Retirement age 'should reach 85'

[DesertFox]

Paul Rincon
BBC News
17 Feb 06


The age of retirement should be raised to 85 by 2050 because of trends in life expectancy, a US biologist has said.

Shripad Tuljapurkar of Stanford University says anti-ageing advances could raise life expectancy by a year each year over the next two decades.

That will put a strain on economies around the world if current retirement ages are maintained, he warned.

He also told a science meeting in St Louis that 50-year or 75-year mortgages may not be unusual in the future.

Dr Tuljapurkar was speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in the Missouri city.

"People are going to do things they didn't get round to in their working lives. Current institutions are really not equipped at the moment to deal with such long lives," Dr Tuljapurkar said.

"We are going to have to plan a lot more carefully, which people are not very good at."

More (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4726300.stm)

[Elgalad]

I'm trying to find the silver lining here, and I just keep failing. Living longer is obviously a good thing and yet, will it mean living past the age of useful employability? Will employers 'dump' their aging staff in order to recruit younger, more capable workers? Clearly this subject is being brought up because the government will be unable to provide for its aging citizens. Does anyone still dispute that Social Security is broken and headed for a major meltdown?

:uhh:

As a 'young punk' member of Gen X, I find myself caught directly in the middle of my working life, halfway to retirement (as the system stands today). My baby boomer coworkers and siblings think I am being incredibly pessimistic when I state my firm belief that I Wont be able to retire in this life. And even if by some remote chance I do.. there won't be one thin dime of Social Security left for me to enjoy. At times, it feels like I am beating my head against a brick wall trying to explain how broken the entire Social Security program looks from my vantage point.

With only a few years left until their own 'golden parachute opening' I can understand how they find my diatribes annoying. I do contribute all that I can towards my 401k, but it isn't going to be enough, not with inflation, certainly not with rising medical costs. I read over each of my paycheck stubs and seethe when I see just how much the federal government is forcing me to contribute towards 'my future'. And yet, when I ask if my older associates would join me in supporting the privatization of S.S. so that I could make more intelligent choices than the bloated federal bureaucracy, they all run away screaming, saying that it would destroy our economy!

:hissyfit:

I know a number of you are in the same boat as my friends and family members and are looking towards retirement with anticipation. I certainly don't think it's fair to expect you to have to risk your own financial future! But if there is any way at all, that we can change the current pattern and allow those of us who have no truly secure future to look forward to, to rest easier at night, shouldn't we at least try?

The politicians we elect every two and four years in BOTH parties Always make promises. They will 'fix' Social Security they swear, as soon as we give them our votes and elect them into office.. Then the election is over, they head off to Washington, and we get treated instead to partisan grandstanding, empty platitudes, fiery rhetoric, and.. no real solutions.

This has to change.

Call me a whiner if you like, but I simply cannot understand why working for 67 years should be a necessary prerequisite for retirement.



-Elgalad

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

I'm with ya El! I have had numerous discussions (read, arguments :smirky: ) with friends, family members, and co-workers regarding Social Security. I am absolutely AMAZED at how many people actually think there is a little "savings account" somewhere in the government vaults holding their social security monies for them until retirement! Social Security isn't broke, it is smashed to smithereens, and has been since the Baby-Boomers all turned their backs on smart economics and embraced the 'Wonderful World of Entitlements.' I get just as angry as you at ALL of our politicians that do lip-service to the issue to get us all to the voting booth and then zip their lips when it's time to put their words to action.

[UnkHiram]

85 sounds about right, the way I figure it that is when I will have my VISA paid off

[DesertFox]

I plan to go out with my boots on. I ain't NEVER retiring, unless you count my changed relationship with the military after 21 years.