Do you think you have had a Hard Life?

I don't. My life has been remarkably comfortable, I have always earned above average wages, sometimes ridiculously so. Now in retirement I live very comfortably, definitely not wealthy but able to do more or less what ever I want.

To me, looking back, it reminds me of the beginning of 'The Natural' where the narrator says, "Everything came easily to him..." and in some ways I feel slightly guilty about it when I think of others I have known (though I am not one for maudlin introspection).

Has your life been like that? Was it easy or have you had to struggle? Did the struggle yield results? Was it a happy ending (so far)?

At over 50 you are probably in the last third of your life, how's it been so far?

Re: Do you think you have had a Hard Life?

When I was growing up we struggled after my dad passed away, mum had 5 children, I was the eldest aged 10 and life was hard.

When I started work I saved as much as I could to build my future until I was able to purchase a property and from then on I've never looked back.

Now my life is easy, I'm financially sound and have peace of mind.

Re: Do you think you have had a Hard Life?

I worked physically hard when I was a coal miner but my life has been fairly trouble free and we are comfortably off in our old age.

Re: Do you think you have had a Hard Life?

I have always worked, long, hard hours in a physically demanding job, but having said that my life has not been hard as such.

I think that there is much that affects us in life that we have no control over, and those events determine our life's chances right from the accident of our parentage. Personally I have had the fortune to have had good health and to have suffered no serious accident or any other untoward event that was out of my control, and I have therefore been able to reap the rewards of my labours.

I am now comfortable in my retirement but in spite of my hard work I really put my situation mainly down to good old fashioned luck....

Re: Do you think you have had a Hard Life?

I think its easy to compare to less devloped countries and say we have an easy life but its not so simple.

Yes we have a roof over our heads and health benefits as well as food on the table but we are in a society that demands we live in a particular way.

OH is sick, he has multiple problems that come from being at work hard heavy work since the age of 14. His body is collapsing under the effects of all those years of working yet our system demands that he carry on ..
He cant get a declaration of chronic sick/ disability because there is no one problem great enough to warrent that.
So after years of slogging away for 50 60 and even 70 hours a week at hard dirty work and saving like mad to buy our own house if OH wants to quit we will lose everything.

Has life been hard ..Yes we both remember time when we went to bed hungry, had no money to join in activites that other children had, missed birthdays etc.
So we have worked hard and where have we got?
To a point where we are facing an old age of more poverty .

Life isnt fair but then no one ever said it would be so why moan, we enjoy the sunny days and each other for as long as it lasts and we will see what comes along.

Re: Do you think you have had a Hard Life?

I wanted to avoid comparison with other countries (that's another thread) and concentrate entirely whether YOUR life was hard or not in the context in which you grew up and lived.

Re: Do you think you have had a Hard Life?

I think it has been hard in some ways and easy in others, we were homeless for a time, then found a flat we could afford dripped water and was build like a shed so had no insulation on the wooden walls and floors so wind actually lifted carpets at times. Then we got this shared ownership flat and did OK for many years compared with how we did previously. But when my husband had a stroke that all changed and we have been having a hard time financially since. His wages went down from 20K a year to about £15k and that was enough to knock us off kilter because the rent and mortgage don't go down service charges whizz up so what we have to spend goes down annually.
We spent more than we earned last year and I can't see that being different this year.

Only hope on the horizon is an inheritance but it's taken well over a year to get to the stage we are now where we even know where the money is so we will be paying capital gains on it we have now been told.


Easy has been our relationship and family life, and TBH I value that far higher than money and riches..

Re: Do you think you have had a Hard Life?

I would say my life has been hard in many ways but that is in the past and it does no good to dwell on it.

Now is the best time I am free do as I please and although I live on a small income I know my son will will help me out if needed.

Re: Do you think you have had a Hard Life?

In many ways yes my life has been hard, all due to events outside my control, for a short few years when i had control things were going well, never been well off but was content with my lot, money cant buy happiness but makes choices easier.

Steep spiral going on now, nothing i can do to alter or prevent it, thats life though.

Re: Do you think you have had a Hard Life?

In that case yes its been a damn hard slog with little or no reward