Baby Boomers
agree to share costs of long-term care in the UK
As the
Baby Boomer Generation start to reach retirement age, a new survey conducted
by long-term care annuities provider ‘Partnership’ has indicated that around
60% of those over 50 surveyed believed that our aging population should
contribute towards their own care costs.
This
recent poll seems to suggest that our up and coming retirement generation
have a greater sense of responsibility and inter-generational justice.
As our elderly generation begins to become the greater proportion of our
population for the first time in history, it seems that the Baby Boomers
are quite aware of their stronger financial position.
Our
over 60’s are the generation that has benefited from a growth in property
prices, free university education and final salary pension schemes.
In contrast their children face ever-increasing taxes, costs for education
and an inability to even get on the property ladder. The dramatic
fact is that over four-fifths of the wealth in the UK is held by the over
60’s, who also hold over £1 trillion in un-mortgaged equity.
As
this generational shift continues, and the younger generation struggle
against coping with debt, the dwindling tax resources can only inevitably
lead to a crisis in funding long-term elderly care. It is interesting
that this recent research highlights how the baby boomers do not wish to
shoulder the younger generation with the burden for funding their care.
Social
class plays a significant role in attitudes towards funding care, with
those belonging to the middle and upper classes, being not only more willing
to share the costs of care, but also being more aware of the dramatic demographic
changes.
It
seems the baby boomers will continue to shape change at all frontiers of
their lives, and growing old is no exception.
