There is nothing better than listening to the voice of experience to know what the future holds for us or how our grandparents and pensioners ‘earned their bread’, which is why any interview with retirees goes a long way and leaves phrases for glory, which only show the harsh reality that Spain experienced in post-Franco times. The Andalucía Directo program, in a report recorded in the Almeria town of Berja, has collected the testimonies of several retirees who reflect on life after work, the sacrifices of their youth and the new debate on the retirement age, in a video published on the Berja Digital (@berjadigital).
“Only those who have contributed for at least 38 years and 3 months will be able to retire at age 65,” recalls the journalist, about the new retirement age implemented but which only a few can benefit from. Those who started working when they were just children, today feel that they have already given everything they could give and, in some cases like Josefa’s, they are finally emerging from that kind of repression to which they were subjected (either due to scarcity or the retrograde machismo that existed before in many homes).
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Marianne (66 years old), retired as a clerk after 41 years at the Post Office: “my pension is 1,240 euros per month, working all my life in the rain”
A retiree who worked for 43 years at the Post Office and who receives a pension of 640 euros must return 44,424 euros to the State: “Working all my life and paying taxes for this”
“I have worked since I was 9 years old, in agriculture”
Fausto and Lola, a married couple who have been retired for years, speak with a serenity that only time can give. When asked how they are handling retirement, they answer: “Wonderfully, because we have been working all our lives. I have been working since I was 9 years old, in agriculture,” he says proudly. At his side, his wife tells how they are now enjoying their long-awaited retirement from work: “When I retired, at home, we went on a trip and we are very well, we go for walks.”
Few phrases better describe what a life of effort means: work, family and sacrifice. But also a reward that arrives late. Is there life after retirement? They ask one of the retirees, who responds with amazement: “Man, it’s when it begins, another meaning. At least for me, to be able to enjoy all these activities, since throughout my working life it has been home-work…”.
“Young people don’t start working like us”
The conversation is repeated in many parks and senior centers: the years weigh heavily, but what hurts most is the comparison with the present. “I started working when I was 12. So I think I’m already a little burned out,” admits a 60-year-old woman who is still waiting for her retirement. “What happens is that young people don’t start working like we do,” he adds with a mixture of resignation and a certain generational reproach.
The calendar doesn’t help either. In 2025, the retirement age will be 65 years for those who have contributed the required 38 years and 3 months, but 66 years and 8 months for the rest, two months more than in 2024. A horizon that many view with fatigue: “I still have a few years left, I am 60… but hey, there is less left,” comments another interviewee with humor, but without hiding the accumulated fatigue.
“Now what I want is to enjoy and travel”
Not everything is melancholy. Antonio, retired and a lover of travel, has turned his retirement into a second youth: “Yes, quite a bit. I have already seen a few countries. And this is going to be my first Imserso destination, the first time this year,” he says enthusiastically.
His testimony reflects a new way of aging, more active, wanting to take advantage of what work once prevented.
The Imserso trips are filling up again, especially with “recent retirees, people who are going for the first time,” explains the report. A generation that worked tirelessly and now seeks to live without a clock.
“Before we worked a lot and now life flies by”
In each phrase a lesson is guessed: value time.
“Before, we had fun with nothing. Today young people have everything and, even so, many are not happy,” says a retiree, while remembering her first years in the countryside. They are words that summarize an entire philosophy of life, where effort and humility are mixed with the desire to enjoy what remains.
Because, as another of the interviewees acknowledges: “There is life after retirement, and that is when the opportunity to enjoy finally begins.”
A generation marked by work and sacrifice
The retirees of Berja are clear: their generation raised the country from childhood, with early mornings, crop fields and eternal days. Now, with their hands marked by work, they demand only one thing: to be able to rest with dignity.
His testimony is also a reminder for the youngest, who look to the future with uncertainty.
In his words a warning and a hope resonate: “Enjoy life as much as you can, as best as possible. When you see what something costs, you value it.”