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The 40-year retirement: Leicester financial planner says we need a retirement rethink

Journalist: Scott Gallacher, Newspage Newsdesk

ended 10. July 2026

A Leicester Chartered Financial Planner has launched a new book and website arguing that retirement planning needs a fundamental rethink as increasing life expectancy means retirement could last 30 or even 40 years for some people.

Scott Gallacher, Director of independent financial planning firm Rowley Turton, has published 50 Today 100 Tomorrow alongside the launch of 100Tomorrow.com. At the heart of the project is a simple but increasingly important question: If more of us are going to live to 100, are we planning for it properly?

The project comes as the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows life expectancy has recovered following the pandemic, with UK male life expectancy now standing at 79.1 years and female life expectancy at 83.0 years. Long-term ONS projections also suggest that children born in the coming decades are expected to live significantly longer than previous generations, with average lifespans projected to approach 90 years.

However, the same figures also reveal an important challenge. While we are living longer, healthy life expectancy has fallen in recent years, meaning many people can now expect to spend a significant proportion of later life in poorer health.

After nearly 30 years helping clients, Gallacher believes retirement planning has traditionally focused on one question – "Will I have enough money?" – but says increasing longevity means we also need to think much more carefully about how we spend our time, protect our health and make the most of our healthiest years.

"We may spend more years in retirement than previous generations ever imagined, yet much of our thinking about retirement hasn't changed," he said.

"Helping people achieve financial independence will always remain at the heart of what we do, but I've increasingly found myself asking clients a different question – 'What are you actually retiring to?'"

"If someone retires in their early 60s and lives into their 90s, or even reaches 100, retirement could last 30 or 40 years. That's no longer a short final chapter of life; for many people it could represent a third of their adult life."

"The data suggests we're becoming better at adding years to life, but not always life to those years. That makes the decisions we take in our 50s and 60s about our finances, health and lifestyle more important than ever."

"Money provides choices, but it doesn't automatically provide purpose, fulfilment or happiness. Those are conversations we need to have alongside pensions and investments."

Gallacher says the idea grew from almost three decades of conversations with clients who were financially well prepared but often less prepared for what retirement itself would feel like.

He hopes 100Tomorrow.com will become an ongoing resource, with articles, research, interviews and practical ideas to help people make better decisions today so they have more choices tomorrow.

Gallacher would welcome views from psychologists, employers, retirement coaches, academics, longevity researchers and fellow financial planners on the following questions.

Questions for Discussion

  1. As people spend longer in retirement, are we giving enough attention to maintaining health, purpose and wellbeing alongside financial security?
  2. Has retirement planning become too focused on money, with too little emphasis on how people will actually spend their time and maintain purpose once they stop working?
  3. Should employers do more to prepare employees for the emotional and psychological transition into retirement, rather than focusing almost exclusively on auto-enrolment and pensions?
  4. If people are likely to spend 30 or 40 years in retirement, should we be making different decisions in our 50s and 60s about work, health, money and lifestyle?
  5. What does a successful retirement look like in an era of increasing longevity, and has that definition changed over the last generation?
  6. Are we still planning retirement for the 20th century, when today's retirees face very different opportunities and challenges?

Gallacher said he hopes the discussion will continue beyond the launch of the book through articles, interviews and conversations on 100Tomorrow.com, where he plans to explore these questions in greater depth.

5 responses from the Newspage community

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Nouran Moustafa
Practice Principal & IFA at Roxton Wealth
Retirement planning has been far too obsessed with the number and not enough with the life behind it. Of course the money matters, because without it choices become limited very quickly, but a pension pot on its own does not give someone purpose, health, confidence or identity.

The real question is no longer simply, “Can I afford to retire?” It is, “What am I retiring into, and can that life still work if I live 30 or 40 more years?”

That changes everything. It means planning in your 50s and 60s should not just be about pensions and investments, but about health, housing, work patterns, care costs, family expectations and how someone wants their later life to actually feel.

Employers also need to step up. We prepare people financially through auto-enrolment, but often leave them emotionally unprepared for one of the biggest transitions of their life. A successful retirement now has to be designed, not just funded.
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Antonia Medlicott
Founder & MD at Investing Insiders
We must not forget that financial security remains the foundation of a comfortable retirement, but lifestyle planning will have just as much influence on your quality of life as the size of your pension and savings.

Retirement guidance generally focuses on questions like ‘How much do I need?’ rather than ‘What kind of life do I want?’, but that needs to change as planning for how you'll spend your time deserves the same attention as planning how you'll fund it.

Particularly once you pass 50, it’s important to focus on your retirement as it can last three or four decades. People whose mindset thinks ahead about their future, be it volunteering, hobbies, or caring responsibilities, will find their purpose quicker.

Financially, it is still important to think about sustainable income and the possibility of future care costs, rather than simply reaching a target pension figure. Take steps to improve your health and pay off debt so that you can live a more fulfilled retirement.
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Harvey Dhillon
Founder & CEO at Zmartly
Scott is right that we plan for the money and forget the years. There is a harder version for the people I act for. Most business owners and sole traders have no workplace pension. The business is the plan. And a retirement that could last 40 years changes what that plan has to survive. Over two decades a clumsy withdrawal order costs you a little. Over four it compounds into a fortune: the order you draw pension, ISA, business and property in, and how you use a personal allowance frozen at £12,570 until 2031, decides how long the money lasts. The person I worry about is the 58-year-old who says they will sell up one day but has built something only they can run, and cannot. My steps are unglamorous: make the business saleable years before you need to, fund the pension while the profits are there, and plan the order you draw from, not just the total. A long retirement is not just more years to fund. It is more years for every tax decision to matter.
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Helen Llewellyn
Founder at Elemental Tribe
Life is for living, I see so many people forget that. Instead they chase the next goal. They forget who they are and lose sight of what enough is.

The other trend is to outsource decisions for your own wellbeing to social media or Doctors. We know ourselves best if we take a moment to tune in and slow down.

These trends need to reverse, the good news is that the change is a decision away and can be made at any age.
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Matthew Fleming-Duffy
Founder at Harbour Home Finance Ltd
I think Scott raises an incredibly important point. Retirement planning has traditionally focused on one question: "Will I have enough money?" Increasingly, I think we should also be asking: "What am I retiring to?" The Japanese concept of ikigai - having a reason to get up each morning - may have more to teach us than any pension projection. Research into so-called 'Blue Zones' suggests that purpose, staying active, maintaining strong social connections and continuing to contribute are all associated with living longer, healthier lives. Perhaps we also need to rethink retirement itself. Reaching retirement age doesn't have to mean stopping work. I know people in their 70s who continue working because they love it, not because they have to. My wife's grandmother is in her late 90s and still travels the world giving lectures. A successful retirement isn't simply about having enough money; it's about having enough purpose.