To think we can't afford the triple lock

The SG system is good

I think it should be mandatory for people to pay into a work’s pension and no opting out. I started paying into my Civil Service pension at 18 and now have 24 years of a defined benefit pension (currently at SEO level)

People can’t expect the government to pick up the pieces when they don’t bother to save for their retirement. I’m looking at the state pension being a nice top up to my DB pension rather than my only income.

Disclaimer- I’m fully aware that I’m living in cloud cuckoo land and it would be impossible to stop people from leaving the schemes. Maybe what would be better is having proper pension education in school so young people realise the importance of preparing for your old age.

To add to that, no we can’t afford the triple lock. We’re getting to the point where there aren’t enough workers to support the elderly and the work shy. There needs to be a bigger drive to get people back to work. If Paul Alexander could work as an attorney whilst being confined to an iron lung, there’s a job for most people.

Social housing was also easily accessible in the 70s and 80s. It was commonplace for young people to "fall out" with their parents during Summer holidays between school/college/Uni and be given a freebie council flat (along with unemployment benefits!) and then suddenly find themselves reconciled with their parents when it came to September, they were back in education, and no longer eligible for benefits/freebie council flat!

My first boyfriend did exactly that and we "enjoyed" his freebie council flat for the Summer, before he went back into full time education! It was a very common piss take at the time!

Not just those in education either, we had a couple of "single mother" friends who orchestrated arguments with their parents claiming they could no longer live in their family home, so were given council housing, then, years later, they'd "reconcile" and move back into the family home when the child-related benefits started to dry up as the kids got older. In the meantime, they'd spend loads of time at the parents' home, parents would baby sit, etc - i.e. no sign of the so-called arguments, etc. Again, all made up as they knew how to play the system.

Likewise the ones who claim to be single, despite having multiple children by the same bloke over many years, just to get the council house/flat and "single" benefits. Where the bloke claimed to live elsewhere, usually with parents, as they knew they'd lose benefits if they were seen to live together. That's still common today, but it was also common decades ago.

It was the 70s and 80s that started the current "benefits culture". I just don't understand why so many people, especially the older posters, seem to think it's a recent thing - it's not. If anything, benefits seem harder to claim these days as a lot of the "loopholes" are now so well known that the authorities are clamping down and rules have been changed over time (such as stopping the "Summer" benefit claims for youngsters during their Summer holidays!!).

I have two degrees, multilingual, and am highly skilled in a trained job, but it has become low wage over the years, now just above minimum wage. The equivalent salary value has halved in that time.

I think it should be mandatory for people to pay into a work’s pension and no opting out. I started paying into my Civil Service pension at 18 and now have 24 years of a defined benefit pension (currently at SEO level)

People can’t expect the government to pick up the pieces when they don’t bother to save for their retirement. I’m looking at the state pension being a nice top up to my DB pension rather than my only income.

Disclaimer- I’m fully aware that I’m living in cloud cuckoo land and it would be impossible to stop people from leaving the schemes. Maybe what would be better is having proper pension education in school so young people realise the importance of preparing for your old age.

To add to that, no we can’t afford the triple lock. We’re getting to the point where there aren’t enough workers to support the elderly and the work shy. There needs to be a bigger drive to get people back to work. If Paul Alexander could work as an attorney whilst being confined to an iron lung, there’s a job for most people.

...slightly lower but they also get extras that effectively make it higher.

Ain't right is it.

I don't see any evidence of softness. In the 80s, Thatcher era, benefits were easy to access and, while they didn't permit luxury, were adequate. Now you get people having to wait weeks to get a pittance and relying on foodbanks. Years of first the coalition followed by the worst kind of Conservatives savaged the benefits system so badly that it isn't an easy matter to fix it.

It's got nothing to do with the state pension.

Late sector in my post was supposed to be private sector.

No we cannot afford the triple lock indefinitely, irrespective of net zero or asylum. The compounded increasing snowball simply gets too big after 5/10/20 years. Sacking off net zero and banning any immigration that doesn't bring an immediate net contribution to the economy would be a good start and might buy the triple lock a few years, but the fundamental escalator will need to end, its just a debate of when.

I dont get the state pension.

There are jobs for anyone who wants to work. Might not be their dream job but there are jobs. Absolutely nobody who is physically able to work should be getting state benefits. It’s an absolute joke the tens of thousands of young people claiming benefits for ‘mental health’ who haven’t done a day’s work yet in their lives. No one should be allowed to claim benefits unless they have paid taxes and NI for a minimum 5 years and only then, if they have a genuine physical illness or disability preventing them from working. Not fkin ‘anxiety’. This country is so soft on scroungers now, it’s an absolute joke.

We can afford the triple lock but not net zero or paying for so many asylum seekers.

Ideology ahead of practical ability and reality is killing this country.

This article is incredibly good. I appreciate it is the Telegraph but it's a really good summary of what it calls the 4 horseman of the apocalypse arriving at once for the global economy.

https://x.com/Telegraph/status/2100087344082624808

This isn't right wing bullshit of an article. It's factual in stating where things are rather than what we need to do or what it thinks we should do.

Your tax does not add to the amount of money available to run the country because it was paid to you out of tax paid by someone else in the late sector first.

We all do. But why put more burden on the net contributor than the net subtractor?

I think we all need to feel a bit of the burden.

I’m sure I paid tax myself while working for the LA. In fact, I still do!

But no-one is talking about private pensions, (which are your own self-funded private investments). This thread is about the state pension.

The Mail wins awards year after year for its financial reporting. You don't actually read it, do you?

The Guardian can be far more illiterate about how national and international finance actually works.

First sensible suggestion!

Mine is self funded.

...slightly lower but they also get extras that effectively make it higher.

Ain't right is it.