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heyfive of us know state pension According to a new study, age in Britain. I am not one of those people. Gun to my head, right now, without checking Google, I’d say… 68? Perhaps? However, is it different for men and women? Who knows?
Well, apparently one in five people. is according to standard lifeWhich surveyed 6,000 adults and found some pretty disturbing results. The 18 per cent who knew about the actual pension age – I’ve just checked and it’s 66, if you’re a fellow 82 per cent – were made up of people from all age groups. As you can imagine, one particular group was as far away retirementThe chances of knowing their age were equally slim. Only 13 percent of Gen Z (aged 18-28) surveyed gave the correct answer.
Although my initial guess was wrong, it is very likely that this will not happen by the time I qualify for the state pension. Age will be 67 years between 2026 and 2028and is likely to reach 68 by the year 2046. Since by then I’ll still have another decade to work, at least, who knows what the outcome might be by the time I actually hang up that imaginary “Gone Fishing” sign forever.
That’s part of the problem when it comes to widespread ignorance about pensions: Many Gen Z and Millennials, deep down, don’t believe they’ll ever have the luxury of retiring. And who can blame them? We have already seen the state pension age rise in our lifetime. For more than half a century, it remained stable at 60 for women and 65 for men. Then, between 2010 and 2018, it was gradually increased to 65 for women. Finally, the state pension age for both men and women rose from 65 to 66 between 2018 and 2020. “By the time we get there, I’m guessing the state pension age will be 90,” a friend casually quips when I mention the thrust of this article, a sentiment that is expressed by everyone, regardless of age.
Given the way the country (and the world) is going – we are living longer but having fewer childrenresulting in demographic change burden placed on the elderly population – I sincerely hope that by the time I am freed from this mortal coil, I will be able to achieve a 9-5 or equivalent. I’m not alone – the survey found that only 51 per cent of respondents thought the state pension would still be around by the time they retire.
But this skepticism can be dangerous, because it creates widespread ignorance and alienation about all things pension-related. After all, if you don’t really believe you’ll ever be able to stop working, why bother investing more for your retirement? Why make proper plans for the latter chapter of life’s toil? As another friend in her forties says, “I can’t tell you how little I think about pensions.”
The same report is titled retirement voice 2025Standard Life found that 17 per cent of over-55s admitted they had never checked his pensionThis was a bigger problem for women, who were three percent less likely to get tested than their male counterparts. I can tell – once again, it was only the writing of this article that prompted me to check my current workplace pension pot. And, full disclosure, I did so only because it was incredibly accessible, coincidentally managed by the same bank I use for my credit cards and mortgage.
When I first look at the numbers, I think it’s not too shabby at all. Combined with some other dribs and drabs from previous jobs that are floating somewhere in the sky – and even this, gives me a headache, I wonder if I They need to be mixed in the same pot Or leave them to roam free – the total amount is equal to my annual salary. But according to experts, this is ridiculous – a modest amount that would shorten my life so much that I would have to wonder if I should smoke to deliberately shorten my lifespan.
According to the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), you should save annually for retirement: £14,400 per year (minimum); £31,300 per year (medium); £43,100 per year (comfortable). According to Money Plus, a company that provides professional debt advice, “Minimum will cover the essentials with a few gifts, Medium gives you more flexibility, where you can afford things like occasional holidays abroad, and Comfortable offers more luxuries, including things like regular holidays and new cars every few years.”
New flat rate state pension For those reaching state pension age after April 2016 it is expected to rise from £230.30 per week to £241.30 per week, making it £12,547 per year. For many people, a workplace pension (where you and your employer both contribute) or a personal pension (which you set up yourself through a pension provider) will be an important component in their retirement planning to top up the state pension – particularly Given that we are living longer,
I wonder if I should deliberately smoke to shorten my lifespan
Apparently, a useful rule of thumb is to save half your age as a percentage of your salary (i.e., a 20-year-old should save 10 percent). Money Plus outlines how much total individuals should save by a certain age to ensure a “comfortable” retirement. Millennials in the 30-40 bracket, like me, should save one to two times their salary by their mid-thirties; Those in their early forties should have three to four times the salary. Using the UK average salary of £37,500 as a benchmark, they suggest having a pension pot of £105,000-£140,000 by the age of 40. Without explicitly revealing my financial failures to everyone on the Internet, I just want to say that I am very, very, very far from this goal. As such, the only realistic way forward so far is to marry rich, refuse the marriage, and leave your spouse when the time comes.
Am I the only one who is amazed by all this? Is everyone else quietly scurrying away while I sing the proverbial song with other oblivious grasshoppers all summer long? Again, a very non-scientific straw poll suggests not so. Another common theme also emerges – that of magical thinking. “I am counting on the fact that I will become mysteriously rich by then, in some way that I cannot anticipate at the moment but that will certainly happen,” or some variation of that, is a response I hear again and again. It’s heartbreaking, admirably human: the same broken logic that makes people say the climate crisis will be all right because we’ll fix it by using Whizzy future technology that hasn’t been invented yet,
Given the kind of chaos we currently collectively live in, it’s tempting to keep our heads firmly buried in the sand. But, God willing, old age is coming, and singing all summer long won’t take away the depressing reality of retirement, defined by scrapping by. After being a grasshopper all my life, I’m finally considering stepping into my ant era.