Pensions age to rise sooner

Yes. Other countries have done it e.g. Germany.
When 65 was set as the retirement age the length of the retirement, particularly for working class men, was incredibly short as they mostly died by their late 60s. Now life expectancy at 65 is about 20 years. Today's 40 year olds can expect to live into their late 80s and even 90s. Retirement was not invented so that people could have 30 or more years of extended leisure was it? If present trends continue about 1/3 of all the able bodied adults will be retired.

www.kingsfund.org.uk/time-to-think-differently/trends/demography/life-expectancy#healthy

It's a tricky one. I wouldn't like to work till I was 70 I have to admit.

I saw a tweet today that said that only 54% men approaching current state pension age are working, though.

I can see the reasoning but as LyndaW says I'm glad it doesn't affect me

It may give a few the incentive to start saving early but that can be difficult at times. I am glad I will not have to worry about that.

I think that I may scream if I hear yet again how well we pensioners are doing financially as I heard yet again this am. Try heating the house all day long, rather than an hour or two in morning and 3-4 hours in the evening after work.

There are some physically and emotionally taxing jobs that I think it will be very difficult to keep on with after a certain age. Teaching classes of boisterous children and teenagers for one; some construction industry jobs for another.
We already know that grandparents provide huge amounts of support so that younger members of the family can go out to work and an increased retirement age will create a knock on effect. With more older people in the jobs market there will be fewer jobs for entry level positions. Or perhaps I'm being over optimistic. It seems much more likely that many older people will lose their jobs and will be thrown into the same situation as our phoenix; no job, no pension, and the bills piling up.

On the face of it, it seems fair. My concern is how much longer people are living healthy lives, I see people living much longer but in a poor state of health (my Mum is 88 and has been unwell twenty years), I keep reading in the news about how many people will have dementia etc. Will most people be well enough to work until they are seventy? Please be gentle with me, it is my first post .

There is a bit of an anomaly though. Another news item I heard this morning was that global levels of Alzheimer's was rising. Imagine a workforce made up of significant numbers of people who aren't sure who they are!

Great idea for those who are in good health mentally and physically but being forced to work until 70???

Another problem will be the lack of jobs for young people as no one is retiring. Just dropping dead in harness. In my experience older people can become very jaded after a long time in a job. Young people bring in new and fresh ideas and vigour that the workplace often badly needs.

I wouldn't have the energy to complete a day's work never mind a week.

I wanted to work until 65, but the b******s made me redundant at 58. I worked part-time for a couple of years and since then have done voluntary work. But during that time I have been falling apart (physically) and that would have made it hard to sustain a full-time job, though I would willingly have kept up part-time ESOL teaching which I loved, but although I made myself available for supply work, I was never taken up on the offer. There must be many people in my position. Are Osborne and IDS really thinking this through?

It won't work and it's a retrograde step for most people (we all know that G. Osborne and D.Cameron won't be working until they are 68). There will be huge increases in time taken off for illness, and less healthy pensioners as they struggle to cope. So it will cost the NHS more.Charities will suffer because over 65s won't be there volunteering to keep everything going. Communities will lose out because there'll be no one to organise activities Families will struggle on without help from granny. It's time that someone celebrated the contribution we make. We aren't sitting on our behinds, we are out there keeping things running, raising money, childminding etc. If only someone could work out how much our work would cost if we were paid and then look at the cost of pensions instead of peddling this "we can't afford to pay people to sit around when they are 65." rubbish!

Welcome to GN Jessie22 no need to worry, we're a friendly lot

charliegirl - I echo your scream of frustration - a whole age group purely by virtue of their age) are lumped into one category who 'are fairly well off' or 'doing well' - I am tired of quoting the average (or mean) income of single pensioners who as you say have the 'single premium' (that is lots of things to do with living cost the same for two as for one) to contend with and no means to increase their income.
Couples do far better with two state pensions, possibly two personal pensions, two tax-free allowances, I could go on but it raises my blood pressure (as does constantly harping on about hard-working families rather than referring to household income)
rant over

Trisher good points made regarding volunteering and child care. I am retired (63) but certainly do my share of childcare. The cost of childcare is horrendous!

It really worries me, my husband is a teacher who should have been due for retirement soon under the old system and I can see the signs of him burning out. Now he will have to continue for years and as other colleagues leave or are replaced, he will be the old grumpy codger in the corner that all the younger teachers will wish would clear off so that they can have his job.

I was never expecting to retire anyway so probably won't make much difference to either me or my DH .

Nothing will change very much. The rich will still retire early and the poor will work until they drop.

According to the report, our pensions are actually due to increase, so this is more likely going to affect our children rather than us. I think overall, we'll be better off. Even so though, I feel exhausted at the thought of my poor kids having to work till (or past) 70. As someone else said life expectancy is hugely variable.

Judthepud2 love the idea of a demented work force. Surely here is the germ of an idea for a sitcom (Phoenix get writing) a sort of 'The Office' 50 years on?

Levels of Altzheimer's rising because the number of old people rising. Like cancer, it's a disease of older people. One of the banks was running an advert a while back that said something like "Most of the people who have lived beyond 60 are alive today".
Teaching is a draining job but they are very lucky because not only do they have a final-salary linked pension but they are about the only profession that can elect to go part time while freezing their pension so that when they retire the "final salary" that counts is the full time one and not the part time one.

There are many jobs that people won't be able to continue doing even into their 60s , the emergency services come to mind and the police force... not really sure how on earth this can work.. I had to retire early at 58 from the Ambulance service through ill-health as did many of my colleagues we physically were not able to continue lifting and carrying patients anymore.

The question is about state pension, not pensions for people in jobs that have relatively great pension schemes.

It is a cynical way of reducing the number of state pensions to be paid out. Make people work until they drop. Many cannot afford a separate work related pension or savings towards retirement.

I think they're going to have to make their minds up. Are over 60s frail, forgetful and a drain on society, or fit for another 10 years work in demanding jobs so they can contribute more to Inland Revenue and pension schemes? They can't have both!

Well said When!

Mollie You say that 'couples do far better with two state pensions'.
I am not sure what you are implying here. You're not suggesting, are you, that married couples should each receive a lower state pension than a single person, are you?