Denmark to raise retirement age to 70 • Hacker News Board

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#551

Post by Ancalagon » Sun, May 25, 2025, 11:41 PM UTC

SchemaLoad wrote: post #542

StopDisinfo910 wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is entirely arbitrary. Society heavily favours capital above labour. That’s why we have very rich inheritors never working and people toiling until they are 70. It’s entirely a choice. This issue has solutions we collectively decide not to put in place.

Isn't that exactly how retirement works though? Old people who produce no labour but just get everything given to them because of the capitol they built up previously.

No, the parent is talking about inheritors. Japan mostly solves this with very high inheritance taxes.

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#552

Post by prawn » Sun, May 25, 2025, 11:42 PM UTC

YZF wrote: post #531

amag wrote: post #409

This is truly sad. As a Swede I fear my country may follow suite. The retirement age in Sweden used to be 65 and now it's 67. Looking at older people around me, most lead a much less active life after 75. So, if we were lucky we used to have some 10 good years of doing whatever we wanted before old age and age-related diseases start affecting us so much we become limited to a much smaller world. But now we have maybe…

Isn't this more about letting people who want to keep working do that? What's stopping people in Sweden and Denmark from retiring earlier? I would imagine there are some pensions plan withdrawal requirements or criteria for government assistance but can't you just save money to bridge that gap? Maybe we need to start thinking about these things differently. I would love to have more time off but still have a job and…

Can't speak for those countries in particular, but generally you can work past retirement age, or retire earlier if you have funded/planned for that. A retirement age is usually just the point at which you can receive government assistance as part of a safety net. I assume if it's not pegged to life expectancy, the cost to the public grows.

Here in Australia, and I imagine elsewhere, there are strong systems (e.g., superannuation) to encourage personal savings towards retirement.

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#553

Post by neuroelectron » Sun, May 25, 2025, 11:43 PM UTC

glorygut123 wrote: post #335

gandalfian wrote: post #272

Denmark, 6 million wealthy people, 4% economic growth, 1.5% inflation, 2.9% unemployment, national debt of 25% of GDP and budget in surplus. How did it all go so right?

If they're raising the retirement age, then it obviously didn't all go so right,

[flagged]

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#554

Post by rxtexit » Sun, May 25, 2025, 11:45 PM UTC

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #12

dtgm92 wrote: post #9

This is because of their low birth rate primarily right? I think the system has failed at this point, when you are expected to work that long.

The social pension system always was a Ponzi scheme where the ones who got in first(boomers) get the biggest share of the pie(10-20 years of life left after retirement), while those coming into the system last(millennials+) and pay for the current retirees will get rug-pulled(5-10 years of life left after retirement). Sustainable population and economic growth at that rate can't happen indefinitely. Some people have…

My boomer parents are already pushing being retired for 20 years, neither did anything more than the bare minimum in life.

They could have easily worked 10 years longer instead of doing nothing but drinking wine all day and/or going out to restaurants in retirement. That is in between traveling to go out to restaurants and/or drink wine.

The boomers scammed us all and aren't done yet. They are going to make sure to bankrupt the entire system with healthcare cost before they go.

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#555

Post by deadbabe » Sun, May 25, 2025, 11:48 PM UTC

amag wrote: post #409

This is truly sad. As a Swede I fear my country may follow suite. The retirement age in Sweden used to be 65 and now it's 67. Looking at older people around me, most lead a much less active life after 75. So, if we were lucky we used to have some 10 good years of doing whatever we wanted before old age and age-related diseases start affecting us so much we become limited to a much smaller world. But now we have maybe…

This is why it’s better to have a higher salary vs relying on government to provide a better standard of living at the trade off of a lower salary.

With the high salary, even if the cost of living around you is high, you can still make choices to save and invest money to eventually become financially independent and retire when you want, where as if you have a low salary, you don’t have that flexibility, you are at the mercy of the systems around you.

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#556

Post by neuroelectron » Sun, May 25, 2025, 11:49 PM UTC

downrightmike wrote: post #543

nine_k wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The system has effectively failed most everywhere on the West. The post-WWII generations are numerous and have a long life expectancy, apparently longer than the pension systems planned for. Generations that came after them are less numerous, and, in a way, somehow less prosperous. They cannot pay enough to keep the pension systems afloat. The Japanese faced this earlier and harder than Europe, with about 30% of thei…

Generations after the boomers create more, with less energy, but the boomers rigged the system and captured the increases.

The spend like crazy on nothing, cruises, trinkets and inflated healthcare. All that spending yields nothing of substance except for experienced and critical doctors.

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#557

Post by continuational » Sun, May 25, 2025, 11:50 PM UTC

jongjong wrote: post #458

intothemild wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's only one issue I can think of with your idea that someone who is 75 now leads a life as you're describing. The generation they belong to are predicted to live to what 80-85 years? Whilst we (assuming you're in your 40's now) are predicted to get to what 90-95 on average? Average lifespans are increasing, and on top of that the mobility of someone who's 75 now, won't be the same of someone who's 75 in another…

Poorer individuals, who need retirement most, don't tend to live as long. Millennials and Gen Z are already victims of old, no-longer-applicable narratives (e.g. save cash, avoid debt, go to college...) and these ones about life expectancy will likely be added to the pile and used to disenfranchise us more while having no connection to reality.

Wait, what's wrong with those narratives?

College is free in Denmark (in fact you get paid to study).

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#558

Post by neuroelectron » Sun, May 25, 2025, 11:51 PM UTC

deanc wrote: post #4

I’m not sure how I feel about this. I’m based in the Nordics and my estimated retirement age at the moment (where I can get my state pension) is 67y 4m. Whilst I understand the burden the aging population is having on society (lifespan) it doesn’t seem like there’s much proactive government input into people’s healthspan. Maybe instead we should try investing in this area (reducing the burden on services) instead of…

Previous older generations were leas independent. They lived with their extended families, contributed to the household and spent nearly nothing.

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#559

Post by wkat4242 » Sun, May 25, 2025, 11:51 PM UTC

dralley wrote: post #491

toomuchtodo wrote: post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turns out retirement is just an illusion to convince you to give your best years for the system.

Humans need a constant supply of resources and shelter to survive. There is no "system" which avoids this inconvenient fact. In the absence of any "system" at all, you would still need to constantly work for survival - and in fact you'd just die as soon as you were no longer able to do so due to illness or injury much less old age. In other words if there were no "system" there would be no such concept as "retirement…

That's true, I would never ever consider moving to the US for that reason alone. Our vacations are very generous and I always struggle to use them all up. I get about a month and a half effectively (if I take them all consecutively with weekends in between)

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#560

Post by broken-kebab » Sun, May 25, 2025, 11:52 PM UTC

timschmidt wrote: post #534

tomp wrote: post #506

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why taking care of the elderly, something humans have done since before recorded history Well yeah, but before government-organised pension, it was your kids taking care of you when you get older, so the system was much more balanced (or rather, only imbalanced on the micro scale, not at a mega scale we see now...)

> it was your kids taking care of you when you get older This oversimplification has never been true. Humans evolved in extended family groups generally between 30 - 300 people. And humans are far more promiscuous and willing to adopt chosen family than most will admit. The nuclear family is a shockingly recent invention.

It doesn't negate the claim that parent made though. "Your kids" had a wider meaning (and still has in a lot of places) but the principle remains: an adult had to provide, and protect a limited number of (usually related) kids to be cared by those of them who survived later in life.