge chunk out of my monthly salary,particularly when you have a mortgage etc. After leaving the sea in 1990, it was deferred,at that time it was age 61 before payout. Thankfully,the MNOPF scheme was for many years one of the top consistently-performing schemes(surprisingly!).
I decided to retire earlier from my second non-seafaring career at age 55.Enough was enough ,working 40 years in a lifetime.I don't want to work again,quite content to have a better quality of 'life',and by that I mean you don't need more and more money to enjoy it.
I have 8 more years to State Pension Age,so my lump sum and pension(£120pw) from MNOPF has come in handy,as a supplement to my second career pension.
By the time(if!) i reach state pension age,then I reckon it's not going to have increased by much.
I also can never understand why young people today never think about how they'll be able to cope on a state pension. Times have certainly changed,and as I said,we really had no choice but to contribute(hard as that was),but it's been worth it.
Hey Ho! blah blah........Gulliver.