will our grandchildren have to work till they drop? I hope not[sad]

I am a retired plumber, I'll be 83 next month. I couldn't possibly do a days work now. There's no way, I could work at the back of a whb, connecting the water pipes, or lie on the floor and work one handed, doing the same, behind a bath. I doubt if I could have done it at seventy. On top of which, the body starts rebelling, after a long life of hard manual labour. It's no joke, when you are 5'6" and you are hauling around 4" and 6" cast iron piping. We didn't have plastic piping, or plastic baths it was all cast iron then.

The cast iron pipes were for waste water, copper pipes washing and drinking water. There's a name for it, but I can't remember. The baths, were very heavy and you had to manoeuvre them on your own, unless carrying them for any distance, when it took two plumbers, or three plumbers, if taking it up flight of stairs. I won't go into a long explanation of that procedure. That part, was by way of explanation. I mainly worked on construction sites, as opposed to maintenance plumbing. I doubt very much, if people in manual labour, will be able to work much, after seventy.

I'm having a Monty Python moment here: the one about the cardboard box in't middle of road.

It's all well and good expecting people to work longer but what if your health deteriorates? I'm 55 and earlier in the year survived a month stay in ICU fighting septic shock, pneumonia and pulmonary embolisms. I understandably have ongoing health problems and it looks as if I will lose my job. There is no such thing as Incapacity benefit and it is nigh impossible to qualify for Personal Independence Payment. I MAY get contributory Employment and Support Allowance but that only lasts for a year. Who will employ me if I do recover fully? In the meantime we still need to pay our mortgage and bills and continue to raise our 12 year old grandson. At a time when I should have less stress I have more than ever. This situation is not black and white and there will always be people who's health through no fault of their own deteriorates and its impossible for them to work on. Where is the safety net ? Nobody knows what the future holds and there are lots of jobs where it is just not feasible to work to 67 never mind older even if you are in good health.

I quite agree with you, GillT57. For most youngsters these days, lifestyle choices are not an option. If I thought my children and their friends were having a better time than I had, I would be delighted, not resentful

Blimey, with few honourable exceptions, there are an awful lot of 'well in my day' type comments on here, comments which show little experience of how it is to be in your 20s or 30s now, unable to buy a home of your own or even get a secure tenancy. We should be expecting more for our children, not less,and all this talk of outside toilets, second hand furniture and feeding a family of four on just a turnip as you happily huddled around your second hand tv is irritating and unhelpful

As one of the unlucky ones born in the 50's I am supposed to carry on working until I am 66 at least before I get my pension. Unfortunately, I have been signed off sick for approx 2 years now with an illness that I am unlikely to get better from as there is no cure. I remember back when I left school at 15 there were jobs aplenty, but at the same time, there were not all the benefits they get now like tax credits, housing benefits etc. When I got married we had to find private rentals as you never got a council house unless you had a family. We struggled like most people, making do with things folk gave us until we could afford to buy our own and like someone has already mentioned, getting credit was not easy. When we had our first daughter I had to stay in hospital for 10 days as they did not want me going home to a flat that had no bathroom ( the toilet was outside and we washed in the kitchen sink). We then got offered a council house. We felt like we had won the lottery! Nowadays, youngsters move in together and have a house full of all the stuff I waited years for! They think they are poor if they don't have all the latest gadgets. Yes, there are poor people nowadays, but watch these programs about living on benefits, they will have the giant tv, the latest mobile phone, the Xbox and then they go to a food bank for food??? Sorry, but I do not class that as being poor. Yes, today's generation will have to work longer than we did, but a lot of them don't even start work until they are in their mid twenties. And they should know if they do not put money away for their pensions now they won't get one. yes, housing is not so available and is expensive, but we had to put down 5-10% deposits if we wanted to buy our own home. Every generation has to face choices, some kids are fortunate to have families that can help them out financially, some will have to struggle. I think it is up to them to make the choices that they want to make. I never went abroad for a family holiday until I was in my mid 30's, my grandchildren don't consider they have had a holiday unless it is abroad. I am sure they will manage just the same as we all have had to. The world is constantly changing, not always for the better, but it is and we all have to adapt as best we can. I just hope my kids and grandkids have a happy, healthy life.

Yes, there are lots of jobs, poor quality, zero hour contract jobs.

Just to make the point unemployment has been going down for several years.

