Retirement of the Future

[purpletigron]

Proposition: "In the near future, the determining factor between poverty and comfort in old age will be whether or not you own your own, energy efficient home."

Discuss.

Comments

[drplokta]

I doubt it. The determining factor will be whether or not you have a few hundred thousand pounds. Whether that money is used to own a property, or to own a cheaper property and generate a bit of income to pay higher running costs, or to generate income to pay rent, probably doesn't matter much.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Will the cost of oil rise enough before we retire to change that answer?

[drplokta]

I don't expect oil to be particularly expensive in twenty years, or widely used for heating or electricity generation.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

I expect it to be rather costly by current standards, and so not widely used for heating or electricity generation.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Define "near".

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Before our generation retires.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Anytime in the next thirty years or so, then? No, I think drplokta's right: comfort will still be dependent on money. The stage where money won't be able to buy you comfort because the technological resources to create comfort are no longer available to us will probably happen, but will take longer than thirty years. I think.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

My take is that many of our generation will find that they have insufficient pension arrangements.

[carandol.livejournal.com]

We seem to be rather obsessed in Britain with the idea of owning one's own home. Other countries in Europe seem to be happy to live in rented apartments, in Germany to my knowledge, many of those are becoming more energy efficient by the day. Certainly, though, energy efficiency, and perhaps at least partial energy self-sufficiency, is going to become more important.

Some of the more gloomy experts have predicted that oil will start running out in 2020, at which point oil prices are *really* going to rise, which will lead to a rise in transportation costs for food, amongst other things. If the pundits are right, it might be wise to be as self-sufficient in food production as possible.

I suspect the old-folks-home of the future might be rather different than today's, too. I know a lot of people in their late 30s-early 40s who are happy to live in shared accommodation, like me. We were talking about it the other day, and saying "well, if we're still living here in 30 years time, we can hire ourselves nurse to live on the premises." And I've heard of one case of a group of old people who have clubbed together and bought themselves a big house, set it up as a housing co-op, and have hired staff to look after them. They decided that if they were going to spend their declining years in an institution, it was going to be an institution of their own making, living with their friends.

I have a suspicion that if Labour stays in power (and I don't see the Tories stumping up any credible opposition soon), energy efficient houses will become compulsory anyway, with grants for the poor, and fines for non-compliance.

Not much of a discussion, that, more like random thoughts.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

My worry is affording the rent.

A quick calculus of current oil trends does indeed suggest that oil will no longer be plentiful enough to burn by 2020.

I want to set up a housing co-op for my retirement!