Mark Soper – RetireEasy

This week the Office of National Statistics provided an update in their life expectancy
statistics and much of the press centred on their announcement that a third of
all babies born in the last year are expected to live until at least 100.We hope the Royal Household is saving up for all those stamps, but that is another story.

There were a number of other very interesting statistics in the ONS press release. According to their research the number of centenarians has risen from 592 in 1961 to 12,000 in 2010 and a further increase to 455,000 centenarians by 2060 is expected.

The male/female mix is also changing rapidly. In 2010 there were 10000 female centenarians and 2000 males. In 2060 it is predicted that there will be a much more even split with 276000 female and 179,000 male centenarians.

It is of course great news that we are living longer but this also highlights the challenges
that we all must face in and approaching retirement age, particularly the
financial planning needed to ensure our capital and savings last for a much
longer length of time.