Forget the dream of retiring early if you are 40

[19 June 2007 - Telegraph - UK] People aged 40 or younger will have to get used to the idea that "early retirement" will mean giving up work in their 60s not their 50s, John Hutton, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said yesterday. He disclosed that the Government was considering encouraging people to work past the normal retirement age by requiring them to apply for the state pension, rather than receive it automatically. Ministers no longer want 65, or the present 60 for women, to be seen as a "focal point for retirement." More