Would you be tempted to ‘unretire’ after quitting early? TiM podcast

First we had the big resignation and now we may see a new ‘don’t retire’ trend emerging.

Amid the turmoil of the pandemic, the UK economy threw up the puzzle of a dramatic rise in economic inactivity – as some 565,000 people fell from the workforce to a position where they were neither working nor looking for work.

These missing workers do not claim unemployment benefits, but somehow manage on their own.

The phenomenon is big enough that the ONS and the Bank of England have looked into it and a study by a House of Lords committee says early retirement among people aged 50 to 64 may be the main driver of the trend.

But there are also tentative signs that some of these people are “not retiring,” so what’s going on?

In this podcast, Georgie Frost, Helen Crane and Simon Lambert address the issue. Why do people want to retire early, why are some going back to work now – and what could be more tempting to boost productivity and the economy?

In addition, the team looks at the winners and losers of the 2022 stock market – and why the FTSE 100 managed to hold its own while other major markets suffered.

Wood-burning stoves are also on the agenda: can they really be cheaper than your central heating or are they just a feature for the home?

And finally, used car prices continue to defy business as usual and are rising again this year, will that end now and what were the models that increased the most in value in 2022?

Merry Christmas from the This is Money podcast team.