State pension

You won't need it because you'll all be on UBI (and I'll be dead).

There's no way standard funding models are going to cope with incoming tech changes, modes of doing business and widespread extinction of 'jobs'. New approaches will have to be thrashed out and new systems set in place. One of these will be UBI.

The world's governments and, to a large extent, businesses have been kicking this can down the road for decades. Now it's running out of road, they are actually thinking it through.

It’s a shame today’s young people are too stupid to understand that the NHS in its current form is unsustainable. They should all be paying for private health insurance and saving to pay for things that aren’t covered by that. Rather than use the NHS that is freely available to them.

Why on earth is it more horrific than you calling young people stupid? Hypocrite.
The current population crisis is hardly a new revelation- so why did none of you ask your governments to plan ahead? Why do uou want to blame young people, when you've had decades to deal with and limit the damage?

I said ‘in hindsight’ when the change was made no one would of guessed they would so rapidly start increasing the SPA age and this would be a tool which in such a short space of time would so rapidly devalue the new public sector pensions

Research shows fhe opposite actually. Young peope are far more pragmatic about the future of the NHS and private healthcare.

As you've just said, there is literally no evidence for this at all, so in answer to your question, not age group at all will need to worry about it.

No UK government will undermine the state pension, because of the voting power of pensioners.

Cool. But are they still using it despite the fact they know it’s unlikely to be available to generations below them? Or are all young people now just paying for private GP appointments and health care and insurance?

No, I don't trust them to do that. I know it's a sore point on here, but the way 1950s women have been treated taught me the government does indeed cock pensions up and refuse to right the errors.

Getting old is disabling. We're less able to sort things out for ourselves, have to hire people more often, have to give up driving and use taxis, are more easily killed by a cold home, are more often ill with fewer people to rely on, and a great deal less mobile. Attendance Allowance, the disability benefit for pensioners, does not cover mobility issues - that in itself tells you plenty.

Are young people more pragmatic or do they just think the issues are further off so can voice views that suggest they are? Evidence they are more pragmatic would be them trying to put at least a small amount in insurance policies but I doubt that is the case.

i’d like to know what share of income comes from retired people now vs the last 50 years.

Ok. Where to start with this. Do you know what the triple lock is? If not, read about the basics of what it is, why it was created and why successive governments have protected it. It seems the only people who don't want to protect it are Mumsnetters!

People who live solely on the state pension are classed as living in poverty. In simple terms of 'why is it important', if we lose the triple lock, that will push millions of people even further into poverty. Do you not see why that is important? Do you not think supporting people who are unable to support themselves through work is important?

If you can point me to where I even mentioned people with disabilities let alone said they were more or less important than pensioners then I will answer that part of your question.

What ages are you talking here re young people?

You can't not pay into a work pension. It's obligatory.

No it’s not.

I would vote for a government who did a proper assessment of pensions and put a long term plan in place. We have to do it at some point. But it needs to be a VERY long term plan, (probably starting with today's 18 year olds to give everyone hitting that age a fair opportunity to pay into a full working lifetime worth of pension). They need to start putting plans in place to start means testing in the future so that pensions become part of the benefits system (why are we paying millionaires £13k a year?!). But you can only do that if people have sufficient time to plan. An alternative would be to increase tax levels on private pensions to ensure that those earning megabucks at pension age are as an absolute minimum paying back the value of the state pension they are being paid.

Because there are so many of them & they vote. Look at the ridiculous response to means testing winter fuel.

That’s the argument that’s always put forward when making previously universal benefits means tested, seriously how many people on 13m are there as a proportion of all pensioners, this argument is used and then it actually gets chopped for anyone not on close to the minimum wage in the end. It’s just a race to the bottom that will ultimately make people massively resent paying into a system they feel they get nothing out of

No age group in particular. I was responding to a pp asking why "young people" are stupid. Under 45/50ish though in my mind.

The only people to blame are successive Governments. Not each other.

AI says that in the early 1990s retirees made up 16-18% of the total population and paid 10-12% of total income tax, in the 2020s they make up 21-22% of population and 16-19% of income
tax.

I don't think young people are stupid if that's any consolation.

In part, yes. But we choose what we vote for.
Why is my comment the one you picked to make this point? I didnt start the blame game...

About 1.2 million people are living solely on the state pension. That's a lot of people living on the poverty line.

Sadly you're probably right about people feeling they get nothing out after they've put in. What a truly selfish, entitled community we live in if that's how people think. I don't pay taxes to get it back. I pay them to make society effective. If I need public funded services, I know its there, if I don't, my taxes will pay for those who do need it. Everyone should think like that but, as you say, many don't. A sign of the times. 100 years ago, people were literally giving their lives to voluntarily go to war, now we won't even pay a bit of tax without whinging about not getting it back. It's a horrible, selfish world we live in. I'm very glad I'm not 50 years younger as I do not want to be part of this new generation of selfishness.

I don't know why! It was aimed at everyone.

Private healthcare is a very standard benefit with most professional jobs. I guess it depends on demographics, but I dont know many working people who are heavy users of the NHS

No I don’t think it’s a selfish attitude to have, we don’t mind so much the fact that we pay a massive proportion of our income in tax to ensure most people have a decent basic standard of living etc but for the gesture of child benefit to be taken off us meaning we can’t afford even a basic uk annual holiday for our family, yes that majorly annoys me. For this expensive phase of our life when that little bit of help would of been very much appreciated and were told no we can’t have anything back from the system. Even though people with the far more disposable income than us are getting it, you wonder why it causes resentment. Like free bus passes, it was a small price to pay for people’s goodwill