Financial Preparedness for Old Age
Public policy goal should be ageing with dignity. It implies that a person should be ageing-in-place, staying at home to the maximum number of years as possible, and have access to a bundle of services, especially affordable and accessible health care. According to UN projections, the number of persons over-60 years of age will increase from 205 million in 1950 to 2.1 billion by 2050. “Given the deficiencies of storing current production, the only way forward is through claims on future production. What matters, therefore, is the level of output after I have retired. The point is central: pensioners are not interested in money (i.e. colored bits of paper with portraits of national heroes on them) but in consumption – food, heating, medical services, seats at concerts, etc. Money is irrelevant unless the production is there for pensioners to buy.”
