Do you want the good news or the bad? Well, the good news is that life expectancy in the West keeps on increasing.
The bad news is that you'll most probably spend more time retired than you did working. And if that doesn't frighten you, nothing will.
Figures from Britain indicate that a woman aged 30 can expect to live until 84. While the gap between men and women seems to be narrowing, men still trail women by just over four years. In certain parts of the world, notably Japan, life expectancy has been well into the eighties for some time now and is nearing 90.
These figures might seem academic, but the financial implications of this trend, which is being mirrored in South Africa, is what lies behind the shift away from defined benefit funds (where one's pension is defined and guaranteed when one joins the fund) to defined contribution funds, where very little is guaranteed.
The long-term liabilities of defined benefit funds have been called hidden time-bombs for the guarantors of these benefits. That's why companies are rushing into converting their old-style funds into contribution-based funds.
But the release of the above statistics also got me thinking about the whole concept of retirement planning.
Have we all been conned?
A whole generation of people has been programmed to "target" a certain retirement age, either 55, 60 or 65, as if that is the end-purpose of life. People "live" their entire lives waiting for this magical milestone.
More and more people are realising that this is nothing more than clever packaging by the retirement planning industry, which includes insurance companies, unit trust companies and the home building industry, the creators of that 20th century marvel: retirement villages.
Nathan Pollan, one of America's most respected investment advisors and the author of many books, has stirred up this whole debate in his latest book, Die Broke.
Forget about estate planning and legacies to your children, he says. Live your life to the full, work for as long as possible and only be concerned with having enough money for yourself. Have a great life and die broke by making use of lifetime annuities and reverse mortgages.
However, the situation in South Africa is somewhat different from that in the US, as we don't have reverse mortgages and a social security net which Americans have.
But back to the South African situation where many people seem to think that their pension fund pay-out at the age of 55 is going to look after them for the rest of their lives. WRONG!
For women, as I alluded to at the beginning of this article, you could find yourself being "retired" for more years than you spent working. And thinking that you can work, pay your taxes, educate your children and have some fun to boot, AND invest enough to keep you going for another thirty years, is a mistake.
But the answer does not lie in yet another exhortation to save even more money for retirement. The answer, I suspect, lies in a change in mindset about retirement and what to do after retirement.
The whole concept of retirement as a carefree-period of your life needs to be changed.
Most people will have to re-programme themselves. There will be no such thing as retirement. After ending your career with one company, either by choice or by package, chances are that you will start another. Maybe something in the same field, maybe not. Perhaps you will end up doing something you've always wanted to do.
This change in mindset will also lead, in my opinion, to the reintroduction of the extended family in many communities. It has been my observation that certain communities in South Africa, notably black and Indian, very successfully use extended families in order to run their homes and businesses.
Among whites, youngsters are encouraged to leave home as soon as possible. Parents, as they get older, are banished to old-age homes or retirement villages. But the reintroduction of extended families is already starting to spread, driven by economics and crime.
So, rejoice in the fact that you could end up living much longer than you thought you would, but also be aware of the profound sociological and financial implications this might have in store for you.