Some bad, if not entirely unexpected news for us men, which is that the average retirement age has risen to just below 65. This is the highest average age since records began in 1984.
The stats are based on the average age of those reaching retirement over the age of 50 (so it’s based on “real people” and doesn’t include all of those lucky people who have made their money and retired by the age of 40).
For men the more precise average is 64.6 years, but it’s also rising for women, for whom the average is now 61.9 years.
Whilst you might think that increased prosperity would lead to people retiring early, in fact the opposite is happening – as people are living longer, they need to build up bigger pensions to see them through retirement, and of course as healthcare improves, more are able to work into their late sixties or seventies.
Whilst I’d love to retire when I’m in my 50s (if not earlier), I’m fully expecting to have to work until my late sixties. Indeed, the Government is raising the state pension age from 65 to 68 between 2024 and 2046.
Just saying those years sounds very odd, but even if you’ve got 30 or 40 years until you retire, the decisions you make now could be very important. Starting a pension as early as possible gives means you’ll benefit from the power of compounding, so get saving now!