When I started I thought I'd be in well-heeled retirement at 55. When I was in my early 40s I knew I'd have to work until I was 60. By the time I reached my late 50s, 60 had become 65. With 65 on the horizon (I'm 63) I can see that if I want to continue to live well while I still can I need to work on in some capacity for a few years after retiring from commercial air transport. Such is the havoc wreaked on life-long financial plans by the various financial scandals, scams and general financial crookery and mismanagement over the last 15-20 years. It started with the endowment policy scandals, moved through G. Brown's fleecing of the pension industry and the banking collapse to the investment returns of today which are generally poor unless one is prepared to take some wild risks. It's some way short of where I'd hoped to be at age 63.
Fortunately I'm a TRI/TRE and it looks as though there will be plenty of work as an SFI/SFE. Of course I'll still fly for as long as I am able. Just not in CAT. My father was a pilot. I've been doing it these last 44 years. It's in my blood.