AIBU to think that I shouldn't have bothered working and paying into National Insurance for the 35 years I have done so?

Yes they can, should be like it used to be in my Grandparents generation - you don't work then you don't eat, your family doesnt eat. Such a blame culture now. I'm totally with OP!

I've spent 35 years dragging my ass out of bed . I've bought he full state pension. Now I've bought it I've still gotta carry on paying for it for years to come for no extra money.

Some people will get the same thing given to them for free.

My private pension is irrelevant to this.

Well tbh just because you have children doesn't mean you can access anything.

I lost my job while pregnant and my partner left me (no CM). I've been actively job searching for 7 months.

The only thing I can claim was JSA for 6 months and child benefit which is £103 per month. I have a mortgage, bills and bringing up a baby on my own to fund which comes to at least £2000 a month (live in the South).

Issue is I had been saving up to move to a more suitable house for when my child was born (house is totally unsuitable for young child) so I had a lot of savings. If I didn't have these I'd apparently have been able to claim over £2k a month!! Made me feel really pissed off I bothered saving so hard. I'm now using up those hard earned savings and stuck in an unsuitable house.

It seems unfair that if you can't claim UC you're excluded from so many other things. It seems if you're on UC you get lots of extra help thrown in for free and if you have any savings you're excluded from everything. It's so black and white. Also it feels unfair to be excluded from everything when you paid in so long as the OP said. I've been working since 15 and have never been out of work previously - now in my late 30s.

Problem solved. I am Steven Hawking's love child.

I clearly said, save for pension. I believe in a balance, what I’m saying is enjoy the moment now and still save for pension. But, so many people go years without enjoying and living life in the moment then dying before even getting to enjoy retirement.

I also said don’t get into debt, live within your means as everyone’s budget is different. I’m not spending 40+ years of my life thinking of retirement, I want to live the next 40 years and not wish them away either. I may not even reach retirement age.

Can’t you make your point in a coherent manner without writing essays?

Should we live for the moment & not worry about being poor when elderly?
Or do you mean we should be grateful if we reach old age and not complain if we are poor.
Then again being poor makes it more likely you wont reach old age- so that kind of solves itself🤷🏻‍♀

This is one of the reasons I don't understand why people bang on about pension (of course, save) but majority won't live to enjoy it. Growing old is a privilege to be grateful, not a right. Enjoy life in the moment without going into debt. No one knows how long they will live. I'm quite young, I'm not even sure I will reach pension age as my grandparents died quite young and had cancer. I'm just thankful I am healthy and can work, alongside save into pension.

How is it a troll to point out a successful Scientist that's disabled? He was a great model. Straight to name calling, very mature!

YANBU op but don’t expect any sympathy from liberal lefty Mumsnet because there won’t be any.

part of the problem is a lot of benefits are paid to people in work. We need to pay people more, so taxpayers aren’t subsidising employers. You should be able to work full time and not worry about being worse off than if you were working 16 hours
@Wordysmith, I agree with this. The boundaries between paid work & benefits have been blurred and receiving benefits has become the norm.
Too many 'perverse incentives'!

It's a tricky one!
We can't (if we claim to be a civilised society) let people fall into destitution/abject poverty. And so we need to have safety nets. But those safety nets also reduce some of the incentive for people to take responsibility for themselves.
Also, as said by others, most people are well aware of how easy it is to cheat/play the system. When the proportion of society who are known to be 'cheating' rises above a certain level there can be an inflexion point where playing by the rules is no longer the rational option.

You have life, opportunity and health. My Dad died at 58. He worked as a teacher and a lecturer in the evenings for the Open University. He paid in all his life, but didn't even get to pensionable age.

Count your blessings.

Stephen Hawking was disabled, but amazing at Science. So, your point doesn't stand.

