The expression ‘we’re all living longer’ is much banded about on a daily basis, but possibly to the extent that we don’t really think about what it means in reality…?
I say this, as I recently saw some statistics which really made me stop and think more deeply about longevity of life. I’ll share these below;
A female aged 86 in 2017, would have been born in 1931
The Life expectancy of a female in 1931 (when she was born) was 62.9 years
Life expectancy for a female aged 86 today is now just under 7 years, which would take this lady to her to her 93rd birthday…… that is 30 years more than when she was born!
A newborn girl today, currently has an ‘average’ life expectancy of 82.9 years, imagine if the ‘average’ woman born today exceeded her expected longevity by 30 years….an ‘average woman’ living to 113*! Now statisticians agree that the likely extension of longevity won’t actually keep growing exponentially at this sort of increase, but any increase in longevity makes two things blatantly obvious;
Anyone retiring now needs to plan for a far longer retirement than maybe they had ever envisaged maybe ‘x’ many years ago when they first started saving for and planning their retirement, and those who are young and wanting to spend their monies on ‘the now’ should consider the stark reality of longer life and the ‘likely’ position of continually reduced State Pensions.
Whether you are just starting work or perhaps in mid-career, the reality of longevity will be a harsh mistress if you do not plan, and for probably longer than you imagine!
*as a post script, if you don’t think that could happen, quickly using a well-known search engine will confirm that the oldest person living today in the UK is Grace Catherine Jones, who on 1st November 2018, was 112 years and 46 days young.
Statistics from ONS
Neil Dainton Dip PFS

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