THE STORY GOES that a young man remarked to Voltaire that life is hard. “Compared to what?” the French wit is said to have replied.

He probably wasn’t thinking of his pension, but the young man had a point. Long lives pose new difficulties for providing income in retirement. There are three main challenges. Most obviously, the longer one spends in retirement, the thinner your money must be spread.

Secondly, retirement tends to be final. Few of us fancy going back into the workforce in our 70s or 80s, or if we do, it’s for job satisfaction rather than for the money.

And lastly, the practical challenges of managing investments, income and costs in later life are only now being worked out in Irish society.

It’s longer than you think

Most people underestimate how long they will spend in retirement. That could be true at any age, because day-to-day life isn’t lived in these time spans. If you are aged 40, you’re investing money you’ll be spending in maybe 2075. Who knows what the world will look like then.

Similarly, if you’re retiring today at 65, life expectancy is 83 if you’re male, and 86 if you’re female (based on 2016 data). And financially, you need to plan for the outlier: there are already more than a thousand centenarians in Ireland, a number that will only rise.

Source: Alamy Stock Photo

There are three main stages of demand on your money in retirement. In the early years, leaving work is expensive. You’ve got plans, and plans cost money: travel, new experiences, not to mention the fact that workplace benefits disappear. Hell, the........

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