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Retirement
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There is a potential crisis, as the national demographic gets older, that people are not properly prepared for retirement. A recent survey carried out by retirement specialists LaterLife, revealed that the majority of people in work over the age of 55 have given no thought to their retirement finances and have no idea how much they will need in retirement. Also, a staggering 85% had given no thought to their relationships in retirement. Finally, only 24% of people though that they were getting the necessary support from their employer to ensure a smooth transition into retirement.
These are very worrying statistics. Clearly, people need to be planning for their reirement finances long before they get there. The country needs as many people as possible to be self-sufficient in retirement, with their own pensions and savings and the state pension. That's good both for them and for the country.
The other aspects of retirement are equally as important. The fact that 85% of people have not thought about their relationships in retirement is very worrying indeed. The greatest problem with ageing people in the UK is, according to a comprehensive Church of England survey carried out a couple of years ago, is loneliness and social isolation. Therefore, if people aren't thinking about their relationships and how to maintain and increase their social networks, there are serious ramifications for them as individuals and for society as a whole.
So we need to ask, and get answwers to, a series of questions:
1. Should the Government do something positive to help prepare people for retirement? Some invesment in this issue will probably save them money in the long run. What form shound Government asistance take?
2. Should employers be forced to be much more proactive in helping people into retirement? If so, what and how?
3. Should some sort of retirement traing/education be compulsory? If so, at what age should this start and what form should it take?
4. Is it possible to reward people in some way for being wel prepared for retirement? If so, how would this be measured and what form would the reward take?
There are probably other questions and answers that are out there, too. Therefore, give me your thoughts and ideas on this very important issue so that we can bring it to the attention of the decision makers.