Daily Maverick 168 In 1889, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck introduced the concept of mandatory retirement at the age of 65. It was a novel idea that solved the growing youth unemployment problem, so the idea caught on in Germany and across the Western world. At that time, the state paid you to retire, but since people only lived to 67 the cost-benefit was positive. Since then, things have changed. For one, most people fund their own retirement through savings. And for another, they are living, on average another 20 years or more, entirely on these savings. The burden on savers and social welfare systems is becoming unsustainable.