Recently newspapers reported the findings of the Pensions Policy Institute that the age at which people are eligible for a pension be raised over seventy, in order to enable the government to maintain the amount spent on pensions at the level they were in 1990. This is worrying, since it might indicate that many people must forget the thought of ever retiring and might have to work till they drop. But we should not forget another aspect to this: what kind of work is going to be available to the over 50s? There exists a significant amount of discrimination against older people in the employment market, and many people over 50 may not be able to either get a job or qualify for a pension. The solution for many may possibly lie in the area of Internet business, in which it is possible to work from home in a variety of online jobs.

Companies usually tend to prefer younger employees, yet they simultaneously demand lots of relevant work experience. One person visiting an employment agency was informed they were ‘over the hill’ at 35. Discrimination on the basis of age is officially illegal, but it is not easy to get evidence for when it is taking place.

On the other hand, life expectancy is a lot longer today than a few years ago. Granted that everyone says it is a good thing to lengthen life expectancy for as long as we can, nobody has fully considered the corollary in terms of a significantly greater pensions bill. An additional concern is that birth rates are low, so that in the future, fewer people will be working and paying the pensions of a much larger number of retired people.

In fact, National Insurance doesn’t go into a fund for the payer’s old age, it is used to pay directly for those claiming pensions at the moment. It is nothing more than an ‘IOU’ note for people who are still working, and it is possible that when further generations want to stop working, the government won’t have enough money to provide these people with their pensions.

The charity Age UK has reported that the number of older unemployed who have remained unemployed for over 12 months, has risen by over half over the past 12 months, due to the disproportionate effect of the downturn on older generations. Three-quarters of of the 50+ unemployed are men, which tells us that women over 50 may be more successful in getting temporary or part-time work. The problem is likely to be made more serious by the transfer of hundreds of thousands of older people now classified as available for work since they are no longer eligible for incapacity benefit, as part of the government’s drive to cut spending.

But what solution would online jobs in Internet business offer for this crisis? First, it is undoubtedly a field in which ‘silver surfers’ can offer as much as more youthful workers, and their knowledge from their previous careers might also be beneficial. Secondly, such jobs allow people to work from home, so people who have health or disability issues could nevertheless take up in such positions.

Age discrimination might in part be caused by personal perception. If you see a job candidate and decide they are too old, then that individual is not likely to be offered a job. In Internet business you can’t see the person you are dealing with, their age is not so much of a factor, so you don’t form such a quick judgement on the basis of that information.

With policies to raise pension ages and the jobs shortage, the issue of jobs for the older generation is not going to resolve itself automatically. Opportunities to work from home in the online jobs created by Internet business might not provide all the answers, but they are a major alternative for a lot of people over 50.

There was an interesting piece on the BBC news the other day when Luca di Montezemolo, the chairman of Ferrari and apparently the 3rd most famous man in Italy after the Pope and Silvio Berlusconi, dropped by and was interviewed saying that he didn’t expect a period of austerity in Europe affecting sales of the company’s road cars or peril to the marque.

And naturally he is correct, since nothing could ever have that outcome on Ferrari and companies like them, short of banning cars altogether or all the money in the world disappearing.

Most children, boys especially, who grow up never being able to expect one for Christmas or their 18th birthday, will have had the name of Ferrari on their hearts from near enough the moment they became conscious of cars. It will be further embedded when the knowledge comes that it is possible for one to possess one (or more) as long as they have enough money and that is paired with a spirit of aspiration.

During the Nineties it seemed all you needed to do was state that you had founded an Internet Business, money showered in as investors fell over themselves to get in, praying they were backing the next Ebay. At times like these in any field of endeavour when financial success is achieved, a visit to the showrooms stocking brands with mythical names such as Ferrari, Zonda, Tiffany, Versace, Gulfstream and the like shortly follows. Lottery winners, competition winners and anyone who has made their fortune soon beat a path to the shops with bulging wallets.

Those who, for example Work From Home doing Online Jobs may very often aspire to earn enough money to do the same. Perhaps by putting aside the cash they save by not travelling to work anymore into an interest bearing account could be one idea.

Of course the car doesn’t need to be new. Everyone familiar with the make will have their personal favourite Ferrari model. Mine is the 328 GTS for example which was mainly famous in “Magnum PI” when it was driven around Hawaii by Tom Selleck. For me, only the later 355 comes anywhere near for sheer prettiness and naturally the performance would be hopeless by modern standards. Old models of course are much cheaper to buy than a brand new model although of course still a big purchase option. What has also be remembered is that these sorts of cars are not in reality, as cars, the best. Far from it. They tend to be delicate, unreliable and when they do go wrong, unless the owner is either well off or very good with mechanical matters, expensive.

In order to nurture an aspiration and to keep it on target, it is necessary to do more than just keep it in mind. Visible aides-memoir such as wallpapers, stickers, toys or models are useful and for those who Work From Home have the advantage naturally that they can have them around the office or on the desk and computer.

The beginning of the affair happens when young, perhaps the first experience of seeing a car go past looking exotic and futuristic, fast, sleek and making the most fabulous noise of barely controlled, snarling fury.

Brands like Ferrari, Zonda for cars, Versace in fashion, Cristal champagne, Tiffany for jewellery and all these famous names will almost certainly never go away because they serve a vital purpose. They encourage aspiration, feed desire and enterprise – no, not always for good – but they stand before everybody and say ‘here we are, you can have us but you’ve got to come and get us’.

But, to own a Ferrari on a day like this, well if one had an Internet Business and did Online Jobs and could sort out an hour while the roads are quiet….