No retirement for women until 62 – a good thing or bad thing…?

Women are being forced to delay their retirement later than ever before. The average woman is having to keep working for an extra 20 months compared to the mid-Eighties and the average female retirement age is now 62 years and four months, compared to 60 years and eight months in 1984.

Since 1993, the number of women workers aged over 60 has soared from 512,000 to an all-time record of 953,000. Over the last year alone, an extra 65,000 women have joined the growing army who are choosing, or being forced, to keep on working. The ONS figures show that the average man retires at 64 years and six months, an age which has not changed over the last year. But the ONS said there has been ‘a particularly sharp rise’ in the age at which women leave the workplace over the past decade.

It is likely that will keep rising because the state pension age for women is scheduled to rise from 60 to 65 by 2020 as many women have no choice but to keep working because they have a paltry pension and no other savings. This is also the case for those women who spent their twenties and thirties at home caring for their families and did not venture into full-time employment until they reached their forties, this age group is the least advantaged and are better served by having a Stake Holder’s pension plan though with the way the companies are mucking about savings accounts are looking the better choice these days.

That said why should any person who is perfectly fit and healthy retire at the relatively young age of 62…? I know I certainly intend to remain active and productive until I drop.

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