FabSwingers.com forum: Why is the retirement age getting older?

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

We had an interesting chat with an older lady we know and I am not sure how we got into it and we asked what she would do today and she said she was going to work and she is 72. I thought that was too old to work, whats your view of why is the retirement age getting older and when are you going to retire, at 67 the recommended age?

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *layfullsamMan
over a year ago

Solihull

Whatever age I am when I can afford to

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

So many questions Shag, who’s the old lady, who’s this ‘we’ you keep referring to and are all your discussions interesting, cause I’ve had discussions that were merely of mild interest at best ?!

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Money - the answer in a nutshell. Governments all over the world are in a panic as people live longer and there are less and less working age people (ratio) to retired people... and of course why force people to retire when they dont want to and are fit, capably and willing to work.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *ablo minibar123Woman
over a year ago

"Money - the answer in a nutshell. Governments all over the world are in a panic as people live longer and there are less and less working age people (ratio) to retired people... and of course why force people to retire when they dont want to and are fit, capably and willing to work. "

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Some people enjoy working and don’t want to retire ever. It keeps them going and often it’s for financial reasons too.

67 is only retirement age in terms of receiving the state pension. Lots of people have their own pension plan. The new Defined Contribution plans can be taken from age 55, so it’s getting more flexible.

I’m hoping I can retire or at least work a lot less by the time I’m 57. Depends what life throws into the mix in the meantime.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *he SurveyorMan
over a year ago

Bury

Many people died before retirement age and those who retired on the whole didn’t live much longer.

People are living longer and very healthy in their 60’s.

The experts say that a girl born today, who never smokes and eats healthily, can have a life expectancy of 120.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Many people died before retirement age and those who retired on the whole didn’t live much longer.

People are living longer and very healthy in their 60’s.

The experts say that a girl born today, who never smokes and eats healthily, can have a life expectancy of 120. "

You can extend your life with regular exercise, healthy diet, cutting down on red meat, avoiding alcohol. I'd die of boredom though.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *eah BabyCouple
over a year ago

Cheshire, Windermere ,Cumbria

Some of the older ladies didn’t work when they were younger, stay at home wives so it could be down to not receiving enough pension to live on.

As for dying when you retire my great gran was 96 when she died and never worked from her 20’s so guess that doesn’t apply to all

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Especially when I concider the generation from yesterday to be physically much fitter and generally healthier than the generation of today. *just my opinion.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *lem-H-FandangoMan
over a year ago

salisbury

"So many questions Shag, who’s the old lady, who’s this ‘we’ you keep referring to and are all your discussions interesting, cause I’ve had discussions that were merely of mild interest at best ?! "

We were having an interesting chat the other day wondering the same thing.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

It's cheaper for government. They hope you will croak before you have claimed too much. This is also good for those responsible for private pension funds. People actually drawing a pension, just because they paid for it, is terribly inconvenient.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Fully intend to retire by the time I’m 60, I’ve been putting ten percent into my pension each month for the last 14 years and my employer matches it. Sod waiting for my state pension!

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I dont wanna retire id be bored

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I shall take my private pension at 60 but work until retirement age (if able) which in my case is 67

Both based on the fact I'm still alive!

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *orkie321bWoman
over a year ago

Nottingham

OP many people choose to keep working beyond retirement age and it's often not for financial reasons.

I work in a supermarket and we have a few staff well beyond retirement age. One lady is 78 and works filling shelves, a man is 81 and works on the checkouts, another lady who's 80 does the sampling and tasters. They keep working because they really enjoy it although they are only part time now.

My grandmother was forced to retire by her employer at 60, this was in the 1970's and was commonplace at the time. Within 6 months she had found a part time job in a similar role and went back to work because she was bored being stuck at home all day every day. She finally retired for good about 12 years later but not through choice - the factory burned down!

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

If I can retire early I will do and hubby is retiring at 60. I think I’d either do voluntary work or if I could get a part time job do that.

I work with lots of volunteers who are in their 70s, 80s and 90s, and coming into work each day to volunteer keeps them alive and happy, most are widowed so they love the company.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

The age of retirement was originally set when life expectancy was only 70-75 years old. Now it's much longer and proportionally there are less people in work to fund it.

