If you’re a worker in the UK under 40, do you think you’ll ever be able to retire?

It’s a crazy thought, but with the state pension age rising, how old will you actually be when you hit retirement age?

Will you be 68?

Or 70?

Or when the government eventually decides you’re old enough?

For decades, retirement was much more straightforward. You worked, paid National Insurance, built up a workplace pension, and eventually collected your state pension. It wasn’t luxurious, although much more predictable than it is now.

Today, the age you’ll retire feels increasingly shaky.

Many younger workers in Britain fully expect it to rise again, and it’s very likely it will, multiple times during their working life. If you’re in your twenties or thirties, do you really believe 68 will be the final number?

Don’t count on it.

People are living longer. Birth rates are falling. Fewer workers are supporting more retirees. Governments of all colours face the same problem, and something eventually has to give.

The uncomfortable truth is we cannot control government policy.

You cannot control tax rates, pension ages, or public spending decisions made twenty years from now, but they’ll very likely affect you… and keep you working far longer than you believe you will.

However!

What you can control is how dependent you are on the government. This is where most people get retirement planning wrong.

Did you think retirement starts at retirement age?

Well, it will if you don’t think about it or plan for it. Those who do plan, often have the luxury of retiring when they like, not when they hit the target age.

In reality, retirement starts the day you begin building assets that can support you without working. When your money, or your assets, start earning your income – so you don’t have to put in the hard slog to earn it yourself.

That’s a very different way of thinking.

Sound better?

Ok, good. Imagine two people.

The first relies entirely on the state pension and a small workplace pension.

The second has a workplace pension, a Stocks and Shares ISA, and investments built steadily over decades (because small investments, regularly, go a very long way).

Which person do you think sleeps better when politicians start talking about pension reform?

Not the first one, right?

Nope, they’re the angry and frustrated one, who will blame the government, the system, their employer, or anyone else they can think of before blaming themselves (which you and I both know rarely happens, even if it’s the truth.)

If you’re a younger worker, this is where you have an advantage.

Time.

Most people assume you need to earn a six-figure salary to build a wealthy future, but you don’t.

You don’t need to become a property mogul either.

And you don’t need to be so insanely smart you can win big by picking the next big stock.

You simply need some basic knowledge, time, consistency. That’s it.

Did you know a modest monthly contribution invested for thirty or forty years can become surprisingly large?

Because it can.

(Even if it’s boring)

When I talk to my mates in the pub about pensions, their eyes glaze over, because clearly it’s the most boring topic of conversation we can have.

Monthly pension contributions are boring.

Salary sacrifice is boring.

Using your ISA allowance is boring.

However, if I mention cryptocurrency in the pub, everyone is all ears – even if they’re not my mates.

Just like betting on horses, crypto is exciting.

Guess which one usually wins?

I believe most young workers in the UK have the means to build wealth reliably, to benefit their whole lives, and not just retirement. But at a guess, perhaps 1% of young workers have even a minimal understanding of how.

Despite what we all think of the government – whatever iteration of government is currently in power – we’re actually very lucky in the UK to have excellent wealth-building tools available to us, in the form of pensions (and generous contribution caps) and tax free savings accounts like ISAs, LISAs, and JISAs.

Yet most people go through their working lives never considering this stuff, and definitely never talking about it in the pub.

The challenge young workers face isn’t necessarily a lack of opportunity.

It’s distraction.

We’re surrounded by people promising quick wealth, side hustles, trading systems and shortcuts. You know what I mean, don’t you?

Meanwhile, genuinely wealthy people are quietly maxing pensions, filling ISAs and letting compound growth do the heavy lifting. They’re not living boring lives either – they’ve simply cut out the noise.

The good news is you don’t need certainty about the future.

You don’t need to know what the state pension age will be in 2050. You don’t need to know who will be in government. You don’t need to predict tax policy.

You only need a plan that works regardless.

Isn’t that worth thinking about?

F*ck the government and whatever you think about them. Take your own control, using the systems already in place – it’s a winner.

That’s why financial independence is such a powerful concept.

But I need to let you into a little secret – financial independence shouldn’t mean owning a yacht or retiring at 35.

It should mean having enough assets or investments so that political decisions become less important to your personal finances.

Options! Valuable options!

Perhaps the real question isn’t whether Britain’s young workers will retire?

Perhaps the better question is “Are you building a future where retirement depends on politicians, or one where it depends on you?”

The answer to that question will probably determine when you stop working!

Not the government.