Skip to main content
The Actuary: The magazine of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries - return to the homepage Logo of The Actuary website
  • Search
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Logo of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

Main navigation

  • News
  • Features
    • General Features
    • Interviews
    • Students
    • Opinion
  • Topics
  • Knowledge
    • Business Skills
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Predictions by The Actuary
    • Whitepapers
    • Moody's - Climate Risk Insurers series
    • Webinars
    • Podcasts
  • Jobs
  • IFoA
    • CEO Comment
    • IFoA News
    • People & Social News
    • President Comment
  • Archive
Quick links:
  • Home
  • The Actuary Issues
  • March 2012
03

Quality of life for over-50s getting 'significantly worse'

Open-access content Friday 2nd March 2012 — updated 10.25am, Wednesday 6th May 2020

High living costs and other economic pressures means the quality of life for over-50s in the UK is significantly worse now than it was a year ago, according to research published today by Saga and the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

The latest Saga Quarterly Report, which brings together official data and a survey of over-50s, found that 32% of the age group reported poorer living standards in the first quarter of 2012 than at the start of 2011.

According to Saga, unemployment and abnormally high levels of inflation are eating away at the spending power of older generations. Job losses have hit women particularly hard, it noted.

Concerns over living costs remain the number one worry in life, particularly for those in their 50s with over 60% of people aged 50-54 citing living costs as a greater concern than this time last year, while 45% of over-50s are cutting back on non-essential spending.

Dr Ros Altmann, Director General, Saga said: "We are still a long way from reporting a "positive" Quality of Life for the over 50s in the UK. Although there seems to have been a minor improvement over the last quarter only it's too early to say whether this marks the start of a new trend towards lasting quality of life improvement.

'Our Quarterly Report Series serves as a reminder to policy makers that older generations should feature more prominently on the Government's agenda.'

Saga also called on the Bank of England to take the impact of inflation 'more seriously' as its survey showed the damage caused to economic activity by rising prices. Rising living costs were consistently the biggest concern of over-50s during 2011, and remain so in the first quarter of 2012, causing older generations to significantly cut their spending.

Despite the gloomy picture, Saga also found that a third of over-50s were still financially helping their children and grandchildren.

This article appeared in our March 2012 issue of The Actuary .
Click here to view this issue

You may also be interested in...

2

Smokers will lose 100m years of life, say doctors

The 20% of the UK population still smoking will lose one hundred million years of life, the Royal College of Physicians warned yesterday.
Wednesday 7th March 2012
Open-access content
2

One third of 2012 babies 'will reach 100'

Around one third of babies born in the UK this year are expected to reach 100, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday.
Tuesday 27th March 2012
Open-access content
2

Europe-wide coalition rallies against 'Solvency II for pensions'

A Europe-wide coalition of employers, workers and pensions industry groups has called on the European Commission not to apply Solvency II rules to occupational pensions.
Friday 2nd March 2012
Open-access content
2

Number of adults with poor numeracy skills reaches 17m

Almost half the working-age population in England have poor numeracy skills, according to a new charity launched this week, National Numeracy.
Friday 2nd March 2012
Open-access content
2

The Sunday Times publishes 'best companies to work for' list

Insurance companies and consultancies feature heavily in this year’s list of the best companies to work for in the financial and business services sector, published by The Sunday Times.
Friday 2nd March 2012
Open-access content
2

1,000th Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary named

Karl Schriek has become the 1,000th person to earn the global Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary credential.
Friday 2nd March 2012
Open-access content

Latest from Health care

yf

Animal crossing: the threat of zoonotic diseases

Prachi Patkee and Adam Strange discuss what the rising threat of climate-driven communicable disease means for insurers
Wednesday 30th November 2022
Open-access content
hb

Boiling point: the effect of rising temperatures on future mortality

As quantifying climate risk exposure becomes increasingly important, Dan Gill, Rajinder Poonian and Alex Harding investigate the effect of rising temperatures on future mortality
Wednesday 2nd November 2022
Open-access content
vb

