This piece is from the new issue of Spectator Money, out on Thursday 19 May. The magazine will come free with your next copy of The Spectator, and will also be available to read online at www.spectator.co.uk/money.
We’re all getting older. We’ve just celebrated the Queen’s 90th as a very special occasion, yet by 2027 there will be a million of us in the UK aged 90 or above, according to the Inter-national Longevity Centre (ILC). Ten years beyond that, 65-and-overs will account for nearly a quarter of the population.
Longevity is a luxury if it’s accompanied by good health. It also comes with many challenges, not least the need to make your accumulated wealth last longer. The cost of care is a particular concern.
Around a third of women and a fifth of men aged 65 and over will one day enter a care home, warns the ILC. The latest figures put the average yearly cost for a residential home at £29,250 in England, rising to £39,300 for a nursing home.
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