Those who witnessed the ‘swagger of Jagger’ at Glastonbury on Saturday evening were generally impressed or experienced an overwhelming sense of revulsion.
Making their Worthy Farm debut 43 years after the festival first took place, The Rolling Stones took to the stage with an average age of 69 years old.
Sir Mick Jagger, born in July 1943 and close to celebrating his 70th birthday, is still rocking after a successful career lasting over 50 years.
But how many of us can hope to continue rocking (working) right up until our 70th birthdays?
Jagger is probably an outlier; he is the exception to the rule which sees most people retire much earlier due to ill health or the lack of availability of paid work.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the average age at which people retire is 64.6 years for men and 62.3 years for women.
These ages are broadly aligned with the State pension ages for men and women, which are set to steadily increase to age 68 for both men and women by 2046.
Of course these are average retirement age figures which hide a range of actual outcomes. Many people retire much earlier.
Some research in the US found that poor health was the main reason for retiring early. A third of those who retired early cited personal health issues as the main reason, with around one quarter retiring early because they lost their jobs.
Regardless of whether we want to keep prancing around a stage in skinny fit trousers (or whatever it is we do for a living), other factors will often prevent us from doing so.
Planning for retirement should not include the assumption that you will be able to continue working into your late 60s, early 70s or even later.
Making provision for your retirement income earlier in your working life is a more sensible planning strategy, with the ability to top up this provision later in your career a real ‘bonus’ rather than something on which you should rely.
