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FOOL'S EYE VIEW
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About ten years ago I had a part-time job with a tiny metalwork company that largely consisted of male employees. In fact, I was the only female amongst its 15-20 members of staff. (I did their wages and they did the metalwork). One year, the Christmas party consisted of a quad bike competition against another small company followed by a bit of a booze-up afterwards. So I signed up for it. As you do. Naturally, the boys I worked with were looking forward to (fondly) taking the mickey out of my efforts on a quad bike and, admittedly, my first cautious lap around the track was akin to that of an elderly lady on a Mobility Scooter so everyone was able to cheer and jeer to their hearts' content. I felt vindicated when a chap from the opposing team came off his quad bike on the first corner because he was going too fast and hurt himself and, so, had to remove himself from the rest of the competition. Like me, he'd never been on a quad bike before. (They're more unwieldy than you think first time round). I went a bit faster around the track in the second leg of the competition and, I seem to remember, finished in third place out of six. Not bad. The third and last time around the track I got overconfident and took the last corner too fast and toppled over taking the quad bike with me. The machine landed heavily on my hips (which really hurt), a tyre ran over my ankle (which really hurt), and the handlebars just missed my face (Hey, I'm a girl – and going through life with smashed-in features has never been my ultimate ambition!) The reason I'm recounting this tale from my long-distant past is because it sprang to mind when the European Commission announced last week that men and women should be treated equally by the insurance industry. It's a decision that has infuriated insurers who claim that gender clearly plays a part in calculating risk. For example, research has generally shown that women tend to be more cautious behind the wheel than men, especially when young - so their car insurance premiums are cheaper because they're less likely to have an accident. If the industry is not allowed to take this into account when calculating risk, then women will have to pay more for their car insurance even though men are slightly more reckless on the roads. But what about the ramifications for retirement? On average, women tend to live longer than men so they've usually received smaller annuities because the same pension pot has to last longer. But the Commission claims that gender plays only a minor part in the life expectancy of men and women. In a statement issued last week, it said: "There are a number of factors not linked to sex that are equally important in establishing life expectancy, such as socio-economic or marital status, the region a person lives in or levels of smoking. When these factors are removed from the equation, differences in life expectancy on purely gender grounds are much less than stated." As it happens the life expectancy gap between men and women is diminishing. In the Nineties calculations were based roughly on a seven-year age gap but according to the Association of British Insurers, men are catching up with women who are now living just three years longer. However, it will still mean that male annuity rates will fall in order to subsidise women. If the plans are approved by the EU, insurance companies throughout Europe will have six years to implement the changes. So, if you're a woman coming up for retirement, it looks as if it might be worth holding out for a few more years before buying your annuity. And if you ever get on a quad bike, don't show off.