What Are The Four Pillars?

The benefits of scientific and medical advances are allowing people longer, more active lives.

The benefits of scientific and medical advances are allowing people longer, more active lives with the downside that many become socially isolated and impoverished in their old age.

In this country, life expectancy for men is 77 years and for women, 81 years, with almost 22% of the population aged over 60.

That’s 13 million people over 60 out of a population of almost 60 million people.

The Four Pillars Research Programme is looking at new ways to fund people’s longer lives and how to involve older people in good health in working longer.

Insurance companies worldwide fund the Four Pillars’ ‘think tank‘, called the International Association for the Study Of Insurance Economics, known for short as the Geneva Association.

Their research is based on the theory that the current pension system is based on three financial pillars:

A state pension that is topped up over a person’s working life by social security contributions
A pension offered by employers
Personal savings

The Geneva Association is putting forward proposals to establish gradual retirement, instead of having a break-off age of 65 years old.

The argument is this fourth pillar would enrich the workplace with skills that would otherwise be lost and allow older people in good health to maintain their standard of living and contribute to the economy.

Other suggestions from the group are that employers should contribute more to pensions and people should save more to support themselves in old age.

Much of this theory is based on demographic trends that show increased life spans and good health expectancy are to continue.

To help people work later in to their lives, the group suggest that older workers should take on more administrative roles and where they can’t, technology should be developed to help with problems like heavy lifting and mobility that may prevent older people working.

Insurance companies consider the four pillars programme is relevant to them for a number of reasons:

Reforming social security with a private/public sector partnership to reduce the burden of pensions on the working population as the non-working population increases
Encouraging people to take on more responsibility for funding their old age by saving more during their working life and offering tax and financial incentives to help people save.
Promoting a gradual retirement of older people in good health who can still work
Developing pension and savings plans with the insurance industry to help people better plan lifelong finances.
Helping employers create age-management strategies for older workers, like shorter working weeks and age related pay.
Offer a forum to debate and communicate these issues.

The UK government and many UK insurance companies take part in the Four Pillars Programme. The Geneva Association’s main work is undertaking research and communicating the results by seminars and publications.

Much of the Four Pillars Programme research is available on the Geneva Association web site. (http://www.genevaassociation.org/Research_Programme/Four_Pillars.aspx)

What Are The Four Pillars?

The benefits of scientific and medical advances are allowing people longer, more active lives.

Their research is based on the theory that the current pension system is based on three financial pillars:

Other suggestions from the group are that employers should contribute more to pensions and people should save more to support themselves in old age.

Insurance companies consider the four pillars programme is relevant to them for a number of reasons:

Related Articles