It's all about cost, the only way to fix this is to increase the age of retirement to at least 70 and be done with it.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *xMFM3sumsxxWoman
over a year ago

SouthWest Lancashire

I'm 'retired' now, due to disability though and not age. If i'd got some support when i first became physcial disabled my mental health wouldn't have gone down with it and i'd still be able to contribute to society.

I think people shouldn't be working so much at any age. There's so much unemployment (It's at 25% right now i believe) that having longer hours restricts the amount of work avaliable for all who want or need it.

Most training jobs now pay the trainer more than the trainee, as an incentive to get the trainee into work lol.

I think we should be heading more towards a technocracy than anything else we have, we could be more like humans then.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *rontier PsychiatristMan
over a year ago

Coventry

When a lot of pensions first started coming out people in especially working class jobs would be pretty knacked and worn out by 60, if they lived that long. So if now most of us live till our 80s or 90s and we are far more active/expect greater things from our golden years we have to ask how is this sustainable on our pensions? Especially if the ratio of pensioners to working your keeps moving towards the working young?

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *rontier PsychiatristMan
over a year ago

Coventry

I also remember my grandad retiring at 70. He grafted long hours since he was a boy. Absolutely hated retirement and within weeks of retierment he got himself a 5 day a week job as a factor cleaning team leader. He died a few years later grafting till the end.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *topianDreamersCouple
over a year ago

Derbyshire

It's not about people living longer. It's about a failing system. Capitalism is not providing the goods. Remember when new technology was going to save us all. Well guess what some greedy bastards made off with the kitty.

The World's 26 richest people own as much as poorest 50%, says Oxfam. Guess who pays for that?

Capitalism is the best economic system for wealth creation, but it can come at a cost, according to U2 singer, social activist, and investor Bono. True mate, it can generate wealth, but that doesn't mean it will be shared out fairly..... I will get off my soap box.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"It's not about people living longer. It's about a failing system. Capitalism is not providing the goods. Remember when new technology was going to save us all. Well guess what some greedy bastards made off with the kitty.

The World's 26 richest people own as much as poorest 50%, says Oxfam. Guess who pays for that?

The same Bono who stashed his money offshore to reduce his tax bill?

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *den-Valley-coupleCouple
over a year ago

Cumbria

"We had an interesting chat with an older lady we know and I am not sure how we got into it and we asked what she would do today and she said she was going to work and she is 72. I thought that was too old to work, whats your view of why is the retirement age getting older and when are you going to retire, at 67 the recommended age?"

government bulshit they wouldn't be able to support large corporations with massive tax breaks if we were allowed to have a little bit enjoyment in our life.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

People living too long. Infant mortality much lower than the past, in western world. People living longer aided by meds which need money to buy hence work longer. 55% of uk citizens are net loss to the country. Many of them are pensioners. By the way, EU citizens living in uk are net contributors and we will be losing a great deal of that profit soon further increasing demand to work even longer.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

The state pension was never funded and still is not, that is why the retirement age has to go up.Private/workplace pensions have been ruined by Government pilfering.As usual, politicians have fucked the electorate.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *ranny-CrumpetWoman
over a year ago

The Town by The Cross

"Many people died before retirement age and those who retired on the whole didn’t live much longer.

People are living longer and very healthy in their 60’s.

The experts say that a girl born today, who never smokes and eats healthily, can have a life expectancy of 120. "

'expert' ....... chortle.

What did they say about boys born today?

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *ara JTV/TS
over a year ago

Bristol East

Maybe two different issues here.

There is no longer a compulsory retirement age - anyone can continue working as long as they want and they can still do the job.

The state pension age is increasing because, basically, people are living longer, there's more of us and the government doesn't want to tax working people to keep lots of old people in a degree of comfort.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Life expectancy has got longer since we got better at dealing with serious illnesses. In the 1960’s the average man was expected to make around 68. So he’d work to 65 and his pension would be paid for around 3 years. Now the life expectancy is 79. That’s 14 years, so the pension age is being adjusted accordingly.

