Since April 2010, the age at which women can first receive a state pension has been rising from 60. It is currently at 61 years and 5 months and is due to rise to 66 by 2020. So far, this change has played a part in increasing employment among those women directly affected by the reform.
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Research by Standard Life has evidenced that people in Britain’s baby boomer generation, now approaching retirement, say that their biggest financial regret is not starting saving for retirement earlier.
Nearly one in seven (15%) of adults responding, admitted wishing they had started a pension sooner, with the figure rising to one in five for those approaching retirement. Independent financial advisers have long warned about the adverse affect of starting a pension later.
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Given the Government’s recent introduction of Auto-Enrolment and the determination to see as many people as possible enrolled in company pension schemes, it was inevitable that they would also turn their attention to the state pension.
Pensions Minister Steve Webb has now introduced a White Paper setting out the proposed changes, which will come in from 2017 “at the earliest.” Inevitably with any change like this there will be winners and losers. Before we consider those here are the main points of the Government’s proposals:
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Economic Outlook
According to the Chancellor three key factors, first set out in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) November 2011 Economic and fiscal outlook, have resulted in a more subdued and uneven recovery than expected:
evidence has gathered that suggests the impact of the financial crisis on GDP and underlying productivity has been greater than expected;
the euro area sovereign debt crisis and global uncertainty has damaged confidence and reduced external demand; and
commodity price driven inflation in 2011 reduced real incomes and raised business costs.
Looking ahead to 2013
When you look ahead to 2013, your glass could be half full or half empty. In the UK the lights have just gone out in the last Comet store. And yet Nissan are pumping £250m into Sunderland to build a luxury small car and create hundreds of jobs.
The employment data in the US has been consistently moving in the right direction for the last 27 months. But every 20 months the country finds itself another $1tn dollars in debt.
The World Bank has just revised its estimate of China’s growth for 2013 up to 8.4% – a level established economies in the West can’t even dream about. But China is in an increasingly bitter dispute with Japan over the Senkaku Islands. Meanwhile a North Korean rocket has been orbiting the Earth…
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