Throughout my life I have worked in a number of ways; from employed to self-employed and even freelance radio broadcasting.  Planning for retirement, though?  It never entered my head. Not until I worked for a financial adviser who bullied, nagged and eventually bribed me into starting a pension at age forty.

He started the pension off with £250 of his own money as an employer’s contribution, and matched my regular monthly payments with similar employer contributions.  I am very grateful to him now for instilling in me the need for retirement planning.  It also helped when I accompanied him to present retiring clients with cheques for their tax free cash and saw the smiles on their faces!

One divorce, a second marriage, another mortgage and successive governments who have upped the State Retirement Age later has meant that, like many of my generation, I have to explore new ways of ensuring I can still support myself later in life.

The odd thing is that, while the older generation quietly gets on with these changes, society as a whole is having difficulty coming to terms with them.  Where people of a certain age were viewed as ‘middle-aged’ or ‘elderly’, there now exists a group of people who do not fit into the stereotypical image of being old. 

Modern institutions, including educational establishments, must adapt to meet their needs.  With fellow mature students, I will shortly be attending an award ceremony at Oxford University to collect my Advanced Diploma in Local History, recently gained through distance-learning. It promises to be a most satisfying day!

Liz Napier, Finance Controls Analyst, Friends Life