Retirement is “not necessarily a good thing” and, in fact, can be “negative”, communications expert Terry Prone has argued. 

In 1911, the British Government passed the Old Age Pension Act of 1911, which gave everyone in Ireland and Great Britain a small income once they reached the age of 70. 

Notably, one of the first acts of the new Free State in 1924 was to cut the old age pension by 10%, owing to the financial pressures inflicted on the nation’s finances by a decade of conflict. 

At the time, there were few people alive claiming the benefit but increases in life expectancy mean that now almost everyone expects to become a pensioner. 

While many eagerly count down the years till they reach pension age, Ms Prone urged people to think twice about giving up work, arguing on her new podcast, Grey Matters, that retirement is the 'greatest con job ever inflicted on Irish society'. 

“ I mean that from the word go, and I'm talking more than a century and a half ago, retirement was a con job... what we have is one of these things that is regarded as a good all-round benefit for the poor old folk and it is in fact a negative," she claimed on Newstalk Breakfast. 

An elderly pensioner with some cash. Picture by: Alamy.com. 

A Royal London Ireland survey recently found that 18%, nearly a fifth of people, never want to retire and hope to keep working as long as they can. 

Ms Prone added that the “trend” is for more and more women to want to stay at work, something she views positively. 

“They found that a fifth of people, that's a substantial number, want to continue working into old age,” she said. 

“Why wouldn't they? If you think about it, within my lifetime, we as human beings in the Western world have gained 10 years.

“We live 10 years longer and yet the retirement age, the assumption that you'll go, if you're a Guard at 60, if you're anybody else at 65, the assumption has stayed the same. 

“It's as if nobody has noticed that we have 10 potentially contributory extra years.”

An old-aged pensioner. Picture by: Yon Marsh / Alamy Stock Photo. 

Ms Prone added that people need to consider the huge benefits that come from working, such as socialisation and a sense of achievement. 

“The numbers increasingly say, ‘Hang on a second, being sent home for early retirement, particularly if you're a woman, is not something that women actually welcome,’” she said.  

“And being sent home away from your peers, your community, your sense of pride, all the things that work gives you, is not necessarily a good thing.”

Main image: An elderly pensioner. Picture by: Alamy.com.