Do You Want To Work Until You Are 70?
A report by Lord Turner of Ecchinswell into the UK state pension scheme has advised the government that in order to maintain the relative value of today's pension, the age of retirement will need to rise to age 70 by the mid 2000s. The prediction for the new 70 retirement age is an increase on the 68 year old figure which was calculated just a couple of years ago and will see more of the UK population work later into life.
It has long been a concern that the value of the UK state pension will diminish as the years go by, people live longer and the cost of living continues to rise. Government actuaries made serious errors in their forecast about a decade ago and the estimates for life expectancy and the number of pensioners has proved to be way out of line.
While many in the UK will dismiss 2050 as well into the future and not worth worrying about, this could not be further from the truth. Those who are now starting their working lives will need to address these issues sooner rather than later ensuring a constant supply of new custom for the personal pension industry. Have the government let pensioners down? Was it inevitable that the state budget would collapse at some stage?
The real reason is probably a mixture of all of the above but it will be those who have worked all of their lives who will suffer the most, they are the real victims.
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