In thinking that I may never be allowed to retire.........

[whymumwhymum]

Have worked in public sector for nearly 20 years now and just saw in the news today that they are planning on keeping the pensions for my age group and under back until we are 66 ffs.

That was not what I signed up for when I decided to pay into the scheme!

Thats nearly another 30 years and tbh I don't think i'll survive in this job that long, and thats not taking into account that by the time I'm 50 or older they will probably have pushed the age back further.

I don't feel particularly ' lucky' to be a public sector worker, i worked and studied damn hard for years to get my now reasonably (not by any means highly) paid job. I will never ever get a bonus even if i do twice the 'reasonable' work, will also never get overtime payments. I'll never have a company car or private health care or any other perks.

Many's the night I've lain awake worrying about the people i get paid to look after .

The pension was the one thing that made it 'wothwhile' long term and i am losing faith that I will ever see it, in payments alone i calculat I will have paid in somehwre in the region of 100k over a working life of 45 years not accounting for inplation. Should have just saved the money or better still blown it on stuff I could actually enjoy before i'm six feet under!

Here is a good guide to the major public sector pensions scheme from BBC website. It details all the things like contributions rates in each.

'DoingthebestIcan - Don't be so stupid! Have you any idea what devastation suicide leaves behind?

I unfortunately lost someone very close to me through suicide. Suicide leaves people feeling guilty,angry,confused and very very devastated. Read SOBS that supports people affected by suicide if you want to learn more.

I can almost guarantee that you will leave behind a vast emotional burden through suicide even though you may have removed a practical one.'

So people who exercise their right to die are stupid because you disagree.

My life, my body, my decision.

This is how the world is going to go.

There will be no pensions for people except when they are near enough to death they can't work anymore at anything or their family can afford to support them.

This is how it is in most places in the world now, this is how it was here until fairly recently in history and this is how it will go again.

Because 'retirement' as we have foolishly come to expect it is not sustainable or affordable long-term for any economy, especially when people are living longer and longer.

People really, truly need to get their heads round this rather than moaning or burying their heads in the sand because that is how it is going to go. Prepare for it as you can by changing careers/retraining now or otherwise or expecting the consequences.

Our childrens' generation will not be able or willing to afford our idea of retirement.

expatinscotland
'nuff said really.

Hear hear expat.

Sadly.

It is galling and yes, im envious, hearing the inlaws (baby boomers) going on about lots of holidays and travel and a pension double what we earn.
I admit to some resentment as that will never be us.
Ho de hum

Expat - No people aren't stupid to choose to end their life. I called your comment stupid as you talk about that as a solution not to burden your DC without any apparent understanding of how a parent that commits suicide emotionally burdens their DC.

Same here, Riven. Not so much with my folks, however, who are both pre-WWII/WWII. My dad didn't retire until he was 67 because he really enjoyed his job. He only quit when he had to have a triple bypass (probably not stress-related, he has smoked since 1954 and is overweight/eats crap; is teetotal, though, and has been for many decades). They're far more frugal than most boomers I've encountered.

'I called your comment stupid as you talk about that as a solution not to burden your DC without any apparent understanding of how a parent that commits suicide emotionally burdens their DC.'

That's calling me stupid, lesley. Because that comment is part of my beliefs. It's how I feel about my life and my body. I'd definitely go Dignitas if faced with a terminal illness and of sound mind. That's suicide, too. It is my choice and my right to die.

I've brought up my children to believe they have unequivocal right to their bodies - to reproduce or not, to get sterilised/tattooed/pierced or not, wear what they want, decide when they wish to die or not. It's their life and their body once they are adults.

Yes it is their body. And committing suicide because you have a terminal illness is understandable. But you said you would commit suicide if you couldn't work so that you were not a burden to your DC. Committing suicide because you couldn't work, would IMO leave a bigger burden to your DC than getting some support from them.

Of course it is your right still to commit suicide, but don't fool yourself that this wouldn't have a negative effect on your DC.

And most elderly people die after years of chronic ill health - on average 10 years. Old people rarely die from a short terminal illness.

That's your opinion, lesley. Others don't share it. Doesn't make them stupid anymore than it makes you stupid for your own.

Do you really think your DC will be happy if you kill yourself?

Betty wind your neck in - I was talking about sitting on arses with feet up when they retire

'Do you really think your DC will be happy if you kill yourself?'

I don't know what they'll really think, if they'll be alive themselves, if any of us will.

Okay, expat, if you were to end it, what method would you use?

Lesley I'm sorry you have had first hand experience of the devastating effects of suicide...
I'm also sorry for the extreme lack of sensitivity of some here...who will stop at nothing to win an argument!

As for the so called baby boomers...
Why should they not enjoy the fruits of their hard labour? My parents worked damned hard all their lives...saving hard too...and have paid loads of taxes along the way. They've also provided for their pensions and their future. They don't depend on anyone. Why should they have what they have earned taken away from them!

Jeolousy...pure and simple.

My mum's a baby boomer, retired teacher. Her pension is just over 13k a year, plus her state pension. She's forever moaning she doesn't have enough money. She has no rent/mortgage and I think doesn't have a clue how lucky she is compared to others.

'I'm also sorry for the extreme lack of sensitivity of some here...who will stop at nothing to win an argument!'

Win what? I'm not here to argue because I don't really give a toss. It is what it is: life expenctancy is going up. So is cost of everything. Someone will have to pay. Fewer and fewer will be able or willing. Deal with it.

You're the one who keeps banging on about 'winning' and 'arguments'. Keep doing it. It's not going to make a pension magically appear at 60. Those days are over.

I state my views as I hold them.

Big deal.

I believe I will use a car and its exhaust system, md, but there may be other options by the time I get to that point and then again I may become one of those people who falls terminally ill.

I admitted to being jealous. Baby boomers who benegited from unprecedented house prive rises, free education and now massive pensions paid out of the taxes of those who can never afford to buy and who have been saddled with a huge student loan. Too right im jealous.

'Why should they have what they have earned taken away from them!'

Because it might have been gambled on the stock market and is no longer there and no one can afford the fill in the gap.

£1.55 for one adult to travel 2.5 miles into town on a bus. Free for any over 60 no matter what their income. And the council lost twice what they expected to in the last budget.

Southmum, sorry to have misunderstood you. It does seem that public sector workers are becoming the new enemy though. When I went into nursing I knew I would never be rich but I did think that if I worked hard and paid into my pension, which I do £200 a month to be precise, then I could have a decent retirement. I expect what I signed up for. I like many other public sector workers work hard to make a difference in my job. I feel completely and utterley devalued and the pension thing is the last straw.

This might sou d stupid, are pensions better than paying that 200 into a high interest account?

Riven I had never really thought too much about my pension until recently. I was always advised that a public sector pension was the best and to just keep paying. If I pulled out I would get taxed on that lump sum and also taxed on the £200, with interest rates pretty bad I'm not sure it would be any better. So may aswell just carry on bending over and take whatever the government gives us!!

Sorry don't really have much sympathy. It's the same for non public service worker's.