Defying crippling strikes and mounting political costs, French President Nicolas Sarkozy will this month sign a law raising the retirement age from 60 to 62.
Protests in Paris may be as Gallic as absinthe and Gauloises, but the mass actions over the retirement-age amendment show that even in the birthplace of libert? egalit?and fraternit? social security is a work in progress.
In Hong Kong, there is talk of optional retirement, allowing people to work beyond the customary 60 years. If Hong Kong proceeds with this idea, it will join Japan, Singapore, the United States and the European Union, which all have optional retirement. Even Shanghai has given workers and employers the option to postpone the retirement age by about five years.
But beyond flexible retirement and greying part-timers, the core issue is how much one gets in retirement. In short, it's all about the size of your nest eggs.
Hong Kong's Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Scheme, envisioned as a universal pension system, was introduced in 2000 but has been hobbled by low contribution rates.
Right now, with the gravity-defying performance of the Hang Seng Index, it seems ill-timed to be worrying about pensions.