The Future of Retirement
The Future of Retirement
Life has been described with the metaphor of being a road we must travel. A road that scientist and doctors are expanding every day. They may not be wearing hard hats and bright orange vests, but they are definitely hard at work creating a better standard of life for us. Thanks to them it is common to see senior citizens in our everyday life. The old man sitting on the park bench beside the lake, or the old woman at the yard sale down the road. It can be difficult to believe that there was ever a time where the life expectancy of mankind was only about 35 years old.
Without modern day vaccinations, medical procedures, medicines, and standards of living, things we brush off with a quick trip to the drugstore were before extremely fatal. We had no way to stop an infection once it started. Things such as the common cold were a serious illness instead of a day or two spent on the couch watching TV. We didn’t have effective ways to filter water or prepare food. Luckily today we can live in a world much more sanitary and medically proficient than ever before. With the advancements we have made, the life expectancy of an American citizen has gone up to almost 80 years. That is just the expectancy. Some people are actually living comfortably into their 90s and in some extremely rare instances, up to 120!
What does this prolonged life expectancy mean for us besides a longer, happier life? It also affects our economy. Especially when it comes to retirement funding. The current retirement age in the United States is 65 years old. With the life expectancy growing, retirement funding will have to be stretched further for citizens entering retirement. Match this with the number of new citizens reaching retirement age,and more funds have to be taken from social security to accommodate everyone. With things on the horizon such as possible cures to various forms of cancer and HIV, these numbers could be seen to increase even higher.
With this growing demographic of persons 65 and over, changes to how retirement is handled will have to be made. Possible changes will be a higher retirement age and how pensions are handled. If you are not careful you could end up with less retirement funds and less time to spend them. Saving for retirement has always been an important part of anyones financial future. Now though with the future of retirement and social security being so uncertain, taking retirement into your own hands could be a crucial step in securing your future.
It is not just our social security system that is experiencing complications from this. Businesses are feeling the strain as well. Many businesses offer retirement plans and pensions to their employees. The number of plans and pensions they have to pay out to retired employees is also on the rise. This could have various effects on different parts of an employee’s occupation. It could mean less retirement based benefits, or possibly a lesser sense of job security.
Though this can all be alarming news, it is not something that will happen tomorrow or even within the year. It is even possible that a solution will be discovered before the issue really takes hold. This is an issue that affects every citizen, and various parties are looking at various solutions. Regardless of either possible outcome, it is still highly important that you know what options are available to you now. Contact the person handling your retirement benefits, rather it be your employer or an outsourced company such as Vision H.R.
The best prevention to any problem is being prepared now. Even if the situation never arises, you have the peace of mind knowing that you are ready to handle any problems that may arise.
