Immortal words from Lance Corporal Jones of Dad’s Army are a surprise in something as serious as the LaterLifeSymposium09 hosted by www.partnership.co.uk  which addressed the structural and financial challenges facing us with our living on and on and on.

With the benefit of 100% hindsight, many have wondered how effective the Home Guard would have been in stopping the Germans if they had invaded the UK when they had the chance. Estimates for the likely delay that might have been achieved vary from days to 10 minutes. But our current age structure - largely the result of the maturity of that post war or baby boomer generation, is worrying. While interest is rising in this issue, we are still in the “Bore War” phase. This was the label given to the first few months of WW2 after UK declared war on Germany when nothing much happened. At the time, there were many who knew people from the earlier Boer War in South Africa, but few get the pun now.

A few figures from the first two speakers, Colette Dunn of Watson Wyatt and Steve Groves of Partnership:

* by 2031 the number of people over 65 will exceed those under 16. This has never happened before.

* by 2020, the working population will not be able to afford the cost of supporting the retired/non-working population

* the so-called Dependency Ratio will change from 12 working people in 1950  for each retired person to 4 people by 2050

* the over 85 population group has the highest rate of increase of any age sector

* average life expectancy increased by about 1 year in the 23 years to 1978. But in the 30 years since then has increased by about 10 years – presumably reflecting the benefits of better health care via the NHS which started in 1948.

*  by 2031 80 per cent of the wealth in the UK will be owned by the over 60s and they don’t seem to want to spend it…Most relevant to this group is HOW they decumulate assets or use them up. Accumulating further assets using Asset Allocation, the Holy Grail of investment planning these days is irrelevant. If you hear a dull thud at this point, it is your financial adviser falling off his chair.

* interest rates seem likely to remain low for a year – maybe two. Use this opportunity to reduce debt.

Final Guest speaker is Robert Peston BBC Business Editor  http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/ who will be remembered for breaking the story of Northern Rock couple of years ago. Again with hindsight, we had a golden age of living standards from 1992 – 2007 when there was not a single quarter of negative growth. But as the economist Keynes put it, our Animal Spirit will mess it up eventually. The global banking standards which had the unforgettable names of  Basle I and Basle II were fundamentally flawed and allowed for example, £380 million of capital to bear the risk of £133 billion of debts. If these assets dropped by one third of a per cent, the capital cover was effectively wiped out.

Recent proposals to separate proper banking from the exotic stuff  are either sensible or do not go far enough – depending on who you talk to. The super bonuses resulting from gambling with everyone else’s money have produced no social benefit at all and have been ultimately pointless. Will bankers reform themselves? Not very likely as Corporal Jones said…see heading. 

Wall Street has always struck me as the Hollywood of the East Coast where you have young handsome investment bankers some of whom are very smart but then with their resources they have, can buy or hire the brains without having to work up a sweat themselves. Not so long ago we all admired these people!! and is Wall Street a good film or not? We may not see them for a while but like The Terminator, “I”ll be back.” Talking of which, Arnie is now trying to sort out the State of California’s financial mess, or let me be polite…deficit.

Expect some political concensus on raising the State Pension Age. Last week, it was confirmed that the Netherlands will increase their State Pension Age to 67 in 2020 after originally wanting to increase it in 2011.

Since we are talking of banks and big numbers, it seems very apt to have finished the week with a tour of the Museum   http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/museum/ and a few normally closed parts of the Bank of England. With 1,700 staff and ten floors – 3 below ground and 7 above, this is another Hidden Gem like my previous blog   http://www.georgeemsden.co.uk/2009/06/hidden-gems/

Known as The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street since a famous cartoon Political Ravishment by James Gillray http://www.londonrevolution.net/blog/london-virtual-tours/the-birth-of-the-old-lady-of-threadneedle-street.html  the Bank was founded in 1694. The £1.2 million original capital was raised in days to enable our King William III to finance his war against the French. It was owned privately until 1946 when it was nationalised. Before then, Dividend Day was a day out as you had to go to the Bank in person to collect your dividends.

If you enjoy being envious, there is a 20 kg bar of gold in the museum worth at time of writing about £255,000. Bank Note printing was outsourced years ago and a new £50 note is due soon – some shopkeepers will not accept the current ones as they are the obvious ones to try and forge, and the battle to stay ahead of forgers is never ending.

Admission is free and visits are popular with schools whose names are announced on the Welcome Board you see  as you enter. Security is similar to airports so allow time for this if you come as a group. Most curious? the beautiful mosaic floors done over a 10 year period by a Russian artist and the river Walbrook which has been piped and diverted down Princes Street, so its flow doesn’t wash away the foundations.

Finally, the Bank has its own ghost of which there appears to be more than one version so if you like this morbid stuff, go to Google…The man with two shadows???