Do you know when your going to retire? For most expectations are likely to be far removed from reality. Gone our the days when retiring at 55 or 60 is the default for many. The current generation of workers will find it increasingly difficult to save enough to retire as early as this. The scary fact remains that for some people retirement planning doesn’t remain a concern because ‘They Simply Don’t Do It’.

Under the current state pension, the government are willing to pay you €230 a week (€11,976 per annum) but the real question is could you survive on this? And not only could you survive on €230 the reality is this figure is almost set to diminish while the national age increases and to this the fact that people are now living longer and we have a ‘Pension Crisis’ on our hands.

The reality for most young workers and they may not realise it yet, there is more chance of them retiring when they turn 70 than 60. Unfortunately for those in their 20’s / 30’s  and 40s grimly clinging on to the notion of retiring at 60, here is why you have your work cut out for you;

Gold Plated Pensions No More

These ‘These ‘defined benefit’ pensions were previously the norm, as millions of workers retired taking home an annual income that was guaranteed by their employer and calculated by paying out a proportion of their final salary for every year of service. However these schemes are being shut down at an accelerating pace especially in the private sector, as the economic burden takes its toll on employers. Unless you find yourself working for large technology multinational (or the Government) I think you can forget about gold plated retirement packages.

Peoples failure to save

Not only are people disillusioned with their retirement age, many remain unaware of how much they need to set aside for retirement. Over the last few years individuals have been strapped of cash so pension contributions fell to the bottom of the ‘To-Do List’ which is understandable but with the low contribution levels to defined contribution pensions means that even when they do get around to saving, then they will need to commit a decent-sized wedge of their salary to their pension pots.

State Pension Age is on the move

The State pension age is on the move but unfortunately it is going in the wrong direction. In this case 68 is the new 66, with the current mortality rates and current population trends in Ireland we are going to inevitably see a reduction in the current state pension (€230) and an increase in the state pension age towards the 70 mark.

If you have found the above in any way frightening or alarming, DON’T the team here at Stability Financial can help you put a retirement plan in place to avoid all of the above issues. If you woudl like to speak to a member of the team today please don’t hesitate to call us today.