I was sat having my breakfast this morning and texting my sister. Her baby is due in just over 3 weeks’ time and I had been thinking how crazy it is that, hopefully, at this time next month, the baby will be here safe and we will know if baby is a he or she and its name! This is a very exciting time for my family, my sister’s first baby, my first niece or nephew and my parent’s first grandchild. Wow – we are going to have some Champagne once he / she arrives!

Then I read an article, which states that longevity figures now show that one in three baby girls in England will live to at least 90 years old. http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/sep/01/longer-life-leads-to-fears-of-later-retirement

My Granny lived this long – older in fact – and the female line on her side certainly seem to have a long life.  However, the difference is that Granny got her state pension from 60 (she may have even had some Widows pension before this age I think). My mum had her state pension at 60 too.

My sister and I will have to wait until we are 68, and if the baby is a girl, based on these current statistics she will have to wait until age 70+!

This makes me think that the following becomes more and more important for us to consider:

1. Have a job you love – you will be doing it for some time.
2. Try to enjoy every second of the 90 years (or whatever you get given).
3. Don’t underestimate how long your retirement years could be and PLAN so you can enjoy it.
4. Save privately for your retirement, you can’t rely on the state pension – it will come into payment later and later, if at all.
5. Talk to your parents / grandparents about their wishes before they become too old, when it may become to worrying/stressful for them or they are unable to. As hard as it is to talk about illness or death, it’s important to know what they want – should they fall ill, or what they would want their funeral to be / where / how.
6. Write a Will.

Of course, this baby could be a boy and his pension age will still be older – as will his longevity and the need for all of the above!

Keep you posted!