40 Year Olds Can Expect To Retire At 70 - Iceland's Pension Fund Committee recommends that the retirement age be pushed to 70

Iceland's Pension Fund Committee recommends that the retirement age be pushed to 70

Iceland’s Pension Fund Committee, put together 4 years ago by the finance minister to deal with pension shortages, has recommended that the retirement age be pushed to 70, reports RÚV.

If the committee’s recommendations are accepted then it would apply to employees working both in public institutions and private companies.

Life expectancy has increased considerably over the last decade and while that is good news, pension funds claim it is becoming increasingly expensive to meet their obligations for pensions payments. It is estimated that altogether Iceland’s pension funds are 533 billion ISK short of what they have committed to pay out.

“We have basically created a table whereby we’ll look at someone born in 1974 for example, his pension age would be maybe 70,” said Þorbjörn Guðmundsson, representative for Iceland’s Federation of Labour. “These are just ideas, no concrete decisions have been as yet.”

These changes could be controversial as people over 55 years of age often have trouble getting work.

“Of course if we made these changes then employers would have to play along,” said Þorbjörn. “We have to guarantee that people can continue working.”

The full list of recommendations will be delivered to the finance minister today.