Yesterday I was at the Reform conference on paying for social care for the elderly and the chair, Patrick Nolan, Chief Economist for Reform cited today’s title as something I had said in my blog. So I feel justified to use it to describe today’s post.

One of the points I made about my generation – who are about to reach retirement age – is that whilst not all of the cohort is well off and there are considerable inequalities within the age group, it’s interesting to note that nearly all of us are better off than our parents were when they retired. Of course some of us own property, and some do not, which means that assets are not evenly distributed amongst us, but pensions reflect our higher earnings and both small and large assets have been accrued over time as a result of the higher wage rates available during our working lives that were not  there during our parent’s generation.