Living longer requires rethinking pensions, employment and savings

Living longer is a major achievement, but it is also changing the rules of retirement planning. That is the premise of the 15th International Pension Forum, held under the theme “FOREVER: Living longer changed the rules.”

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Today the question is much bigger. We are living more years, and that changes not only how much we need to save, but how long we will work, how we will care for our health, how we will invest and, ultimately, how we want to live a life that may be much longer than that of previous generations.

Maribel Monterrubio, CEO of VITALIS in Mexico, said longer lives raise questions that go far beyond how much people should save. They also affect how long people will work, how they will care for their health, how they will invest and how they want to live through a retirement that may last much longer than in previous generations.

If people expect to live 20 or 30 years after the traditional retirement age, they may need to work longer, Monterrubio said. That could mean changing occupations, learning new skills or reinventing themselves professionally instead of doing the same work throughout their lives. Retirement planning, she added, must also account for health, independence and quality of life.

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If you plan to live twenty or thirty years after the traditional retirement age, you will probably work more years and not necessarily do the same thing throughout your life.

The forum, which marks its 15th year and is sponsored by Afore Azteca, has expanded its focus from pensions, savings and retirement to broader questions about the changing reality of ageing. Afore Azteca said it remains committed to financial inclusion, accessible retirement solutions and debates aimed at strengthening the long-term prosperity of Mexican families and society.

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Longevity does not begin at 60 or 65. It begins much earlier.

Monterrubio said longevity does not begin at 60 or 65. Saving decisions at 30, health choices at 40 and professional decisions at 50 can shape later life. She described the challenge as particularly complex in Mexico, where an ageing population faces informality, low pension coverage and wide inequality in saving capacity. Companies, she said, will also need to retain experience, update talent, design benefits for longer working lives and help employees reach retirement better prepared financially.

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In Mexico, the problem is even more complex because we are ageing without having resolved issues such as informality, low pension coverage or the enormous inequality in saving capacity.