Star comment: Young will work until they drop
Today’s young should know that the expectation is that they will have to work well into what was once called old age, and certainly longer than previous generations.
They will have to do it because they will be unable to afford not to.
But what if, not to put too fine a point on it, they do not want to keep working?
Figures from a survey already suggest that, even as things stand, there is a quiet rebellion at the notion of working until you drop.
The research for Prudential shows that on average, six out of 10 of those who are planning to give up work this year are retiring early – that is, giving up work earlier than their projected state pension age, or company pension scheme retirement date.
These are, relatively speaking, the good times, as the state pension age is retreating under government policy, so that by 2028 for both men and women it will be 67. Already people are seeking early retirement, being prepared to take a hit on their income in exchange for being able to put their feet up away from the grind of a working life. They are retiring early because they can. They have planned and budgeted for it.
A factor which is working in their favour is that there is now more flexibility for the over-55s on how they get access to their pensions cash.
Older people continue to have valuable skills for the workplace, plus a lifetime of experience and knowledge. And there are of course many for whom the notion of stopping work holds no appeal. They like the routine, the social interaction, the feeling they are contributing, and, naturally, the money.
There is going to come a point when today’s young generation have reached the age of today’s “early retirers” and find they are victims of an age divide – what may be seen in future as ageism in reverse – in which they are discriminated against, not able to enjoy that which previous generations enjoyed.
Will they too want to retire early, and at roughly the same age, even though for them the state pension is yet more distant?
If they do, and there is a kind of biological stop-work clock, it could result in a sort of mass movement by the over-50s of the future to consensual poverty.
Unless, that is, they start laying the groundwork for a comfortable retirement now. The following should perhaps be adopted as a government slogan – Planning and preparation will prevent pensioner poverty.
