4 ms·

Agreed. A big problem in the UK. People retire too early for their life expectancy today so massive pressur eon Pension pots, lots of pressure on Nursing Homes,

Agreed. A big problem in the UK. People retire too early for their life expectancy today so massive pressur eon Pension pots, lots of pressure on Nursing Homes, particularly those provided by the state that will cost more, in some circumstances, than the guest has paid in taxes in their entire life. Also, lots of issues with beds in hospitals that are full of the elderly with all kinds of old-age medical issues but who might not be dischargeable until there is some kind of assisted care available. I can't see there is any obvious solution other than raising retirement age and even having our National Insurance system more like real Insurance where the costs reflect the risks so that Joe Public realise how much healthcare actually costs.

j7ake 4y ago
Opening up immigration for young people abroad to aging countries would also rebalance the age distribution. Uk seems to be going backwards on that front.
fuzzy2 4y ago
I don’t see how raising the retirement age would solve anything (except making the early retirement deduction higher, if that’s a thing where you are). Just because people live longer doesn’t mean they’re fit to work longer. Or could even find work in the first place.
- wahern 4y ago
  > Just because people live longer doesn’t mean they’re fit to work longer. That's true as a matter of logic, independent on any other information. But we have other information, at least in the U.S., and that information is that the percentage of people 65+ working has more than doubled since 1985, a trend that seems to be quite steady through the decades. Moreover, there's a trend of people 65+ individually working more hours. Even if these trends magically stopped today, the fact remains that there are substantial fiscal improvements that could be had by restoring the status quo ante regarding actual retirement age in practice and legal qualifications for retirement benefits. Sources: https://www.aarp.org/work/employers/americans-working-past-65/ https://www.aarp.org/work/employers/americans-working-past-6..., https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/20/more-older-americans-are-working-and-working-more-than-they-used-to/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/20/more-older-..., https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=s2301&tid=ACSST1Y2010.S2301 https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=s2301&tid=ACSST1Y2010...

j7ake 4y ago

Opening up immigration for young people abroad to aging countries would also rebalance the age distribution. Uk seems to be going backwards on that front.

fuzzy2 4y ago

I don’t see how raising the retirement age would solve anything (except making the early retirement deduction higher, if that’s a thing where you are). Just because people live longer doesn’t mean they’re fit to work longer. Or could even find work in the first place.

wahern 4y ago
> Just because people live longer doesn’t mean they’re fit to work longer. That's true as a matter of logic, independent on any other information. But we have other information, at least in the U.S., and that information is that the percentage of people 65+ working has more than doubled since 1985, a trend that seems to be quite steady through the decades. Moreover, there's a trend of people 65+ individually working more hours. Even if these trends magically stopped today, the fact remains that there are substantial fiscal improvements that could be had by restoring the status quo ante regarding actual retirement age in practice and legal qualifications for retirement benefits. Sources: https://www.aarp.org/work/employers/americans-working-past-65/ https://www.aarp.org/work/employers/americans-working-past-6..., https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/20/more-older-americans-are-working-and-working-more-than-they-used-to/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/20/more-older-..., https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=s2301&tid=ACSST1Y2010.S2301 https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=s2301&tid=ACSST1Y2010...