Women of the Fifties

[PetsatHome]

Are there any women on here that were born in the 1950s, and are frustrated financially by the Government's decision to raise the retirement age from 60 to 66? I am one of them as I was born in 1958 and I just find it unbelievable that we have been treated so unfairly and unjust by the Government.I just do not understand why our increase in retirement age has leaped from 60 to 66 and men's only by 1 year.

I think that maybe the Women's retirement age may have been increased to 65 at one point because of equal rights but I'm not sure.

I've just joined Backto60, it's a Facebook group for women like myself and it's full of stories of how some women have suffered greatly at their financial situation because of this.

Thoughts anyone?

As much as I sympathise OP, there is not going to be any movement on this, or any recompense. Unfortunately, when changes are made there will always be those caught in the 'transitional phase', for whom it will be unfair. It sucks though 😞

I was born in the mid fifties and didn't qualify for my state pension until the age of 66.
I started work at 14 so even allowing for a gap when DC were tiny, I had paid my full contributions years before claiming.
Women live longer than men on average, so one could argue that making the retirement age the same for both sexes is fairer.

The women’s retirement age increase from 60 to 65 was announced back in 1995, so you should have had plenty of time to plan for that one.

Men’s retirement ages have also increased. The only reason women’s have increased more is that they were lower to start off with - which can’t really be justified in this day and age.

Thanks for responses, you all made sense! I should have been more mindful in 1995, but I wasn't!! I agree that there won't be any compensation!!

For those born after 1960, the state pension age is now 67. The increase to 68 in the 2030s has been postponed for now.

Though the WASPIs are vocal and have lots of support. I don't see any enormous amounts of compensation coming through.

I guess we are now all more pension savvy.

The state pension is minuscule, at whatever age one receives it. I would advise all women to make sure they have an occupational pension or a privately invested one, or both, unless they are happy to live in complete poverty in retirement.
As an example, my state pension is the princely sum of £770 a month. There is no way I could sustain even a modest lifestyle on that, but fortunately I have over £3000 a month in occupational and private pensions, and also a variable investment income. I arranged all those when widowed at 35 with two babies, to safeguard my, and my family’s, future. Discussion with an independent financial advisor while you are still young enough to make sufficient contributions is vital.

I just do not understand why our increase in retirement age has leaped from 60 to 66 and men's only by 1 year.

Because we fought for equality.

As a pp mentioned, women are statistically likely to live longer than men, which is another reason to not start paying pensions earlier.

We are much "younger" in so many ways than our parents' generation - when I was young, any mention of someone of 60+ in a newspaper article talked about "An elderly lady / man" I think most of us would be quite offended at the idea of being called elderly anywhere before about 75.

Also, it has been planned for between 25 and 30 years. I could understand your upset if we'd been told last year, or even 5 years ago, but we have known this for decades.

I was born in 1958 so am in the same boat as you but think it is completely fair that my retirement age is the same as that of a man, and feel I had plenty of warning that it would be rising.

I really don’t get the argument - if it were men retiring at 60 when women retired at 65 surely we’d be screaming for equality.

When the pension first came in it was only expected to be paid for 10 years before the recipient died. I can expect to receive mine for upwards of 30 years and I believe it’s the biggest single chunk of welfare payments we make. I consider myself fairly lucky to get it at all.

I was born in 1958 so am in the same boat as you but think it is completely fair that my retirement age is the same as that of a man, and feel I had plenty of warning that it would be rising

Born in 1954 and agree. We wanted equality, we got it.

Well for those saying "equality" I would just point out that women's earnings over their life time are substantially lower on average. It annoys me intensley that the bit of equality that is actually enacted is the one to reduce that still further.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/28/women-paid-less-than-men-over-careers-gender-pay-gap-report
It's an old article, but I doubt anything has changed.

I was born in 1961 and my pension age is 67.
As Boris says, them's the breaks. There's no real reason why women should retire at 60 these days. It's quite insulting really to think that it was once thought we were so delicate we couldn't possibly keep working after 60.

In fact when pensions were introduced the retirement age was 65. It was cut to 60 for women in 1940 so men would benefit from getting the married rate for their wives when the men retired at 65.

And when pensions were introduced life expectancy after retirement was 9 years. We've now a shrinking birth rate and people living longer.

http://www.web40571.clarahost.co.uk/statepensionage/SPA_history.htm

This may be unpopular but a few points
The levelling out of retirement age was a result of a man going to the European Courts because women retired at 60 and men at 65 the decision levelled it out - 65 for all,
When the old age pension was first brought into being life expectancy was 68
The money we paid in taxes/national insurance aren't invested for the future but spent when collected so the younger generations are paying our pensions
I'm not and never have been well off but I expect my assets to pay for my care should I ever need it, if my children want to take responsibility for my care I'll say no!

@pagansophie
Well for those saying "equality" I would just point out that women's earnings over their life time are substantially lower on average. It annoys me intensley that the bit of equality that is actually enacted is the one to reduce that still further.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/28/women-paid-less-than-men-over-careers-gender-pay-gap-report
It's an old article, but I doubt anything has changed.

Whilst what you say is true, it is irrelevant as the state pension is not related to earnings, just the number of NI contributions you have made.