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Francisco Correa

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Retirement age should be extended to match increased life expectancy.

Is a fact that the older we grew, the more health benefits we will be requiring. Also, lots of years at work came with lots of experience that can be used to train the young.

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  • George QT

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    Nov 16 2012: I think age must be excluded as the main criteria for deciding who gets retirement and who doesn't. I think health, quality of life and savings must be the three criteria in which we should base that decision in order to make it fair for all, employer, worker and society. My idea is quite simple: independently of how old you are, your social security should make you a yearly set of physical, mental and financial (yes financial) exams, so based on your current health and life style and savings, a board of physicians and administrators can judge how convenient it is for you and your employer to retire you or not. So, if your physical or mental capability to do your job falls bellow 80%, you get retired, independently of your age. If your current health and lifestyle are not enough to keep you alive for at least 9 years more, you get retired, independently of you age also. If you are perfectly young and healthy but have saved enough money to start a business and create at least 2 permanent jobs you get retired. Your are 80 years old but healthy, strong and have not saved enough, you must still be employed.

    From my point of view this is the way a fair retirement system should work.

  • Michael Deegan

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    Nov 16 2012: I agree with David that considerations would need to be made for individuals, who, because of an increased retirement age, would remain in the workplace beyond the current traditional time frame, around 65. Even if the average life expectancy reaches 90 doesn't mean that most people should still be working into their seventies. I do believe that we should find ways of keeping retirement age employees around for a bit longer, though, especially in regards to trade jobs. Many of the trade people reaching retirement age hold a wealth of information that younger generations would have difficult time acquiring, if they are choosing to acquire the information at all. As an additional benefit to increasing retirement age, retirement tends to decrease life expectancy. Apparently, as much as we all like time to relax, staying busy could actually be keeping us alive...
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    David Hamilton 50+

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    Nov 7 2012: I agree completely, but I would add one more component... We need a new tier of jobs, for people from 60-80, who aren't in great shape. We need help older people who want to contribute later in life become teachers, and software engineers, and customer service reps etc.

  • John Smith 30+

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    Nov 5 2012: "Retirement age should be extended to match increased life expectancy."

    We should not forget to factor in automatization and a fixed retirement age is ridiculous anyway, the French system is far better: you get to retire after 42 years of fulltime work with a maximum retirement age of 67. I think we should go one step further than that: have an algorithm that makes that 42 years figure dependent on life expectancy at about age 60 (the exact age should depend on the previous iteration of the algorithm), because it matters a lot whether life expectancy goes up because elderly people live longer or because infant mortality goes down, then give people a reduction based on the automatization level of society and employment opportunity and let them choose whether to retire early or work fewer hours per year.
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    Peter Law 30+

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    Nov 5 2012: I am 61 & working part time. I will be perfectly happy if I can work at something until the day I die. Retirement has little appeal; I would miss the social side of work, & a reason to get up in the morning.

    :-)

    • John Smith 30+

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      Nov 5 2012: Then again you're not a bricklayer or special forces soldier, are you? I've heard university professors say the same "I'm gonna lecture until the day I drop dead in front of my class", that's fine but the law has to be written with everyone in mind, not just people with cerebral jobs.
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        Peter Law 30+

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        Nov 5 2012: Career hands-on mechanical engineer, now postman. Tomorrow, who knows!

        :-)
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