to think everyone should retire at 60 and the state pension should be a livable amount

[pollyis]

Hi,

I was one of the lucky ones that got to retire at 60, but now this this being raised to 66. I think this is very unfair and downright wrong. If anything it should be lowered for both men and woman so they can spend their last few years with some hard earned rest.

Also the amount is much lower than countries like France and Germany. My pension is 146 pounds a week. Hardly a decent amount and I'm expected to live off this for another 20-30 years!

I think we should all support each other to get the age lowered and increase the amount to the same as Germany. Sok about 320 a week per pensioner. Do you agree?

Polly

If extra money was raised through bringing tax avoiders in line I'd rather see that money spent on education and infrastructure.
YABU, my generation will probably die before we can retire and 30 years on minimum wage for pensioners is a bloody joke. Based on about 40 years of contributions it simply hasn't been 'earned'.

How could pensioners carry on working when there are a lack of jobs?

Out of interest OP, would you be ok if this 320 a week meant that pensioners in rented accommodation had to pay their own rent and council tax out of that amount?
My mother receives full housing benefit and a state pension.

I'm quite sure that if her pension was raised to 320 a week as from tomorrow, she'd probably lose all of her housing benefit and council tax support, rendering her no better off.

Yes I think that would be fair to stop pensioners from getting their rent and council tax paid. I worked bloody hard to own my own home, wouldn't have not bothered if I knew the government would pay your rent for you in retirement.

I'm with 2tired. Logan's Run all the way.

yabu. A pension is supposed to mean people who are too old to work don't have to.
It's not to enable a few years holiday at the tax payers expense before you get too old to work.

But it's okay for plebs who will never be able to own their place of any sort to work till they drop so you can collect tens of thousands for 20-30 years?

I think a fair few people work bloody hard to pay their rent too.

Its far easier to buy a house now than it was in my day. Now you have government help to buy !

My first house was a small two bed place, single glazed windows, no carpet, no insulation and only a coal fire to keep me warm. Doubt people these days would live like that.

Why on earth should the State be responsible for funding your lavish retirement? Take some bloody responsibility for your actions and sort out a private pension and/or some investments.

Polly clearly you have no idea.

Go back and live in your little baby boomer bubble.

Its far easier to buy a house now than it was in my day. Now you have government help to buy !

Oh yes it's SO easy!!

Yep, people are just handed money to buy all the time.

1/10.

Maybe you should be allowed to retire at any age after 60 but after 10 years only be entitled to pallative care on the NHS.

I think the big problem is that life expectancy is not the same for different groups and some people can't physically so their job when they get older.

YANBU! I should have retired next year, but the date was summarily pushed forward by SEVEN years, the bastards. As I'm already too unwell to work, this means another 8 years of being told to work by the government, going to court, and all the other miserable strains associated with claiming my honest entitlements. Obviously nobody wants to employ people aged 60+ who haven't worked for the past ten years, let alone ones who are too unwell to commit to a work schedule.

My private retirement age was 55. I had pensions schemes throughout my career. One was famously embezzled, one disappeared in 'administration fees', and I now receive the impressive amount of £1,500 a year.

I'm quite pissed off that my public insurance/pension policy seems to be going the same way as the private ones.

So nice to know my fellow Mumsnetters want me dead.

YABU.
I'm 53 and I'd be gutted if I had to quit my job in less than 6 years time.

YABU to think it's easier to buy a house now than it was in the past.

YABU to think money grows on trees

My first house was a small two bed place, single glazed windows, no carpet, no insulation and only a coal fire to keep me warm. Doubt people these days would live like that. How much did it cost? As a proportion of an average wage at the time?

Garlic - there really should be different provisions for people over 60 who aren't well enough to work. And what has happened to your pensions is appalling.

I agree on both points, obviously, Errol Having suffered (slightly) more than the average number of shocks related to perceived security, I do get a bit antsy when people rabbit on about how working hard & investing are all you need to do. They ought to add "if you're lucky" onto those statements, because misuse of funds has become a hell of a lot more common now. The national insurance scheme isn't immune from it, either, which is imo why we're being told we can't afford to look after our own.

Rant over

When the usual retirement age was 60 for women, I retired at 64 in co-ordination with my DH who was 69 so that we'd have a lovely autumn life together. I loved working and it didn't matter what the work was. I just loved working. If people want to work until they are 120, let them. They do not want to stagnate in a room, sitting round in a circle with others watching a television progamme that others do not want to watch.

Even now, at 73 with a late lovely DH, I wish I were at work, just to keep my brain and physical ability working. Employers should take on older, experienced workers if they can't find suitable younger people to fill their vacancies.

Oh, and before people start to talk about our being out of date with computers, many of us have used them since the early 1990s before many of you were born. A bit of updating is not beyond our wit.

Happy, I've been using computers since the early 80s . Now the tide is turning to kids learning real programming and using linux boxes, suddenly my DD finds I'm very current

It's a bit daft to imply there's nothing between paid employment and 'sitting round in a circle watching television'. It seems to have escaped many people's notice that there isn't enough paid employment. People still work ... volunteering, doing DIY and gardening, all kinds of things.

This country urgently needs to get its head around the fact that economics have changed. There will never be full paid employment again. Things have moved on. Instead of cavilling about 'my money/your handouts', think about the wider picture and how to keep everyone healthy.

YABU.

Pensions spending is already £149bn. For comparison income tax raises £169bn.

To fund your tripling of pensions we'd need to double income tax and national insurance rates.

It's so far from workable and would be massively unfair. I think there'd be a certain amount of civil unrest