Babyboomer, that's the truth of it, and I fear for my daughters future. I have a part time job, I go in over an hour early, leaves half and hour later and eat on the job, there's another hour there. That is the reality we are living in, I remember when I started work in the eighties I used to get a lunch break! We should never, ever, ever have sold social housing, it was a terrible thing to do. My parents brought their house which hugely benefitted them, now they rent it for a profit. That isn't right.

My Nephew really believe's that he is entitled to the world, when he and his soon to be ex wife married 2 ! years ago they each had 3 stag/hen do's which consisted of a week abroad each, a weekend away within the uk and a day out at the races followed by a night on the town, after a very expensive wedding( paid for by every man and his dog but NOT them) they rented a house bought everything new, ate out every night and had so many holidays i couldnt keep count. In that time they both had 2 new cars. Now he has split form his wife he has just bought his own house, bought everything new (again) was on holiday last week and is away again in 2 weeks time. When i asked him how he could afford all of this,his answer was" i cant but the bank can and anyway i deserve to live this life !

I think we often see things from our own -selfish- perspective, whereas our children or grandchildren will cope with future events in their own way, according to the conditions prevailing at that time. Who are we to lecture them about curtailing their spending or reducing their current quality of life when things will no doubt be very different for them in 40/50 years time? They have to enjoy the fruits of their labours now because life is far more stressful and challenging than it was for our generation, and what we considered luxuries are pretty much necessities these days. I too get angry when I hear people say children should be taught about finances and savings at school. Let them all live a bit, there will be enough pressures for them to handle without constantly harping on about pensions and savings.

Life is much harder for the young than it was for our generation. No family with children can now exist on one adult salary, unless that salary is exceptionally high, whether they have a mortgage or are renting. Most mothers cannot afford to stay home with their small children even if they want to. For most young couples now, owning their own home is an unrealistic dream. Rents are high, and security of tenure is poor. Hours are long, lunch hours are a thing of the past, and it is often expected that workers will take work home to do in the evenings, further impacting on family life. And retirement age continues to rise. It makes me very angry when I hear and read older people saying that young people are greedy and "want it all". They don't know the half of it.

If we were allowed to retire at 60 this would give the young people more opportunities, and reduce unemployment. Raising the retirement age is doing young people out of jobs

What I don't understand is. We have so many young people unemployed getting benefits as they cannot get work. Why not let us retire and give the workplaces to younger people and reduce unemployment

I am retired and only have the basic state pension (the old one not the one that has just come in) Years ago I realised I would never be employed in a comany with a pension scheme so I planned for the future by moving from house to house until at retirement time I could sell the house and buy something smaller and use the rest to supplement my small pension. Great in 2008 when interest rates were good but not at all good now with virtually no interest. But remember that loss means a gain for a our children and grandchildren with very very low mortagage rates. So many clould be saving for the future but are more keen to be out enjoying themselves. A very different attitude to us older ones. I lent a very large sum of money to my daughter last year to help them buy a house instead of renting and they were unable to get a mortgage at that time. They were a lot better off than when renting but did they save that money to do the house up etc? No they have had a great time eating out and having holidays. THey are not young people in their 20s either I do not worry about the younger generation because they will live the life they want regardless of whether they will have a pension at the end of their working life. They have to learn for themselves. I am sure there are many who will disagree with me and I know that not everyone is the same as I have other adult children who are very careful and plan everything. But a lot of young people today have to start off with evrything new whereas when we were young we were happy to accept things from family for our first home. So I am sure that future generations will survive.

Deedaa that is a lot of rent; is there no chance of him getting 100% mortgage, and the repayments could be less than his rent?
When we had a young family and the mortgage rates were so high (15%) our mortgage was at least 2/3 of DH's salary and I only had a part-time evening job, no chance of any childcare as we had no family nearby and the costs of childcare was prohibitive even then, so as he came home in the evening I went out. However, now we are retired our house is ours, mortgage paid off (but not until DH finished work at 68).

The biggest problem for the young is housing. DS's rent is currently 75% of his income, the other 25% is his to pay bills and food for his wife and son. The rent is average for private rentals round here and his job is reasonably well paid. His wife doesn't work at the moment because of the cost of child care.Rents are rising all the time and no social housing is being built. There is certainly no hope of saving for a pension or anything else. Of course eventually there will be our house when we die, but that will have to be split with his sister and If one of us ends up needing residential care that will be the house gone.

There is no financial security to be had, we are all victims of financial terrorism, pensions being plundered, bank interest rates being cut, who can save enough to forestall what is to come?

