Longer life expectancies means later retirement

According to a new survey, 17% of people that are living today will live to be older than 100 years old. This is down to many things such as more developed health care and a better scientific understanding of various diseases and cancers. Living conditions have also improved in the last century.

The rise in life expectancy has many effects on the rest of the economy. For example, the Government is already in talks about raising the retirement age for both men and women to coincide with the rise in life expectancy. This means people will have to work longer or they could face a low retirement income. Annuity rates are also being affected as the company providing the pension will use an annuity rates calculator to work out that if you are living for longer, then they will have to pay out for your income for more years.
For example, women live longer than men on average so their rates are usually lower because the company will pay out for longer.

The rise in life expectancy has been anticipated for some time. It has been steadily rising for the past 50 years, for example the average life expectancy in 1960 was 71 and in 2008 it was nearly 80 years old.

Director of SAGA, Ros Altmann says “It will be part time work, not full time, it will not be a case of work ‘til you drop.” This reassures the worries of many as some people facing retirement are concerned that they will never be free of the working world and will not get a chance to stop and enjoy life.