People are not simply expecting to work longer,
now they want to mix work and leisure, learning and rest,
says Sir John Bond, HSBC
London (BBC News), May 10, 2005:
Four out of five people want to scrap compulsory retirement, according to a global survey of attitudes to old age.
The study, carried out for HSBC bank, found that many people are rejecting the idea of a traditional retirement.
Instead of spending their old age just relaxing, people now want to spend their later years involved in a mix of work, leisure and education.
The survey also found a high awareness of the potential financial problems that could be faced in retirement.
Only 14% of respondents equated financial independence with old age.
Financing retirement
The survey canvassed the opinion of more than 11,000 people aged between 18 and 49 in 10 countries on their attitudes to ageing and retirement.
It found that 80% of respondents thought people should be allowed to go on working as long as they wanted to, and in the UK this figure was 90%.
With retirement funding an increasing problem, the survey asked people whether they would prefer to ease the burden through higher taxes, lower pensions or by raising the retirement age.
Forty-five percent favoured lifting the retirement age, 26% said they would accept higher taxes while only 16% wanted lower pensions.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they had started to prepare for retirement, but most of this preparation consisted of reading up on the subject or talking to family and friends.
Changing pressures
In more than half of the countries surveyed, the ideal retirement lifestyle was seen as alternating between work and leisure.
In the UK, 77% said they would work in retirement. And only one in 10 UK respondents expected children and family members to care for them in their old age.
More than half (56%) of people in the UK survey were worried about being a burden to families in their old age.
"The ageing of the 'baby boomer' generation, declining fertility rates and increasing lifespans are combining to create new and complex demographic pressures across the globe," said Sir John Bond, HSBC group chairman.
"We found that three in every four people said that working would be part of an ideal later life, while there is a growing acceptance that we will retire later to ease the burden on pensions and taxation.
"But people are not simply expecting to work longer, now they want to mix work and leisure, learning and rest."
© BBC MMV
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