Can't afford to retire? Think again!

[Estimated reading time: 5 minutes -  read while you enjoy your morning coffee]

It’s time to retire the long-accepted definition of retirement:

The concept of new retirement is here to stay, and is beginning to be accepted as:

Noun: the action or fact of living the life you want, unrestrained by other’s expectations or personal financial limitation.

Whilst the concept may seem a little idealistic, in this article I want to show you it’s more about changing the way you think about retirement, and how you approach your life and your financial wellbeing from now on.

First some facts and figures

• By 2040, nearly one in seven Britons will be over 75.
• Life expectancy is growing by 5 hours a day.
• Almost a third of people born today can expect to live to 100.
• 1 in 10 people over 65 in the UK are still actively employed.
• The British government is considering increasing the official state pension age to 70 for millions of people currently in their 20s.

The media might jump on these facts and figures and twist them negatively to grab some headline impact like:

• A generation that can’t afford to retire
• Millions have no idea how they will pay bills in old age
• RETIREMENT CRISIS

But the truth is that our changing world and ageing population represents a positive fundamental shift.

It means rethinking and disrupting retirement…

New retirement: possibly the best disruptor since AirBnB!

New retirement is a disruptor – just like AirBnB. That means it’s a concept that displaces existing accepted thinking, and produces something new and more worthwhile. 

It is at once destructive, destroying old ways of thinking, and creative, because it opens up new opportunities for us all.

Ways to rethink retirement

Old fashioned retirement fact:

Apparently two thirds of people defer comprehensive planning for retirement until they’re in their fifties…

Comforting new retirement thinking:

So what – even if you’ve deferred comprehensive planning for retirement until now it doesn’t matter.

Why?

Because no matter how old or young you are, today just happens to be the very best day for you to start financial planning!

Old fashioned retirement fact:

According to the Pensions Policy Institute, negative perceptions of ageing impede engagement with pension saving. 

These negative views are reinforced in the media, with over two thirds of newspaper articles about older adults painting old age negatively, for example, proposing that older people are a burden to society, frail, and/or an “economic time bomb”.

Comforting new retirement thinking:

Retirement no longer has to mean stopping work at 65 and retiring from a life you enjoy.

You can start a new career in your 60s or 70s, go part-time, move abroad and start a business from a hobby…

And these are not pipe dreams: they are reality for thousands of people already, people who have:

• Chosen to rethink retirement
• Embraced the concept of new retirement
• Made a positive change in their life

Old fashioned retirement fact:

Nearly half of Americans aged 50 and over have $25,000 or less saved for their retirement, if you’re in a similar position, chances are you won’t be able to afford to retire.

Comforting new retirement thinking:

You still have choices, even if you haven’t got the biggest pension pot.

Britain’s The Guardian newspaper is currently working on production of a series of articles focused on new retirement.

In the first in the series a 70-year-old former deputy headmistress explained why she actively chose to go back to work:

“The reality of ageing and my retirement has been very different to what I thought it would be. When retirement came, it made me feel old not to be doing something constructive and active.  And people in the community who are even older than myself, or younger but more vulnerable, need people like me to do things for them.  I couldn’t do the things I do now without having had years as a busy, multi-tasking professional with heavy responsibilities. I’m reinvesting the skills accrued over a lifetime in my community. It’s not an easy ride to be doing so much at my age: it’s quite the reverse. But I have never had such a good time.”

Many employers recognise that the benefit of a workforce aged over 65 is the wealth of experience they can bring to a role, and indeed an entire organisation.

So if you want to remain in work, for whatever your personal reasons, the chances are you can.

65 is an irrelevant number

No matter how old you are, or what life stage you’re at, stop worrying about retirement and pensions and running out of money…

Retirement no longer means being consigned to the side-lines at 65.

And you no longer have only one shot at saving for a pension!

There are positive steps you can take today, to ensure you enjoy whatever new meaning you personally want to attribute to retirement, whenever you’re ready to retire:

Get more out of what you’ve already done.

Over half of the portfolio reviews we do for people every single working day of the week flag up savings they can make on the fees and charges they pay on current savings, investments and pensions.

Every pound saved on fees is a pound more that can grow for your financial future.

Discover if you can make more money out of your current portfolio with this independent review.

You literally have nothing to lose and plenty to potentially gain.

Start on the right path

Whether you have not a penny saved or a million pounds in a pension already, today is the right day to begin investing well for your future.

For most people, investing in a low cost, passive tracker for at least the medium-term delivers them the strongest possible growth consistently.

Banish limiting thinking

You’re not too old. You’re not too young. You don’t have to retire at 65. You haven’t left it too late. You’re not starting too soon. You don’t have to have a million pounds or more in a pension to stop working…

Remember, the new retirement shift has started, nothing can stop it now…so you may as well embrace it by putting no limits on yourself and your future…