
The Mega-Dilemma of this Third Age : Save or Spend
In the Summer of 2017, the Office for National Statistics in the UK produced fresh and compelling data on the finances of retired households. In brief: From the late 1970s, just as Mrs. Thatcher was about to ride into Downing Street to the opening of the tenure of Mrs. May in 2016, the disposable income of those retired households grew at an annual average real-terms rate of 2.8%. The mean gross income of this segment (including benefits) had thus swollen by a factor of 3 across this generation of time. Whereas just less than 50% of retired households enjoyed the benefit of a private pension in 1997 this had risen to 80% by 2016. Average disposable income for those with one of those private pension plans is now (2017) ca…