The wealthy are siphoning the assets of the poor into their own ban accounts, unless you are one of the elites anything you have is up for grabs, in Cyprus the government raided people's private bank accounts, it could happen here.

Unless we start to redistribute the wealth of the world, fairly, across the world, there will be wars over food and water, currently the migrants are just flooding into the countries where there is plenty,soon, we will all be at saturation point and war will be inevitable.

There is no junior ISA on the planet that will insulate your grandchildren from this, we need a radical shake up in the way that we co inhabit the planet with others.

The Olympics are the glaring example of this, throw enough money at a few, pampered people and they excel. The rest of us have to buy tickets to watch this, and in Rio there have been many, many empty seats, people are too poor to spectate upon the good fortune of others.

In Greece paid for pensions have been cut, it is happening everywhere, it is spiritual revolution world wide that we must pin our hopes on, and drastic population control.

Issues politicians don't seem to be addressing is that as the years roll on work automation is accelerating, jobs are being exported and there are more young people chasing scarcer (well paid) work opportunities. This country needs to export more high quality goods and services in order to boast wealth which can then be shared more equitably than it is at the moment. Furthermore, at one time a degree held much greater value in terms of getting a decent paid job but now at about £45k some are not worth the paper they are certified on.

Many Baby Boomers are working from aged 15 to 66. The younger generation stay in education longer, often not starting work until 22 after gap year and uni, so if they work till 72 it's no different. Also life expectancy has increased greatly since we were young so it is only to be expected that pension age will go up. At least many of the younger generation will benefit from inheriting a house from us baby boomers. Less of us had an inheritance like that. In addition, there are still pensions for those working in the NHS, local government and civil service. I don't think these will disappear.

Here in NZ, the universal retirement age is 65. Everyone, regardless of contribution or assets, is entitled to government superannuation at that age. Whilst the amount of the pension is not huge, it is possible to live on it, provided that you have no mortgage costs etc. My exH lives perfectly happily on it and is even able to save a small amount. The NZ government introduced a savings scheme some years ago, called Kiwisaver, which has been an enormous success. The government used to give a $1000 kickstart to everyone beginning their savings, plus a generous yearly tax credit. Savers can contribute 3, 4 or 8% of their wage, and the employer pays 3% - rising I believe soon to 4%.Savers choose from a range of schemes, from conservative through to a more risky, but potentially very lucrative Growth scheme. For young people it is a great opportunity to get some savings behind them from early in their lives and to cultivate the habit of compulsory saving from wages - what you don;t see you don't miss.I have been in it only 5 years since my return from the UK, but already have a very healthy amount in my Conservative scheme, plus yearly returns on my investment averaging 6%. Despite this wonderful opportunity, and many more savers than the government anticipated, there are still many young people who maintain that they can't afford it. At the risk of sounding like a "in my day" Boomer, many of these young people still seem to be able to afford booze, new cars, an average new house size twice that of our first home - these are apparently essentials of life.

I listened to the programme too and just thought how very lucky I was to be born in 1951!! I don't feel guilty for my free education or my final salary pension !thats what was on offer and I made the most of it. We were a lucky generation being able to retire at 60 and I do feel for my friends who are looking at 67/8 before they can but its not my fault,we cannot be blamed for the year we were born!!!

It's bad enough for anybody working until their late 60s but think about the jobs where work is very physical. I am in good health and go to the gym but, in my late 60s, I can't do what I used to do, say, 5 years ago. My daughter is a paramedic and she says she'll be picking people up off the floor who are younger than her if, with 12 hour day and night shifts, she gets to retirement. Those of us baby boomers who were able to retire at 60, 65 for men, are very lucky.

Each generation has to live in their age. My parents lived through WW2, my Grandparents WW1 and 2. Our generation have had it good in many ways but how many of us had a gap year and or the travel opportunities of youth. In those days it was glamorous to go to France the idea of going to Thailand was out of the question. They may have to work longer but they understand that and will allow for it when making decisions. Let's hope there are not worse things for them to worry about.

My paternal grandfather died at 57 and my maternal grandfather died at 67 when the pension age was 65 and neither were considered particularly early deaths. These days people tend to live to their eighties or nineties so it makes no sense to keep the pension age anywhere less than 75 in my opinion. The state pension was never intended to provide people with twenty years of paid for leisure time. Trouble is they keep moving the goalposts and I'm getting less than others because they reduced the number of working years needed for a full pension just after I retired and the new minimum pension payments won't be backdated to cover me. I'll always get much less than others so have made plans to cover this shortfall.