I have read with interest the first release of data from the 2021 Census, this shows that now nearly a fifth (18.6% to be exact!) of the population of England and Wales are over 65. According to the ONS (Office of National Statistics) the life expectancy at age 65 is 18.5 years for males and 21 years for females, this is age 83 for men and age 86 for women. This means that an individual spends ‘nearly’ a third of their life over 65, this is rough estimate but does show the importance of planning for later life.
Further statistics from the ONS shows that the number of centenarians in the UK was 15,120 in 2020, this was an increase of almost a fifth from 2019! This demonstrates how much longer people are living and therefore this increases the importance of later life planning.
Talking to clients about later life planning is not always easy, quite often they have parents themselves whose health has deteriorated and don’t like talking about their own circumstances.
I could write further about the cost of care and there are arguments for both sides as to who should fund this, whether this is the State or ‘self-funders’. Whilst there is continuous ‘noise’ that this is going to be changed my view is nothing will happen soon – the government have got other things on their mind at the moment.
This means that we ‘are where we are’ and people need to think about and make provision for later life funding.
Being a Later Life specialist at Wingate I place a lot of importance on cashflow planning and on modelling various scenarios to show the impact of care through someone’s later years. Whilst planning may not be immediate it does show the potential costs through later life and creates some dialogue as to how this can be met.
If you, or a loved one, are planning for their future, whether that is to spend some money whilst active or there is a potential care cost in the near future, please contact me for an initial discussion. This is at our expense and a chance for me to show how we may be able to help.
Estimates of the very old, including centenarians, UK – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
First census results show England & Wales population hitting 59.6m | Daily Mail Online
