Pension firms must prepare for customers to live 125 years Living more than a century will soon be "the norm," making ageing the greatest threat to the UK's economic future, warned Otto Thoresen, director general of the ABI. We are living longer, of which I know you are all very aware. I know of several insurers, and you may be among them, who are now modelling pensions and retirement savings products on the assumption that customers could live to be 120 or 125 - and with very different patterns of retirement," he said in a speech at an actuarial conference last night. With men and women living on average 30 years longer than they did 100 years ago, by 2100, people living to over 100 years old will be the norm. How will we ensure that mankind's greatest achievement of prolonging life in this way doesn't lead to poverty for millions of people, and health and social care systems which cannot cope with the increased demands being made of them? Because of sluggish economic growth and record low interest rates many people now see the conventional approach to saving during their career and buying an annuity on retirement as "poor value," he warned. We need to find a way to encourage more people to save more for longer, at a time when the outlook for returns is uncertain at best. And at a time when many have high levels of personal debt or face the risk of unemployment," he said. The UK state will not be able to afford to provide pensions and health services and care services to its ageing population at the level people will need. Until that message lands the motivation for the individual to save more for longer will be half hearted at best.