What will eventually happen with the State Pension?

[BrainInAJar]

Hello,

I recently turned 40 and have been reviewing my finances.

A lot of stuff online factors in getting the State Pension. I'm trying to be on the safe side though and factor in that I might not get it, not the full thing anyway and maybe not until a much older age than earlier generations.

Just out of interest, what do you think will happen? Will any Government be "brave" enough to make sweeping changes? How much notice will we get? Who will be the first generation, if any, not to get a state pension?

Thanks

Im saving for my dcs uni & housing deposit. Can’t afford to do more.

Eventually yes, but likely to take a few generations. Isn't that the point of auto enrolment, to ensure that everyone is saving something?

Sounds more like a prison to me

Yet it’s not. Inhabitants can leave. Not that they will want to - without someone willing to take them in, the choice will be communal and poor living, or the street.

Or a real prison of course.

No. I’m not arguing for them. I’m pointing out that the end point for a country that spends beyond its means, for decades, is a return to all the things we tried to get rid of, because there won’t be money for anything else.

Shooting the messenger doesn’t change the reality.

No, you have this entirely wrong.

What people are concerned about is not "getting more than someone else" what they ARE concerned about is a system which rewards non-workers and skivers with free everything while those who have scrimped and saved, worked jolly hard and paid taxes & NI all their life then get penalised.

We are living beyond our means. We cannot afford our current approach. Radical change is needed but it will not be politically expedient to make those changes until it is too late for many.

or perhaps you’ve got the magic solution in a form that will garner the support of sufficient modern voters and lobbyists? Do tell.

I think work houses are different to alms houses. I think in an alms house you were supposed to pray for the benefactors but not work as such. They were for the old and sick. Not suggesting they were great.
Work houses you had to work

This state pension money is trickling down supporting the economy though. I frequently see pubs full of pensioners on lunchtime meal deals and they always seem to be off to seaside breaks ! Take it away or means test it and a lot of businesses would suffer.

@Babyroobs i think a lot of those pensioners are the ones on final salary pensions. And some who did well anyway with private pensions. So there will be a shift in about 10 years as the defined benefits scheme participants come through.

there’s another group of pensioners who lack both property and final pensions of any significant. The size of that group will increase dramatically over time.

in my own age group, even those professionals who have paid what they could into a private pension for 20 years Have a paltry amount saved. There are some outliers (like me) who got a ‚city‘ job, but I have no idea how the others will cope if access to the state pension goes (as it inevitably will).

This is so true. The ones who have barely worked ( and I'm not talking about those unable to work due to disability or caring) who get low state pension and topped up with pension credit get everything free- free boilers, cost of living payments totaling hundred of pounds over the past two years, all rent and council tax paid, free dental care, opticians etc. Contribute to a private pension and receive even a small amount each month and you will get none of this and end up worse off than those who have barely worked. I see it all the time in my job and frequently have to deal with exasperated older people who can get no help due to a small private pension. It does cause a lot of resentment. then when they get ill and need to receive care they have to sell their home also. Of course it's going to cause resentment. If state pension was means tested as well I can't imagine the resentment !

Yes I think we will see increasing numbers still in rented accommodation in the future , the housing benefit bill will likely be massive !

Trouble is, this all needs a proper grown up conversation, with costings and outcomes explained. And I don’t think the public as a whole is capable of that.

The income of pensioners it taxed just like everybody else.
If state pension plus private/works pension take you above the tax free allowance - the excess is taxed at whatever is the applicable tax rate.

A form of means testing as those in the higher rate tax bracket who would be returning 20/ 40% of their pensions in tax.

PM Braverman will put forward a policy that euthanises poor people over retirement age to fund abolishing capital gains tax and inheritance tax. The Daily Mail will run a headline celebrating her tax cutting brilliance

'Gaming the system'
those in power do everything they can to work things to their advantage, but now far more of us have access to the information required to understand the system and so now we have the ability to work things to our advantage