I agree there should be some consequences to not working. But part of the problem is a lot of benefits are paid to people in work. We need to pay people more, so taxpayers aren’t subsidising employers. You should be able to work full time and not worry about being worse off than if you were working 16 hours.
A related issue is the high rents which is costing us so much in housing benefits.

There does need to be some personal responsibility though. I mean a childhood friend I knew had a kid from one guy who ended up being a deadbeat (that immediately signed on disability after she left and has been on it since then) so she got no child support. But then she went ahead and had two more kids with a new partner while both her and her partner were on benefits. Her new partner had 5 other kids from 3 previous partners that he wasn’t paying for either 😵‍💫

Too many people are either thoughtless or entitled. In situations like that people are effectively saying “hey we're going to have (more) kids and we’ve decided the taxpayer will pay for all of it!”

That said I don’t know if it’s going to make my life better or not, if benefits are cut for others, but it would certainly enhance my life is my wages were increased.

I'm no economist but I’d really welcome ideas on why wages are so low in the UK and what can be done?

I actually think the winter allowance shouldn't be for all pensioners. It should be means tested.

1.We were at 2 dinner parties when 2 couples were gloating that they had two extra holidays over seas. Paid for by cost of living help and winter allowances. They retired in their early 50s from banking and another non contributing pension. They also had other pensions from their consultancy work where they paid in 60% and the government topped it up by 40%.
It should be means tested.

2.Also, we live in Hampshire and rarely get particularly cold.
Maybe the further North you live the more likely you should get winter fuel allowance as you actually need it.

3.On care cost. We had to sell our mums homes for their care.
We were grateful that they were well cared for rather than expecting an inheritance. They worked for that money and home and should be used to help them.

Many older people are cut back on necessities. As they feel or persuaded that they need to pass on their home or other assets to family.

1. No one knows whats round the corner and may need help from the state. Illnesses, unemployment,giving up work to care for loved ones.

1. Many people , like our Dads never made it to retirement age.

As for not popping a kid out, Claire Short (a politician that has earned my great respect) got her kid adopted so she could carry on unemcumbered in a male-dominated world.

So, so easy to come out with daft, critical comments about how others live - until the day dawns when the unexpected happens to you. Because, chances are it will no matter how smug anyone feels....now.

That is life, it deals most a 'curve ball' or two, so no one should be too smug as it might put people off helping you when the shit hits the fan.

Absolutely this

I don't think you have a clue.

The tax reforms the UK is making will kill economic growth.

Work has to pay more than not working. Working is not a choice.

If the benefits system is so generous compared to working that people stop work or never even start then the country has a big problem.

Benefits should not be generous. They need to incentivise work. People on benefits need to be worse off than people that work. There has to be a reason to work.

There has to be negative consequences from not working

as a single woman with no kids I was entitled to nothing …maybe I should have just popped a few out and then I wouldn’t have to have worried about working and paying tax and NI, my council tax and rent etc

This in spades

I remember being on multiple zero hour contracts calling them every day and getting. No hours and then trying to sign on benefits for a few months until I went back to retrain at uni. For reasons I’ll never understand I wasn’t eligible for JSA. I was absolutely fuming especially as I knew multiple people my age (late twenties) who had various kids from age 18 and had never worked a day since, and here I was struggling to pay for the room in my grotty flatshare after a couple of months out of full time work since I was denied JSA. Thankfully I still got housing benefit it so I was to scrape through for a couple more months before admitting defeat and moving in with an older sibling in another city . But for single people who don’t that have option, if they don’t have kids, they’re screwed

As for downsizing - most bungalows are at 'premium' price here in the SW - I still aim to downsize or be mortgage-free by the time I retire (just 5 years to go) but I think realstically I'm looking at a 'plot' with PP and I've got 2+years in a caravan/static to start with the building a building part of the process.

As, when I reach my retirement on only the full state pension at 67, I want to spend my time gardening and not shuffling around in a flat; so far with 5 years to go, I still seem physically and mentally capable to consider such things.

Although I'm very poor financially.