| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How Much Do You Need to Retire On? | |
| Posted by: | Joe Conneely | |
| Date/Time: | 21/06/11 15:20:00 |
| This discussion and the practical comments made does seem to be the national debate that should have been had over pensions and the growing problems of funding for the last 15 years odd as the situation got worse? Sadly Labour's handling of that message plus the current coalition communications around its proposed changes never seem to get to focusing on the practicalities in raising up that national understanding. The credit crunch and the knock on impact now being seen on various civil service pensions will only exacerbate the lack of honest debate is my fear. At the same time the reality is we are all on average living longer and with one in three of the UK workforce being over 50 years of age before the end of the decade, the model of retirement and then just stopping work 100% seems kaput? I suspect the developing issue is as more of the UK population approach official retirement age (whatever that finally ends up at), many will prefer not to work as hard but would like to work less and for longer in supplementing their pensions and savings. Plus quite frankly keeping fit physically and mentally given the concerns over growing mental deterioration levels in an aging population will also be a growing issue. Many charities like Alzheimers Disease Society have been trying to raise awareness on this aspect but I have not noticed much of this thinking informing government and party debates. Finally, on the very first posting, a quick observation that Scottish Widows have a clear personal interest in pushing higher savings levels plus not a great record from my own experience in delivering great investment results! The "scare figures" often used in these examples such as the £24K in this case, never seem to take account of the fact that on the assumption you enter retirement debt free, then as earlier postings have made clear your expenditure does drop and you manage your outgoings accordingly. The subsequent lower survey figures quoted in later postings seem to evidence this trend. |