Also the war birth drop is about to pass (in terms of people hitting pension ages) and we’ll have more pensioners, therefore more people needed to pay the pensions.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Retired from full time work in my 40's now only work a few months a year, just enough to fund my fun. The day to day costs are covered my money invested in the first 5 years of working.

But I planned for it, so have more things to do than days to do them. Boredom is not an issue to those with good imaginations

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *icecouple561Couple
Forum Mod
over a year ago

East Sussex

"Life expectancy has got longer since we got better at dealing with serious illnesses. In the 1960’s the average man was expected to make around 68. So he’d work to 65 and his pension would be paid for around 3 years. Now the life expectancy is 79. That’s 14 years, so the pension age is being adjusted accordingly.

Also the war birth drop is about to pass (in terms of people hitting pension ages) and we’ll have more pensioners, therefore more people needed to pay the pensions."

Yes, that's about it.

I'm a bit miffed that I was promised a state pension at the age of 60 when I started working but have seen it rise to 66. However I semi retired about four years ago and now work two days a week about four to six months of the year.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *ust RachelTV/TS
over a year ago

Horsham

The cost of living has gone up, the pensions are not going as far as they used to.

For some it is a sense of being useful.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I wanna keep on working till the line goes flat! I’ll be bored senseless working part time or retired! No matter how much money I had I’ll still carry on.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *ristol HellfireMan
over a year ago

Bristol

Also the war birth drop is about to pass (in terms of people hitting pension ages) and we’ll have more pensioners, therefore more people needed to pay the pensions."

I think you are over-simplyfying things. Life expectancy in the UK is, now, showing a fall. This may be a statistical anomaly, or the start of a trend.

Individuals born in the pre-WWII and WWII period with rationing of all consumables not ending until 1954, are now reaching the end of their lives.

Consumption of energy rich (fat/carbohydrate), low protein, low fibre, low vitamin and mineral food is linked to early death and, guess what, it has been consumed since the late 1950s.

I anticipate that the life expectancy in the UK is going to plummet over the next ten years; we have been sold a pup by the government who, simply, want to reduce the money returned to the people that they have taken it off.

Do bookmark this, and come back and read it in 15 years.

Lucifer

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I think you are over-simplyfying things. Life expectancy in the UK is, now, showing a fall. This may be a statistical anomaly, or the start of a trend.

Individuals born in the pre-WWII and WWII period with rationing of all consumables not ending until 1954, are now reaching the end of their lives.

Consumption of energy rich (fat/carbohydrate), low protein, low fibre, low vitamin and mineral food is linked to early death and, guess what, it has been consumed since the late 1950s.

Do bookmark this, and come back and read it in 15 years.

Lucifer"

It’s not over simplifying to say that life expectancy has increased since the setting of the 60 and 65 pension ages. It has. Yes, we’ve have the first time when it has stopped increasing, and in some parts had a decrease, but it’s still higher than before.

The individuals born around the WWII period included a decline in population. There will be a rise in the number of pensioners because the birth rate returned was higher after those periods.

Whilst I agree with your points about the food, and I do agree that there will eventually be a decline in life expectancy because of obesity, cancers, antibiotic resistance, the anti vax movement and other factors, I think it will be considerably longer than 15 years.

In the meantime we will have more pensioners because because whilst they started the poorer quality food era, they are also benefitting from better medical care while will see them reach the peak of the life expectancy changes.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

Interesting points everyone

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I retired at 58, my friend retired at 67 he retired on a Friday and died the following Monday he never even got his first weeks pension and his private pension wouldn’t pay out any life insurance because he was officially retired

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *tella HeelsTV/TS
over a year ago

west here ford shire

I have 9 yrs to go, I am not sure I’ll make it, hopefully I will

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I retired at 58, my friend retired at 67 he retired on a Friday and died the following Monday he never even got his first weeks pension and his private pension wouldn’t pay out any life insurance because he was officially retired "

That’s sad for your friend. I had a friend like that too, retired early in the October. Had stomach pains in the December and died the following July. That’s why I’m retiring as early as I can. You never know what’s around the corner.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

Post new Message to Thread