The Retirement Age Is Rising: It Is Time to Rethink Retirement

Modern Retirement

24 Jan

Woman drinking a cup of coffee while looking out of the window

Retirement at 60 is becoming a myth. Redundancy at 55 is becoming a ritual. For too many of us, later life has become a series of disappearing safety nets.

We are being asked to work longer, plan better, and adapt faster, while the guarantees many of us relied on quietly fall away. Experienced, capable people are increasingly treated as past it by an economy that continues to demand more while offering less security in return. This is not a personal failure. It is a structural shift.

This is modern retirement. Less certainty. Fewer guarantees. And a growing gap between what we were promised and what is actually available.

For some, full retirement may no longer be a realistic option. For others, it may arrive later and look very different than expected. Either way, the idea of a clear stopping point is becoming harder to rely on.

At some point, we have to stop waiting for permission to retire and start thinking more honestly about how we protect ourselves in a system that no longer does.

Why Freedom in Later Life Exists

Freedom in Later Life reflects a growing reality that can no longer be ignored.

For decades, we were encouraged to work hard, play by the rules, and plan responsibly for retirement. The assumption was that doing so would lead to stability later in life. Instead, the goalposts have shifted, leaving many of us facing a future marked by greater uncertainty and fewer guarantees.

Access to pensions is drifting further away. Age discrimination remains widespread, even if rarely acknowledged. Silver divorces are leaving many people facing later life with far less financial and emotional security than expected. This is not about being unprepared. It is about a system that no longer reflects the reality of how we are being asked to live.

This Is Not Just About Us

What makes this moment especially serious is that it does not stop with our generation.

Our children and grandchildren are entering a world where the traditional model of a secure pension, a paid off mortgage, and a clear retirement age may never exist at all. If those of us in our fifties and sixties are struggling to stay afloat despite decades of work and contribution, it raises serious questions about what lies ahead for those coming next.

The old roadmap is broken. And unless we rethink retirement now, the next generation will inherit even less certainty than we have.

So the real question becomes:

How do we make sure that when we cannot work, we do not have to?

The Anxiety Around Modern Retirement Is Real

If retirement now feels fragile, delayed, or out of reach, that response makes sense.

Many of us are part of the sandwich generation, supporting ageing parents while still worrying about adult children, all while being told we need to work longer than any generation before us. The idea of golden years can feel like a promise that has quietly been withdrawn.

Acknowledging this reality matters. Not to dwell in fear, but because denial keeps us anchored to outdated expectations. We have to let go of the retirement we assumed we were working towards in order to build one that reflects the world as it is now.

Work Later Life and Wellbeing

Although retirement is changing and for some may not even be an option, this does not mean that later life must be defined by struggle or decline.

Staying engaged through meaningful work, creative projects, volunteering, or part time roles can have real benefits for both physical and mental health. Purpose, routine, social connection, and a sense of contribution all play a role in how we experience ageing.

The issue is not working longer in itself. The issue is being forced to continue in ways that are exhausting, insecure, or misaligned with our health and values.

Rethinking retirement gives us the opportunity to ask a different question. Not only when can we stop working, but how can we stay engaged in ways that support our wellbeing rather than undermine it.

From Survival to Strategy: Rethinking Work After 50

If governments and employers expect people to work into their late sixties or beyond, continuing in the same exhausting all or nothing way is no longer sustainable.

For many of us, this means moving towards a portfolio life. A combination of part time work, consultancy, flexible roles, or creative projects that draw on experience without constant depletion. This is not about reinvention or hustling. It is about reducing risk and increasing choice.

Modern retirement is no longer about stopping work at a fixed age. It is about managing uncertainty across longer and less predictable working lives, while retaining as much control as possible.

The aim is simple. If we are working later in life, it should be because we choose to, not because we are trapped with no alternatives.

The Property Problem: Rethinking Assumptions About Security

Housing has become one of the biggest pressure points in modern retirement.

For those approaching 50 without owning their home, the fear is real and justified. Traditional advice has long warned against taking on debt later in life, but today that advice needs closer examination.

Relying solely on a state pension while still paying rent or a mortgage may not be a sensible or sustainable option for many households. Rising living costs mean that the numbers simply do not add up in the way they once did.

For some, securing their own front door, even if that involves carrying a mortgage into later life, may offer greater stability than relying on rental markets or shrinking pension income. Options such as Older Persons Shared Ownership schemes or Retirement Interest Only mortgages exist precisely because the old rules no longer fit the reality we are living in.

These choices will not be right for everyone. But they reflect a broader truth. Rethinking retirement also means rethinking what security looks like now, not what it looked like for previous generations.

What Freedom Really Means in Later Life

Freedom in later life is not just about a pension pot or a finish line. It is about resilience.

Physical freedom means taking health seriously now, so working longer, if necessary, is possible without constant strain.

Location freedom means choosing where we live based on affordability, support, and community, rather than proximity to full time work.

Mental freedom means becoming active participants in our future, rather than feeling permanently at the mercy of policy changes and economic shifts.

This is not about blind optimism. It is about informed realism.

Why This Matters Now

Whether we are 48 or 58, the need to rethink retirement is already here.

We are the first generation to experience modern retirement in this form. Longer working lives. Weaker guarantees. Greater responsibility shifted onto individuals. Later life is no longer a gentle winding down. It is a restructuring.

Ignoring that reality does not make it less serious. Facing it directly allows us to respond with greater clarity and intention.

Understanding What Is Changing

For those who want to better understand how rising state pension ages are already affecting people in their fifties and sixties, the video below offers helpful context.

It explores how recent and upcoming changes are reshaping later life, and why so many are feeling uncertain about when, or whether, retirement will be possible.

Watch: The Rising State Pension Age and Its Impact on Pre Pensioners

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If this article resonated, you are not alone.

Each week, Freedom in Later Life shares writing for those of us living a later life that looks very different from what we were promised.

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