If pension provision was managed properly, there would be no need to worry about when to retire, it would be a matter of personal choice and provision. If you wish to put a little more away and manage your affairs to retire at 55, you should be allowed to do so, if you want and are fit to continue to work until 70 or beyond, you should do so.
The dependence on State largesse, even though you may have earned it, is the only reason for a fixed retirement age and the abrupt cessation of work, the State should not be involved. Whether it is contributions through NI, the new compulsory scheme or privately, it is your money and should be put away in your name for your benefit.
The management or control by external bodies as group funds do not affect or conflict with this principle, even the State could and should have done it, but are incapable by their basic nature of doing so. They should therefore put it into more capable hands with adequate safeguards and controls.
When you retire is also dependent on how long you are likely to live once you do retire, it is a little like how long is a length of string and dependent on heredity factors, lifestyle, interests and what you do with your time. How long did your parents or grandparents live, is there enough time to do all you want to, for travel or hobbies, if so you will wonder how you found time to work and probably live long enough to do them all.
Life expectancy is derived from Life Tables which track 100,000 individuals from birth to age 100, taking into account deaths and mortality rates and is the time from a given age for the number to halve, that is an even chance of living that long. It is a theoretical value and does not necessarily reflect what is actually happening.
Population figures are obtained by Census counts every ten years, with estimated figures derived annually from births, deaths and recently migration information, they are a count of actual figures in that year and when things are changing slowly Life tables and population figures should agree.
However we are in a period of rapid change and increased longevity is mainly affecting the under 64 population, increasing the flow over the 65 threshold resulting in the major part of the growing population increases in the over 65’s. Mortality rates also increase rapidly after 65 by a factor ten at 85 and in 2010 deaths averaged 1 in 500 from 0 to 64 but 1 in 25 over 65.
This could change just as rapidly the other way if all the advances of the past years were thrown away in our present suicidal life styles of smoking (now reducing), drink and drugs, dangerous driving and now increasing obesity, where even under fives are affected.
Once we thought nothing of walking everywhere, to school, shops and parks, now it is nip in the car and get annoyed if you can’t park by the door, we are couch potatoes, watching TV; on the phone and computer; video games; but no real games or exercise and we munch continuously.
We are already straining our health and local services and all the indications are that this will reduce life expectancy unless pressure is relieved. For pensioners this could be done simply by extending pension provision to include elderly care, there is surplus available in contributions if managed properly.
There is an urgent need to get back to a sensible state of affairs, both by the individual and the State, this may in many ways be more insular in approach, but do we want to be an all grey society, where there is no incentive to do anything, or do we want to retain out individuality.
This will inevitably result in differences in living standards, but we need to clearly separate welfare from earned, if you contribute to Society you should be treated differently to those who don’t, whether they be immigrants, vagrants, criminals or those fallen on hard times. Of course this needs to be treated with compassion.
Welfare needs to be contained within fair, reasonable and affordable limits, with greater consideration given to the provider's needs and not just as an unlimited source of money and envy.
No comments:
Post a Comment