Retirement age in Denmark set to raise to 70

[MikeRafone]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg71v533q6o

I hadn’t realised Denmark was presently in line with uk on retirement age and now raising it to 70

and that’s for people born 1970 onwards! I wonder if this will be used for uk to fallow suit?

What about all the retired women who look after grandchildren so their adult children can work? Those who care for very elderly relatives?
If they have no choice but to work themselves those things can't happen.

Although there is a link to state pension age, they can be taken a certain amount earlier (5 years I think) with a reduction in amount

Probably. I reckon I’ll be retiring at 85, if ever.

What are you talking about? Many of the baby boomer generation are still working because they are in their early 60s!!

As for older baby boomers many worked until their mid 60s and then retired to live on their work/private pensions. Many still work/volunteer.

You're making it sound like the bb generation all retired at 50 to live off the state 😂

Exactly. Society generally hates women, unfortunately.

Baby Boomers are currently 61-79 years old. The vast majority are retired. Many women did indeed retire at 60 which is a whole decade earlier than the likely retirement age for many people working now.

Lots of people would like the opportunity to choose to work or volunteer in their 60s. This simply won't be the reality for many.

No matter how much you are pretending otherwise, younger people will retire later and poorer.

I agree with pp one major factor is employers not wanting to employ 60 plus.

Where’s your evidence that most people over sixty have serious health issues?

As the number of workers able to do strenuous manual work reduces, then logically, strong energetic young people will be more in demand (without needing a degree) and more highly valued, which can only be a good thing.

The pension system is designed for people living 5 years after retirement. We are no longer in that situation thanks to improvements in healthcare and wealth.

healthy life expectancy hasn't increased though...

I'm not pretending that younger people won't retire older (whether they retire poorer remains to be seen). In fact I never mentioned younger people in my reply.

I just pointed out many in the BB generation are still working and those that are retired didn't retire really early to live off the state as you implied. Many worked until their mid sixties.

As you say many women of the BB generation retired at 60, but so what? It was the state retirement age at the time. You suggested in your first post that they should somehow payback for this? I'm really interested in how you imagine this would work.

The generations before me had free university education, got given a grant and could sign on in the holidays. I don't think people who got those benefits should pay back somehow because I didn't get the same because it's wholly impractical.

Anyone can request to take their workplace/private pension from 55 onwards albeit with a reduction. My retirement age is 67+, I work in the public sector, the government and my employer expect me to work until my retirement age. Let’s not peddle the narrative that public sector are somehow exempt from the rules everyone else has to follow.

Why are young people continually shafted?

@FalseSpring "The bigger issue is that employers are not interested in anyone over 60. How are people supposed to manage in the 10 years to their retirement. "

To be fair to employers, I was recruited last year at the age of 61 into a mid-sized manufacturer. I had two offers on the table and was at 2nd interview stage with two others.

I think there are areas where experience is valued and/or there is a skills shortage.

The thing I'm angry about is the inequality of the system. The fact that they have knowingly allowed working people to fund today's pensioners to retire at an unsustainably young age knowing damn well that today's working population will retire later and poorer. No attempt has been made to make things fairer and force baby boomers to pay their way.

Agree, look at the upset over means testing winter fuel.

Public sector pensions can be claimed before state pension

nope

Although there is a link to state pension age, they can be taken a certain amount earlier (5 years I think) with a reduction in amount

which makes a big difference and not what you actually said. Remember they are less generous to newer entrants too.

I never suggested they should pay it back. How on earth could that ever practically work? My point was that I am angry that successive governments haven't made moves to raise the retirement age earlier or force baby boomers to contribute more towards their pension. It has been clear for a long time that this is a ticking time bomb and that baby boomers in particular have not paid enough into the system to fund their decades long retirement. It's all too late now obviously to do anything about it but more could have been many decades ago to equalise things out a bit.

@Bumpitybumper I am late baby boomer, aged 61 now, and I won't get my pension until 67. I'm still working full time, as are most of my contemporaries.

Most of us worked for companies in the past that didn't offer private pensions, which weren't compulsory until 2018, so we have no more to retire on than people who are younger than us.

At least people starting today will accumulate pensions from the start.

A big problem is going to be lack of jobs for older people. If you lose your job at sixty plus, unless you’re in a very specialised field where your decades of specialist knowledge is an advantage (consultancy, engineering etc), no one is going to want to employ you. I know, I am in that situation myself right now, I simply cannot get a desk job anymore and am too creaky to do manual work. Also, we would be taking the jobs from younger people trying to make a living. There probably is no perfect solution but I have encouraged my own kids of the importance a private pensions.

At least people starting today will accumulate pensions from the start.

young people are opting out though as they can't afford it sometimes with housing costs etc

Then we are talking at cross purposes and I misunderstood when you said:

No attempt has been made to make things fairer and force baby boomers to pay their way.

Why isn't there more discussion about why people want to retire early, its not just to have an easy life playing golf or what ever. My profession and many jobs are tough and brutal. I am a husk at the end of the day. People work hard for low pay and poor conditions. No wonder people want to leave work as early as they can .

I’m 58 and hoping to get state pension at 67, but won’t believe it until it happens. I have a desk job and I’m hoping to keep working until at least mid-60s as the kids are still at uni and I want to keep earning a few years more to help them out. My energy levels are not what they were but I like my job and am good at it, I hope my employer will continue to see value in my contribution, I make sure I’m seen to do a lot of training of younger staff and more than take my turn at volunteering for less popular tasks, like minute taking. I do worry about employers attitudes to over 60s @FalseSpring. There really are very few older staff at my place of work, it’s loads of people in their 20s / young parents. Moving roles at my age to a similar salary, which is quite good, would be difficult I think.

They’re not. We have to accept that when and where we’re born impacts our lives. Young men were shafted in the first and second world wars, women not being able to vote, not being able to work once married or pregnant, no wage equality. I’d rather work until 70 than experience any of these things.