State pension age to rise to 70 by 2050
03/09/2015
The state pension age may rise to age 70 by 2050 as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed a sharp rise in life expectancy.
Over the past century the average UK life expectancy has increased over the past century from 51 years to 79 years for men and 55 years to 83 years for women. Around 20% of men aged 60, and 31% of women, are expected to live until at least 90 years old. Because of this, an increase in the state pension age may be “inevitable”.
The state pension age is set to rise to 65 for both men and women in 2018, before increasing to 66 by 2020 and 67 by 2028.
Longer working lives may become a reality for many people beginning to save for their retirement now, and the younger generations may have to think ahead for retirement and how they will finance themselves.
Malcom McLean, who is a senior consultant at finance firm Barnett Waddingham, said:
“Although no one has a crystal ball and can’t be sure for certain what the future may hold for us all, the ONS figures do raise the possibility of many more people in this country living well into their nineties by the second half of this century.
“Using the formula now proposed by the Government that future generations should spend up to a third of their adult life in retirement it is very likely that state pension ages will have to rise much faster than currently anticipated, almost inevitably reaching at least 70 by the midpoint of the century.”
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