填空题
If you’re like most people, you’ve not saved enough for retirement~ There’s a good chance your savings and state pension will not provide enough income to live in the manner in which you’ve become accustomed for up to thirty years. But don’t feel too bad, many of us have been sold an unrealistic vision of retirement. The idea, for obvious reasons, has taken hold that after forty years of work we are entitled to spend a few decades of our life in leisure.
But this is not realistic financial goal for most people. No matter how keen a saver you may be, raising children and maintaining even a modest lifestyle often does not leave enough money to spend a third of your life on holiday. Also, many people are simply not saving enough, forget the endless vacation--they will probably face a large cut in their standard of living after they retire. The introduction of state pensions was significant because it provided retirement income for everyone. This allowed elderly people to cease work and not be dependent on their families. To this day, many people rely on state benefits as their primary source of retirement income.
Like consumption of other goods, as technology advances and we become wealthier, we expect more and better retirement. This is not entirely unreasonable. Western countries have more wealth than before and better technology to save, invest, and redistribute income. There is no need to go back to the work-until-you-die model. But this does not mean current retirement expectations are reasonable either, especially when so many depend on the government to provide their retirement income.
Population pressures on state pensions further complicate retirement planning. Individuals are more responsible than ever for saving and investing for their own retirement. Saving enough and investing to provide for a long retirement is a complex financial decision with many uncertain variables, like life expectancy and asset returns. State pensions are supposed to provide an income floor, keep you out of poverty, and provide some certainty. But there exists a great deal of uncertainty about how state pensions will continue to be financed.