TICKER: One third of babies born today will live to 100- Study

Long life ahead: A third of babies born today after expected to live until they are 100 thanks to improvements in living standards and medicine.

Babies born this year will work until the age of 70, be saddled with student debt until 52 and get married eight years later than their grandparents, a report says today.
This new generation of babies have been dubbed the ‘new centenarians’ because they have a one in three chance of reaching the age of 100.

The report, from the investment firm Scottish Widows, predicts a dramatically different life for these babies from the one experienced by their parents and grandparents.
It assumes their parents were born in 1983 and their grandparents were born in 1957.

On average, a new centenarian will have their first baby at the age of 31, which is two years later than their parents and five years later than their grandparents, who had their first child at 26.
It expects ‘an increasing proportion of people will either have no children or just one child’, with many blaming the huge cost of living.
While their grandparents typically got married at the age of 25 and spent £4,400 on their wedding, the ‘new centenarian’ will walk up the aisle at 33 and spend around £39,000.

In their twenties, they will face ‘a hat-trick of financial pressures’ unlike those experienced by either their parents or grandparents.
Living longer: A study has also found that a quarter of all children under 16 will live to be a centenarian.

The report is based on interviews with 1,000 parents with children under the age of five as well as an analysis of official figures from the Office for National Statistics. It paints a bleak picture of life as young adults. They will face the stresses of saving for their first home, paying off student loans which average £52,000 and starting a pension to pay for the longest retirements in history.

Scottish Widows predicts that they will retire at the age of 70, while their parents left their jobs at the age of 66 and their grandparents when they were 63.

But if they live to the age of 100, they will need to find the money to live comfortably for three decades without working, it warns.

The ONS says around a third of babies born this year in Britain are expected to survive to celebrate their 100th birthday. Baby girls are even more likely to reach the landmark birthday, with 39 per cent of girls born this year getting to 100, compared to 32 per cent of boys.

But to have any chance of being able to retire comfortably, the report says the new centenarians will need to start saving at the age of 25 to build up a decent pension.

Iain McGowan, head of investment propositions at Scottish Widows, said: ‘Most workers today require a pension designed to fund a retirement of between ten and 20 years. But increased life expectancy means new centenarians will have to save enough for a 30-year retirement.’

The report, compiled by economist and trend forecaster Steve Lucas, also says mortgages will have to be changed to allow people to repay them over a longer period.

Typically, buyers take out 25-year mortgages, but the City regulator the Financial Services Authority recently said the average life of a loan is already rising for young people.

During the first half of this year, the average first-time buyer took out a mortgage which will last for 28 years.

Daily Mail

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