Interview: Professor Paul Dalziel on changing the focus of economies from growth to wellbeing

Paul Dalziel talks to Alex Martin about the true purpose of economics and the lessons we can draw from the 2019 New Zealand wellbeing budget
Wednesday 2nd November 2022
Open-access content

Latest from March 2012

Spreadsheet ISTOCK

UK pension funds post average 4.3% returns in 2011

UK pension funds recorded average returns of 4.3% last year the third consecutive year they have posted a positive return, according to figures published by BNY Mellon yesterday.
Friday 30th March 2012
Open-access content

'Urgent need' for insurance accounting standard

KPMG has urged the International Accounting Standards Board to finalise a new standard for insurance accounting as soon as possible.
Friday 30th March 2012
Open-access content

Airline insurance prices 'likely to remain stable'

Despite historically low levels of airline insurance claims last year, continuing high risk in the industry means prices are likely to remain stable for most airline insurance programmes, according to Aon Risk Solutions.
Friday 30th March 2012
Open-access content

Latest from formbuilder_item_removed

2

Implementing IFRS 17 Discount Curves: Theoretical and Practical Challenges

The International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 17 requires liability cash flows to be discounted at rates that reflect the characteristics of the cash flows, including their liquidity
Tuesday 3rd September 2019
Open-access content
2

Profit Emergence Under IFRS 9 and IFRS 17: The impact of choice of liability discount rate

With the IFRS 17 accounting standard, insurers need to understand the patterns of profit emergence that arise under the standard, and how current business and methodology decisions affect such patterns.
Wednesday 10th July 2019
Open-access content
2

Whitepaper: Aggregation and diversification of the IFRS 17 Risk Adjustment

This paper forms part of a series of high-level papers designed to provide an introduction to different features of the risk adjustment that should be considered in advance of implementation.
Tuesday 29th January 2019
Open-access content

Latest from 03

Spreadsheet ISTOCK

UK pension funds post average 4.3% returns in 2011

UK pension funds recorded average returns of 4.3% last year the third consecutive year they have posted a positive return, according to figures published by BNY Mellon yesterday.
Friday 30th March 2012
Open-access content

'Urgent need' for insurance accounting standard

KPMG has urged the International Accounting Standards Board to finalise a new standard for insurance accounting as soon as possible.
Friday 30th March 2012
Open-access content

Airline insurance prices 'likely to remain stable'

Despite historically low levels of airline insurance claims last year, continuing high risk in the industry means prices are likely to remain stable for most airline insurance programmes, according to Aon Risk Solutions.
Friday 30th March 2012
Open-access content
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Senior Pricing Associate

Scotland / England, London
Up to £60000 per annum
Reference
149081

Outside IR35 - Reserving Contract - 6-8 months

London (Central)
Daily rate contract - outside IR35
Reference
149079

Actuarial Analyst - Longevity Reinsurance

England, London
Up to £55000 per annum
Reference
149080
See all jobs »
 
 
 
 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to The Actuary

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
Spread-iPad-slantB-june.png

Topics

  • Data Science
  • Investment
  • Risk & ERM
  • Pensions
  • Environment
  • Soft skills
  • General Insurance
  • Regulation Standards
  • Health care
  • Technology
  • Reinsurance
  • Global
  • Life insurance
​
FOLLOW US
The Actuary on LinkedIn
@TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Facebook: The Actuary Magazine
CONTACT US
The Actuary
Tel: (+44) 020 7880 6200
​

IFoA

About IFoA
Become an actuary
IFoA Events
About membership

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to The Actuary Magazine
Contribute

The Actuary Jobs

Actuarial job search
Pensions jobs
General insurance jobs
Solvency II jobs

© 2023 The Actuary. The Actuary is published on behalf of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries by Redactive Publishing Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