To cry over state pension age speculation rise to 75-81

[feellikeahugefailure]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/georgeosborne/12179375/Work-till-youre-75-or-even-81-under-Government-review-of-state-pension-age.html

Where has it all gone wrong? My parents could buy a home one one income for 3 times annual wage. Dad retired at 55, mum never needed to work and has been claiming a state pension for over a decade since 60. I do a similar job to my dad.

Where I live the average house price is 13 times my wage. My pension I've been paying into for over 10 years will if I keep paying into it for almost 40 more years give me 2'000 a year if it does averagely and 1'000 if it does poorly, and it probably will do poorly. Then no state pension until I'm about to drop dead. Can't afford a house or to put money away for retirement.

I just don't know who these people are who are fit to work into their seventies. My parents both retired slightly early but I don't think they could have worked much longer. They are in their seventies now and the idea of them working is laughable - they are reasonably active but tire easily and struggle with keeping on top of housework

Df was in HE in local government, found it a stressful job. Retired at 64 after working for over 40 years. By that age he'd really had enough and was struggling to adapt to changes in systems, technology etc.

Dm was a nurse. She took early retirement at 58 with a bad back. She couldn't have worked any longer and still has a bad back.

Xmasbaby loads of posters have posted about people they know working in their 70s.

Maybe Working later does help starve off those age related problems. My MiL says this and I didn't believe her.

the fit/healthy people can work as carers for the overweight and unhealthy
so we can thank those who didn't look after themselves, they've provided a job for the people who are still fit for work

those of us who feel mentally stable can work as therapists for the ones who cracked under the strain
the sober can run 12 step programs for the addicted
yes yes it'll all work out somehow Im sure

Alltouchedout, i do agree with you. I think a lot of people will feel the same. (It certainly crossed my mind when i saw the headlines today and read this thread!)
I also read the thread about the JSA and how thats all designed to sanction rather than help people find work. Its so depressing. Unless your really loaded, a millionaire or won the lottery, there is little to be happy about these days. I also heard this week that 1 million jobs will go in retail over the years. So its all very well saying ' get a job in the stores' in your 60s , but will there be any?
I dont know whats going to happen, but none of it is good.

I haven't RTFT but I suppose there are people healthy enough to work on their seventies - it's just that currently very few people have to. I suspect the few who do are the ones who love their jobs and/ or work for themselves.

In my workplace we have quite a few early sixty somethings and they reduce their hours to work 2-4 days as they move towards retirement - this seems to work well.

As a teacher, I can't imagine NOT getting a promotion/work as a consultant/write books/research etc before I'm 60 - and all of these roles are much more manageable into older age. Staying as a classroom teacher for even 25 years would do me in. Doesn't mean I can't work though.

I think being occupied by work has the potential to keep you youthful. I also don't want to think I have limited work life left plus I can't afford to retire until about 3 years after I die

If we all have to work until we are 103/drop dead, what jobs exactly will our children/grandchildren be doing?

When the state pension was first introduced, those working until 70 were just as unfit to work, if not more, than people now feel they would be at 70+

I foresee a sharp deprioritisation in NHS spend on drugs and procedures that prolong the life span of the over 60s, Mavis.

"If we all have to work until we are 103/drop dead, what jobs exactly will our children/grandchildren be doing?"

There are loads of conflicting ideas on this thread being Thrown around. Surely if the problem is an ageing population there won't be enough young people to support the old people. So we'll all be working away. Much like we do in 2016.

Barefoot, the NHS will be privatised over the next decade. We will have to pay for healthcare or have insurance as they do in America. life expentancy will drop, then they will save on the pension payouts and the NHS too. This is how i see it panning out.

Yeah, sounds reasonable.

I am not sure that increasing life expectancy from 80 to 90 (or whatever the recent trend has been) is net positive for society anyway, so I am fairly relaxed.

There is an issue of state benefits as the amount government spending on this was large, however what has happened is that the plans hit those who are not of pensionable age or that near to it - so many of the working population will be less likley to complain. Meanwhile benefits whilst trimmed are not as savagely cut, clearly many are needed but not all. So we wil have people working for longer in ten years time who will be paying for those who are claiming either pensions or some other type of benefit. I think we are likley to all be more questioning about how our taxes are spent, I do not object to my taxes going to some but not all and increasingly I think we all question government spending.

If grandma is working until she's 80 - who will be looking after the grandkids?

I'm hoping there will be some form of backlash in the future. All these long term, experienced workers are going to be expensive when compared to young, new employees. In the past that has led to early retirement offers in some sectors. Lets hope that will start to happen when the time comes.

Due to various circumstances ill be working til I drop and my mortgage will be paid when I am 69.

The problem with all of this is that people have effectively been paying 33% of their income in direct taxes when they are in the lowest tax bracket and even more when they go up the scale. For all of this there is no discussion of lower taxes beacause we won't get to retire, or need to put more of our wages into pension pots. As a nation we are now paying more indirect taxes than previous generations too, and the poor pay the largest share of their income out in tax of any socio economic group.

There is no discussion of paying less tax for anyone, and the young have already been forced into covering the cost of their own education and will be paying it off for decades. Public services are slashed and the NHS privatised, who is benefitng from all the tax money?

The older generation, mainly the wealthier of the older generation. The transfer of wealth from young to old is shocking. Oh and before anyone starts with the "1 in 4 pensioners live in poverty" yes realtive poverty which means that they have an income less than 60% of the median, this doesn't mean this one in 4 are shivering in un heated flats ( although I imagine some are) but then it needs also to be considered that many of these people will either be in paid off houses or have their rent covered by the state so..

cant wait til i retire from nursing when im 81....i would laugh if it wasnt so bloody ridiculous!

Yes I agree that the pensioners pressure group overstates the poverty angle as actually they are a relatively well off group, interestingly pensions rises tend to be higher than other groups.

Those working till 70 when pensions were first brought in were often unfit to work. And they would work as much as they could simply to eat. Read Joseph Rowntree reports of the time. Many older poor people were in absolutely dire property. I have read accounts of the time of older people selling everything they owned except a basic garment they were wearing, of working for a bowl of soup, of begging for some bread. That is not a situation we should be looking to go back to.

Most people on MN are well off, so they will be fine. They will inherit, or cash in their investments. Meanwhile those of us from poor backgrounds who have never earned much, will work till we die.

I don't think we are looking to go back to begging, but neither is it sustainable for people, in general, to retire expecting to "enjoy life" for 1-3 decades, unless they are or were able to have made sufficient personal arrangements to afford this.

Yes the poverty angle is well overstated, to live below the poverty line in this country you need to have an income of less than £12,600, the state pension pays out £6029 a year or £115 a week ( but that is going to go up) and on that income if you are in local housing the government pays your rent, there are lots of working people who get by on less than £115 a week after theyve paid their rent/motgage, oh and they get heating allowance too!

The point is that the age you get the state pension is increasing. Local authority pensions are tied to the age you get the state pension. If I had both, I would be fine. Not well off, but enough to eat and pay my bills. But when will I actually get it??

I am 51, I simply do not have enough years left to start a new pension scheme. I will not inherit. In short, I am stuffed, in spite of doing what I thought was right.

Basically I thought I would get £12,000 a year from 60, with state and local authority pension. I would have no rent, so would be fine. That then went up to 67. Now I may be 81 before I get anything. I can not work full time until 81, and I can not afford to live on fresh air.