To think that constantly increasing retirement age will just cause an increase in health related benefit claims?

I agree that it's harder on the bodies of those who's jobs are very physically demanding. I know it's controversial but there is an argument to be made over a 2 tier retirement system where people who have always done very demanding physical jobs be allowed to retire 1 year before people who have always done desk jobs. I honestly think the retirement age will increase to 68 sooner than planned and maybe 69 by 2040-45. I've told my DS who will be 40 this year to open a SIPP alongside his occupational pension. A SIPP can be taken at from April 57 years of age. This might mean he might be able to go part time after 62 if his body can no longer manage the long hours he works now often 50+ hours a week.

It's also much higher in Australia In Australia, healthy life expectancy is 71.7 years for males and 73.8 years for females. While overall life expectancy at birth is about 81.1 years for men and 85.1 years for women.
I hadn't realised it was so low in the UK.

New Zealand.

Where is here SquirrelGG?

That is shockingly low. It's a decade higher here.

I think people will end up drawing their private pensions much earlier than state pension age, and that’s why we are automatically opted in now. The government doesn’t seriously think everyone is going to work until 68 and older.

Private pensions will be used to bridge the gap, between not being able to work any longer and being old enough for the state pension. I don’t think pensioners in the future will be as well off as some pensioners are these days for that reason (in general, I know not all are rich) - they’ll have to spend more of their private pensions to survive before an increasing pension age.

True but that costs the govt nothing, the tax take is bigger too as a result.

We need to motivate people to save into their private pensions, not add disincentives by making them less attractive.

Actually it's on pension payments, whether you have reached SPA or not.

NI payments stop when you get to retirement age. Which makes sense.

Yes, but tax relief on contributions allows greater compounding growth. Then you can use your 25% tax free cash allowance and take advantage of a lower tax band. So pensions are an incredibly efficient way to save for retirement.

I heard a conversation on the radio about this recently, how it is an unfair way of reducing pension costs, there will be some people who will have lived 30 years in retirement (the well elderly, often from higher socioeconomic groups) and some who will pay national insurance for a long working life and barely live long enough to retire or draw a penny of pension. Life expectancy is an average and there are a lot of factors which may reduce it for some groups/individuals.

An alternative/fairer solution was suggested but I can’t remember what it was

Living longer does not mean living fitter. Ok, there are some spritely 90 year olds but working most of your life takes its toll.

Im in health care and have been echoing @PyongyangKipperbangwords for years. Most nurses are female and the menopause as well as childbearing, being on their feet all day and the general toil of a demanding job leaves many of them wrecked. There’s also failing eyesight/hearing, loss of concentration/memory and loss of confidence in the mix. In the UK we are essentially paying older nurses to be off sick and back filling the posts by raiding African and other poorer nations’ nurses.

I really empathise with those that need to keep working long after they’d ideally give up.

A % is tax free.

We pay income tax on it when drawing it though so it is taxed.

It favours people who earn a decent wage, I'll give you that. Everything is easier for the rich. That's just life.

Yes those things will be out of reach for some. But whether it is fair or not, assuming your NI record is up to date, if you're not already there, you'll get state pension at 67/68 and it isn't enough to live a fulfilling life on. I don't think the tax payer should fund anymore, it is already unaffordable really, so the rest is up to you.

There is a lesson here. Prioritise saving for retirement ahead of holidays, expensive cars and designer labels.

These things are out of reach for a lot of people, especially single people paying rent and struggling to save for a deposit while paying off student loans.

The system favours the rich, every time.

There is a lesson here. Prioritise saving for retirement ahead of holidays, expensive cars and designer labels.

That said, I know there are those that genuinely can't afford it, but I do have a hard time believing that a generally well person, from the age of 18 right up to their mid 60s never had an opportunity to save anything at all.

Remember, don't confuse state pension age with retirement dates. They don't have to be the same. Also, don't assume standard retirement dates quoted on private or occupational dates are set in stone. You might be able to access monies flexible or take pension benefits earlier in return for a lower income.

Finally, you may have the ability to phase your retirement, cut down on hours, take a portion of your non state pensions to bridge the gap. Don't assume its all or nothing.

The same thing that happened when they were 60 and it was raised to 65 or 65 and it was raised to 67. They claim the appropriate social security benefits.

If the State pension age is raised, the period for claiming other State benefits is extended as well.

I think that instead of increasing the state pension age, thought should be given to reducing tax breaks on private pensions. A lot of better off people can reduce their tax liability by putting surplus money away. But poorer people don’t have surplus money.

I’m all for incentives for people at the lower end of the scale who need to be saving.

Surely not

I think the sad truth is that politicians want to push the age of retirement up because they know full well a large number of people will die before they are allowed to claim a state pension...

The average healthy life expectancy in the UK is 60.9y for women, 60.7y for men. (ONS). A large majority of people working past that age will be in poor general health.

Anyone fortunate enough to be able to retire before state pension age should give it serious thought. Inevitably a significant number of people working into their 60s and 70s will need health and disability support.

It is not that simple though.

Many people don't have enough private pension provision because of low wages, breaks in employment to look after kids and relatives, illness, unemployment, disability and so on.

Plus with the high cost of living/housing/bills people don't have spare money at the end of the month to add to a private pension scheme.

We have a state pension for a reason...

Plus dodgy endowment mortgages that didn't live up to the hype and were worse than traditional plans when the stock markets crashed.

Your retirement age is whatever you want it to be. I retired at 64, and wish I’d done it earlier.
All the government is doing is pushing back the date when you get the State Pension. It’s just an encouragement to fund your own retirement.