02:28
Chongyang, or Double Ninth Festival is an occasion for people across China to reflect on the elderly and how we can provide them with better care, support and respect.
As our parents, grandparents and elderly neighbors grow older and increasingly frail in body and mind, the support of families and communities has never been more important.
But have you thought about your own route towards old age? You might still have a full head of (non-grey) hair, the ability to drag yourself to the gym (now and then) and ambitions of traveling the world, but more and more experts warn that there is no time like the present when it comes to planning for retirement.
Elderly people celebrate Double Ninth Festival together in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province, October 17, 2018. /VCG Photo
Elderly people celebrate Double Ninth Festival together in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province, October 17, 2018. /VCG Photo
Are you putting money aside for the days when you can no longer work? With improvements in healthcare and social well being, many members of our generation could live into our 90s and spend more than 30 years in retirement – that's not going to be cheap, especially if you want to continue living a comfortable lifestyle.
1) The concept of retirement is pretty modern, but pensions date back over 2,000 years to Ancient Rome, when army veterans who had served 20 years could receive payouts from the state.
2) The first modern pension system dates back to 1889 when Germany's Otto von Bismarck established mandatory nationwide pensions for people reaching the age of 70. Reduced life expectancy at the time meant most people would still work until they died, but Bismarck was still labeled a “socialist” for his scheme.
3) Chinese women can retire at 55 – one of the lowest retirement ages in the world. Chinese men can retire at 60, while workers in certain labor-intensive industries can retire as early as 50.
4) In the United Arab Emirates, Emiratis can retire at the age of 49 – the lowest retirement age in the world. However, expats in the country need to keep working until 60.
5) If you're a man or woman from Libya, you could be working for longer than anyone else. In 2017, the retirement age was officially raised to 70, although people can still choose to retire at 65.
How much should you be saving?
You like going out for good food, right? Traveling a few times a year, treating yourself to nice clothes now and then? If you don't want that to change by the time you hit retirement, most experts suggest that now is the time to start saving.
But how much do you need to save? 200,000 yuan? Two million?
If you're living in the US, even one million dollars probably won't be enough. A study by GOBankingRates this year suggested that retirees residing in certain areas would blow through a million bucks in just 12 years.
According to China Daily, the average salary in Beijing in 2018 is 9,835 yuan (1,414 US dollars) per month. If you're a man retiring at 60 and want a similar income in retirement, and plan to live until, say, the age of 85, then (brace yourself) you'll need a nest egg of 2,950,500 yuan (425,917 US dollars).
Young at heart: A group of elderly people in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, take a selfie, October 14, 2018. /VCG Photo
Young at heart: A group of elderly people in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, take a selfie, October 14, 2018. /VCG Photo
If you're a woman and plan on retiring at 55, you'll need even more – an extra 590,100 yuan (85,183 US dollars) to be exact.
Of course, you could aim for a more frugal lifestyle in retirement, but even for a monthly income of 3,000 yuan (433 US dollars) per month between the ages of 60 and 85, you're still going to need to save up 900,000 yuan (129,920 US dollars).
Tempted to start cutting back yet? As long as you start saving early, you should be ok. The UK's International Longevity Centre suggests saving 11 percent of your salary per month for retirement and ideally aiming for 20 percent.
China is one of many countries with obligatory pension schemes that employers and employees must pay into.
Optional private pension schemes are available, and while part of an industry described as "still in its infancy" by KPMG, data from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission suggests that Chinese private pension insurance schemes are already worth 2.5 trillion yuan (361.2 billion US dollars).
By 2025, KPMG expects China's commercial pension insurance industry to be worth 11 trillion yuan (1.59 trillion US dollars).
But if you're struggling to pay off your mortgage, rent or save for your kids, you're not alone. The Economic Policy Institute reported last year that around half of Americans have nothing saved for retirement, and the majority of those with savings have less than 1,000 US dollars.
(Video by Li Yezi, Liu Chen, Yang Di and Zhou Jinxi)
["china"]
