Life expectancy

There was a really interesting report released today by some academics from Bristol and Sheffield universities (no, it really was those two, not just wishful thinking on my part) on the issue of life expectancy. In essence, it claims that the gap between the rich and the poor with regards life expectancy is now wider than at any time since the early 1930's.

I'm lucky enough to be quite involved in this subject myself at present, as one H&K client studies this field exclusively, reporting the findings back to their clients in order that they can save money on their pension schemes.

OK, boring stuff over, what am I getting at here? The answer is that having worked with the client for eight months now, I've begun to realise how much of an issue life expectancy and its links to wealth and other factors really is.

The statistics really don't lie on this one - for around three quarters of the population, there is a direct link between how much you earn and how long you're going to live. That's a pretty sobering thought really - life choices at 16, 17, 18 years of age can seal your fate on how long you're going to get to enjoy retirement way before you've even remotely thought about it.

There seems to be an increasing feeling within the UK that the wealth gap between the rich and the rest is starting to reach a critical point - not only are the media focusing on this more and more (with the Evening Standard leading the way with its excellent Deprivation series), but even some business leaders have begun to question the current state of play.

Financial rewards for success are one thing, but are extreme financial rewards a positive or negative influence on society as a whole? Perhaps it's somewhat difficult to be objective on this point, but I was asked a very interesting question at a meeting with a financial adviser yesterday which really brought home the current escalating problem to me.

The adviser asked me two things - firstly, what I hoped to achieve in salary terms over the course of my working life, and second what I would consider an acceptable income in retirement. On reflection afterwards, my answer to the first question was disturbingly above what I now believe it should have been and certainly way more than would be necessary.

The more I've thought about my answer today, the more it's unnerved me. The only conclusion I've been able to really draw is that living in the city I do, surrounded by the media and its constant reporting of wealth, and experiencing that wealth at close quarters every day has inflated my own personal view of what is 'adequate'.

And I'm really disturbed by that.

Le Tour

The Tour de France is about halfway through at the moment. It's one of the longest, most gruelling sporting tests on earth, lasting three weeks, thousands of miles and mountain climbs the likes of which just don't exist in the UK.

I've always enjoyed watching it each year, though have to admit I do wish they'd bring the old music back which is infinitely better than the newer theme tune since ITV took over. Not as many people watch it in the UK as perhaps it deserves, though having said that the success of Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins is changing that.

For most people, the serious racing only really got going on Sunday and Monday of this week when the riders hit the alps. Despite their best efforts, the cameras really can't explain just how steep and difficult the roads in the alps are - it's genuinely staggering to watch the world's best climbing out of the saddle and accelerating away up a 10% gradient having already been in the saddle for five hours and climbed several mountains that day already.

What's made this year so compelling has been the fact that two riders have been able to do this again and again - for that reason if nothing else, watching stage 9 from Tuesday really, truly is worth it.

Of course, not everyone can accelerate like this, even when it comes to many of the best in the world. Probably the most famous example of this involved Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich a few years back on the slopes of the most famours alpine climb of them all - Alpe D'Huez.

Say what you like about the former (and I've never particularly warmed to him), but the ability, confidence and mental strength to hold that look and then completely blow his rivals away is one of the great sporting moments of the past decade.