{"id":655387,"date":"2026-06-24T07:04:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T07:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/655387\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T07:04:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T07:04:49","slug":"im-sick-of-people-expecting-me-to-retire-simply-because-my-husband-has","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/655387\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019m sick of people expecting me to retire simply because my husband has\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julie freelances for various businesses. By day, you\u2019ll find her tucked away in her \u201cperfume grotto\u201d, concocting fragrance blends for private clients and major supermarkets. By night, she\u2019s at her local gym or community centre, teaching fitness classes \u2013 everything from spin to aerobics \u2013 something she\u2019s been doing since 1984. Julie also helps students train for their aromatherapy qualification.<\/p>\n

This summer, Julie will also be embarking on an eight-week solo trip<\/a> around China to explore the teachings of Confucius. \u201cIn Confucian philosophy, older people are seen as having reached a peak of knowledge and experience, with something valuable to give back,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are viewed as relevant. In the UK, I think the opposite is true. As you get older, you are seen as less relevant. Everything is geared towards youth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julie particularly feels this marginalisation<\/a> when at social events with her 22-year-old son who is a teacher, and her daughter, 26, an engineer. \u201cTheir friends ask me about hobbies, my dog or my travel plans, but rarely about my work,\u201d she says. \u201cOnce you reach a certain age, people just assume you\u2019ve stopped working and lost your purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Julie freelances for various businesses. By day, you\u2019ll find her tucked away in her \u201cperfume grotto\u201d, concocting fragrance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4792,2864,18173,4176,655,5780,4174,4175,2415,4204,5438,58919,56,54,55,157732],"class_list":["post-655387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-careers","tag-family","tag-feminism","tag-finance","tag-lifestyle","tag-marriage","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-relationships","tag-retirement","tag-standard","tag-top-story","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-us-content"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}