The whole idea of retirement was created by Otto von Bismarck the German Chancellor in 1889. Germany became the first nation in the world to adopt an old-age social insurance program. The retirement age was pegged at 65. Life expectancy at that time was much lower and it was not a great number of working people who reached the retirement age.
The whole idea of retirement was created by Otto von Bismarck the German Chancellor in 1889. Germany became the first nation in the world to adopt an old-age social insurance program. The retirement age was pegged at 65. Life expectancy at that time was much lower and it was not a great number of working people who reached the retirement age.
Today the actuaries say that someone who is fit and healthy in their early sixties is likely to live into their nineties! barring anything like an accidental death. The question we have to ask is, is a system of retirement designed more than a hundred years ago still working for us? People are living longer and are able to work productively much longer if they should choose to. It’s time we stopped legislating this artificial age of 65, and, left retirement up to the individual.
