Who is going to pay for your state pension/ care in old age?

That's if the government don't push the state pension age up again.

We don't need immigration. We need to get our own young people working. We have nearly a million NEETS and thousands of over 50s unemployed, not through choice. We also have rising unemployment

There are 3.5m economically inactive over 50s but many due to ill health.

i haven’t read the whole thread but what worries me is all of us having to stay in work until age 70. Where will these jobs come from, in the age of AI? And if we don’t move on, where will young people work?

I work in the city and i can’t think of a single person I’ve worked with who was over 60 apart from some CEOs and board chairs etc. I’m late 40s, high earner, and I can’t see myself doing my job past the next 5 years. The only option for me is to move onto something even more senior and better paid and max out pensions and try to earn as much as possible before I’m on my way down.

But who will they call if they need an ambulance?

Big pharma needs to be forced to contribute to paying towards the longevity with chronic issues paradigm they've created.

I don’t pay into a private pension and I’m unlikely to get an state pension - that’s why I will work for as long as I can and then check out - so those of you who think we should encourage a higher birth rate should be happy with that

Mines the same!

Definitely. I think that there should be some kind of subsidy/partial repayment/tax relief for people who save the NHS money by paying for private health treatments.

Thank you 😊

Nail on the head.

"We need to encourage people to make provision for their own retirement. Everybody should have a base level state pension and then people can top that up with private pension."

Many millions do just that and I'd hazard a guess many don't expect to even get a state pension and are paying into private and relying on that instead. So why should we pay into a base level state pension when the guardrails are constantly moving and the government would like you to work until you drop dead and don't claim it?

And private health care?

I will also never, ever be able to afford to have children. Frankly, the social contract has been broken. Why should I work for decades to pay for others' pensions when it will never be "my turn"?

"Most" people aren't at all. I know very few people who are in full good health in their 70s. Both my father and DH's father didn't even make it to 70, my father never even retired when he died in his 60s. My DH got incurable cancer in his 50s (not lifestyle related). My mother in law suffered dementia from her late 60s. My brother has all kinds of health complications and he's only early 60s. There's only my mother who lived in to her 80s relatively healthily out of my immediate family.

Among my client base (fairly small number, around 50 or so), several have died from breast cancer in their 50s, a handful of others are battling cancer, a couple of had serious blood clots, a couple have had heart attacks, one had an aneurysm - again, all in their 50s and 60s.

The most common topic of conversation amongst my clients, friends, family, etc., amongst us 60+ year olds is GP and hospital appointments, mostly for pretty serious illnesses/diseases!

Really?! That sounds like something that should be considered now? I arrived in the UK in 1998 and have paid NI since. I don't expect I'll get a state pension and would rather take whatever % there is to my private pension.

I was born in the 90s so am expecting to have to work until I drop dead - I suspect my parents will be the last cohort to receive a state pension and retire at a sensible age.

Like PP, I don't expect to have a state pension or factor it into my pension plan at all. I'd be happy to reduce and/or opt out of NI payments to state pension entirely and fund it myself through private pension.

We don't need immigration. We need to get our own young people working. We have nearly a million NEETS and thousands of over 50s unemployed, not through choice. We also have rising unemployment.

I would however be in favour of family friendly tax policies.

If my state pension is removed I want my NI contributions removed.

We need to encourage people to make provision for their own retirement. Everybody should have a base level state pension and then people can top that up with private pension.

NIC isn't only for state pension, it's for other benefits too, plus some towards the NHS.

There was a time in the 80s and 90s when you could "contract out", pay 2% less NIC, but that 2% paid into your private pension instead. But, as with most things cocked up by subsequent governments, the scheme was scrapped.

Unfortunately, the tax/benefits system encourages the opposite.

YANBU and virtually every western government is essentially bankrupt.

Don't think about that too hard; it is too scary.

I think it is Norway who is the only one who isn't!

My mum is 97, my granny's both sides one died at 91 the other was 88. My mum worked as a nurse until she was 70 years of age. Not in a hospital but in nursing.home, when staffing was good. She couldn't do it now. I also could not work as a nurse until im 70 its so challenging now mentally and physically. Im exhausted now and im 60. There are certain professions which should have an adjusted retirement age imo. As disagreeable as that may be to some. What the answer is I dont know. I live alone , havent got a second income coming into my home or the tax benefits that married couples get. Im struggling now, dont know how im going to get to retirement age.

I haven’t ever paid into a workplace pension, to be fair. I was advised that, by the time it was compulsory enrollment, it wasn’t worth it

What is low, though? I seem to recall at my last job the usual employer contributions was six percent of your monthly salary, the same as the employee’s contribution, and this would give you a final pension of two thirds of your final salary on retirement, after something like 35 years service.
And as I said if you change jobs your pension contributions could be ported into your new employer’s scheme.