Get a deal of the century

LIVING to the grand old age of 100 used to be a rarity but more are set to reach that milestone as life expectancy rises, the problem is our pensions may not have the same longevity.

-  Harvey Jones

While the state pension should continue for life, workplace pensions and personal savings may struggle to last for a retirement that could run for more than three decades.

On Census Day in 2021, there were 13,924 centenarians in England and Wales, up 24.5 per cent in a decade and a staggering 127-fold increase on 1921, when just 110 people notched up a century. As many as one in five girls born today will live to be 100, and one in seven boys. This is good news in some ways but throws up financial challenges too, warned Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown.

It will put more pressure on the state pension, with many politicians calling to scrap the triple lock.