The Future of Retirement 2007 – The New Old Age

• Older people are significant contributors to society
• Families are strong an important
• Health, Independence and Control

The third annual edition of the HSBC Future of Retirement global survey covered 21,000 people aged between 40 and 79 years, in 21 mature and transitional countries and territories around the world*.
For the first time in the survey, participants were divided into four age groups, each spanning 10 years to study the effect of age on their attitudes towards ageing, later life and retirement. This also made it possible to compare the experiences of those approaching retirement - their expectations and fears - with the reality of those who have gone through retirement and are now retired.

The Future of Retirement survey reveals that older people are significant contributors.
The data shows that people over 60.

Contribute to society
Older people are contributing billions of dollars to the global economy in voluntary work.

Contribute to the workforce
Older people are contributing to their communities and the economy through their labor and their taxes.

Contribute to their families
More older people are giving money, support and care to families and friends than they are receiving it.
They can do this because they are more fit and active than ever before, they feel they are in control of their lives, that they are independent rather than dependents, and are generally looking forward to the next 20 to 30 years of life.

They can do this because they are more fit and active than ever before, they feel they are in control of their lives, that they are independent rather than dependents, and are generally looking forward to the next 20 to 30 years of life.

The Future of Retirement survey shows that despite all the changes that the concept and nature of the family has been subject to- the family is still chosen by the overwhelming majority of survey respondents as defining “who they are”. In addition most people believe that families should be responsible for their members.
In mature economies, falling birth rates mean that families are smaller now. However, longer lives mean that more members of each family are still alive. This has lead to long “skinny” families with an increasing number of four-or five-generation families, with fewer people in each generation. There has been some concern that these new family forms may lead to people seeing their families as less important to them, and that this will reduce their willingness to care for their family members-especially the eldest and most dependent.
However, the Future of Retirement survey has shown that across the globe, people all over the world have considered contact with family members, and that they feel responsible for the welfare of other members of their family.
In addition, individuals feel strong personal identification with family members, and overwhelmingly feel that the family defines who they are as a person.

Around the world, people living in mature societies and the trendsetters in the transitional economies, seem to experience only modest- if indeed any- decline in their quality of life as they age into retirement.
The survey shows that people in their 60s and 70s generally feel in good health, and that there are only modest differences between those age groups and people in their 40s and 50s in terms of control and quality of life. In terms of how people feel and what they are capable of, we believe that 70s can be said to be the new 50s.
Such findings have significant implications. People in their 60s and 70s are a tremendous asset to society, not generally a burden. There is potential good, healthy, active contributory later life, which should be planned for.



In the transitional economies, the survey interviewed “trendsetters”1)

1) Trendsetter: people who live mainly in towns and cities, and who work in the service sector or other modern areas of the economy, such as the information technology industry. They contrast with the greater numbers of people still in traditional, rural, family-based employment, or those working in primary industries such as mining, fishing of forestry.

Future of Retirement 2007, The New Old Age