In thinking that I may never be allowed to retire.........

[whymumwhymum]

Have worked in public sector for nearly 20 years now and just saw in the news today that they are planning on keeping the pensions for my age group and under back until we are 66 ffs.

That was not what I signed up for when I decided to pay into the scheme!

Thats nearly another 30 years and tbh I don't think i'll survive in this job that long, and thats not taking into account that by the time I'm 50 or older they will probably have pushed the age back further.

I don't feel particularly ' lucky' to be a public sector worker, i worked and studied damn hard for years to get my now reasonably (not by any means highly) paid job. I will never ever get a bonus even if i do twice the 'reasonable' work, will also never get overtime payments. I'll never have a company car or private health care or any other perks.

Many's the night I've lain awake worrying about the people i get paid to look after .

The pension was the one thing that made it 'wothwhile' long term and i am losing faith that I will ever see it, in payments alone i calculat I will have paid in somehwre in the region of 100k over a working life of 45 years not accounting for inplation. Should have just saved the money or better still blown it on stuff I could actually enjoy before i'm six feet under!

[itisnearlysummer]

YANBU. Join the club.

[whymumwhymum]

Thanks.

can't see how I'm going to be one of these wonderfully health and vital older people!!

feel knackered out and half dead as it is.....

[expatinscotland]

Then you'll need to find something else to do until you can draw it or retrain.

I'm 40, I don't kid myself that there will ever be retirement for me. Only working until I'm physically not able to do anything at all and then dying.

Until our parents and grandparents' generation, that's what used to happen.

What we saw as 'retirement' was an anomaly that we made the mistake of coming to expect.

[LineRunner]

I was told that SERPS was my 'second pension'. What a joke. I'll have absolutely nothing.

[LineRunner]

[itisnearlysummer]

I know. My mum tells me that every generation thinks they have had it worse than the last but...

So I'm wondering. Teacher? Nurse?

[lagrandissima]

I know - it's ridiculous isn't it? But I think the very wealthy classes in this country expect the workers to slog until they die.

I cannot imagine teaching classes of boisterous teens until I am knocking 70, and I don't think they'd want a dinosaur teaching them either.

My kids' grandparents struggle to have them for more than a day without being exhausted, so how are we supposed to cope with a full time job at that age? I suspect many more people will enjoy shorter retirements because they'll die earlier simply through the added stress. But then, that'll save the establishment some more money.

As someone who's taken a career break and then gone back PT, am seriously concerned about how I'll survive the "third age". Feels like a pay cut to me.

I don't see the politicians retiring at 66+ on £10K.

[whymumwhymum]

Expat I expect to be able to withdraw the promised benefits from the scheme which I signed up for and have paid into!

I have already paid in way way more than most of my contempories amny of whom made a decision not to save for retiurement at all and let the state pick up the pieces.

Part of me hopes we all stop paying in en masse and see how clever the government feels then!!

[itisnearlysummer]

My parents generation (both 60) will be the only generation to experience the lifestyle and benefits of retirement that they do. Unless they gift money to their offspring, or support them financially currently (as some of my friends parents do).

The generation before them didn't, the generation after them won't, and subsequent generations won't either.

[mdowdall]

Greedy bastard baby boomers. And the old fuckers still do nothing but moan.

[thenightsky]

Live Fast, Die Young... wish I'd just done that.

[mdowdall]

Before we all feel too sorry for those downtrodden Public Sector workers, here are some interesting facts..
Unions claim that the average Public Sector pension is just £4200.
What the unions don't tell you is that this figure excludes the highest earners.. but includes people who have worked for in a Public position for just a few months.
Private sector employees would need to build up a pension pot of £189,151 - equivalent to £6,300 each year for 30 years, to receive the average annual pension paid to civil servants.
Private sector workers would need to contribute 37% of their salary to their pension pot of their working lifetime to match the retirement income paid to a public sector on an equivalent wage.
And they're striking because they have to make 3% greater contributions.. diddums.

[trixymalixy]

I would kill for a career average pension scheme. The rest of us living in the real world are likely to have nothing like the pensions of public sector workers.

The country simply cannot afford it.

[Cyclops99]

All I'm going to say is that my dad is nearly 75, has cancer, and numerous other health problems, and is still working three days a week. And he wants to.......

[fivegomadindorset]

all I want is a job, let alone a job with a pension.

[whymumwhymum]

3% greater contributions when you are in the midst of a pay freeze, possibly also reduced hours/redeployment / facing redundancy and again no other perks or benefits can make or break whether you stay with system or not.

Where are all these wonderfully paid public sector workers, because most i know work incredibly hard for mediocre wages.

And people are mising the point, the pension is one of the reasons some ppeople joined the public as oppose to private sector so in effect got paid less for the equivalent work in private sector, so its not a fair comparison to only look at the % of pay put into pensions is it, ther are so many other factors to consider!

[itisnearlysummer]

But...

My DH has a public sector job and earns £33k.

The equivalent job in the private sector is £45k+.

He chooses to stay in the public sector for various reasons and is satisfied to be earning less because he knows he doesn't have to put into a private pension because he has his local government pension.

No bonuses.

[itisnearlysummer]

and so supports whymum's point

[expatinscotland]

Exactly, itsnearlysummer. Retirement was never meant to mean 20-30-odd years of not working.

[trixymalixy]

Has it ever occurred to you that they are trying to get rid if people without paying redundancy. I think they hope people will leave and go and get jobs in the private sector if they can.

My DHs company is trying to do something similar.

[expatinscotland]

That might be, trixy.

Now people know the score, maybe more will leave public sector.

[TheCrackFox]

I am 38 and TBh I will be stunned if there is any money left at all for pensions for my age group. I think we will all have to work until we drop.

[expatinscotland]

So do I, TheCrackFox.