State pension

[Brexitstolemyfuture]

People are being lied to about their chances of ever getting it imo. So they are going to raise it another year. I'm still 25+ years off it. Aibu to think I'll never get it?

I am 28 years off it and would not be surprised if it was gone before I get there!

yanbu

YANBU. I'm in my 40s and will now retire at 68. I don't think I will get anything at all. We will all have to just live off our private pensions.

You will get it for the simple reason that you pay a sperate tax (NI) for it. You might be 90 before you get it though.

Do people now who don't have a private pension get pension credit as a top up?

At least younger people know they have to put money aside. People nearing pension age had the previous changes thumped on to them recently with no period of notice.
It's like paying an insurance premium all your working life only to be told there is no pay out according to the original terms. It's unbelievable it has been allowed.

People need to start saving and investing in other ways, as well as joining work pension schemes.
Future state pension will keep people alive, not much else.

When I first went to comprehensive school back in 1990s I clearly remember our dour geography teacher (think an enthusiastic version of the teacher Greg Davis plays in Inbetweeners) basically telling us there was no chance of us getting state pensions before we turned 70.

I think he was trying to motivate us to do well so we had decent private pensions to fall back on but it's entirely possible he was just trying to make us as miserable as him. In any case he's almost certainly going to be proved right.

I've been paying NI for more than half of my life but I'd be surprised if I can draw down on my state pension before I'm 70 meaning I'll have made over 50 years of contributions for a pittance.

Things may change before then but frankly that's too far away to stress about at the moment so head down, keep building private pension and hope I'm one of the lucky ones who lives long enough to retire in the meantime.

How are people supposed to be saving when pension anuity rates are going down, 60k of student debt, interest rates are low and many can't even afford an overpriced home. Is a bleak future for many :(

It's depressing reading and I knew it was coming but the thought of working until am 68 makes me want to cry.

It's prompted me to look at courses I can do now as even a 3 year course would leave me 22 years left to work!

Wish had invested in property when it was cheaper!

NI is not a payment towards your own state pension. It is a payment that funds current pensions and the NHS. It is not a means of "paying it forward", it's used to support today's pensioners, although you have to have paid NI for 30+ years to qualify for it when you reage 97 or whatever the pensionable age is now.

chocolatespiders you get pension credits only after you reached state pension age. I think the point many poster made here wrt never getting a state pension is we will die before getting there. The only way to retire at a reasonable age is to have private provision.

Exactly what HarrietSchulenberg says too about NI is funding the elderly now. Not our own future. It is not a fund we contribute and then draw on it later.

I know HarrietSchulenberg, but that's not how it's explained to people. Basically it's a pyramid scheme..

People just don't grasp that we live longer, we are healthier.

In 1946 when the welfare state was rolled out and pensions immediately started paying out, that average length of retirement was calculated at 2.7years. Now, babies born in 2012 will have a 1 in 3 chance of reaching 100 years old. (A random statistic I heard today, every 8 years in , life expectancy increases by one year)

You seriously expect the state, the tax payer, your children, to keep funding you for 40 odd years?

Before any one dives in with "I paid into it, its mine" , no, we don't have personal pension pots, as I said before, when this came into existence, it immediately paid out pensions (to your G/grand parents who had never paid NI). Each working generation pays for the previous generation to retire.

It's fucking depressing. I was literally just out on my early morning run pondering this as I'm 40.

A question I have is who will look after our elderly? If we are working full time until we are 68, who looks after our very frail parents? The care bill will rise as they'll have to go into care. My parents looked after my preschool dc so my grandkids will have to go to nursery as I'll be working full time.

There is a huge knock on effect I think.

Simply. Longevity is the problem. Advances in medicine, the population isn't dying off. I'm in my 50's now and I'm failing to see the point of being old, demented, incontinent and in a care home. It's a frightening prospect.

Brexit, i agree. I have children in their early 20s, one will have his student debt to pay back, neither will be able to afford a home in the SE where we live and although eldest saves and is in a company pension, its not much. He is trying to save for a home, but its not really happening as he isnt on a high wage and i can t persuade him to save more! i try to talk to them about it all and how important private pensions are ( i doubt there will be any kind of state pension by the time they are 68) but its hard as it tends to fall on deaf ears for now at least. my colleagues all say the same too about their children that are working. They dont see much of a future for themselves.

I really dont want to live to till i am very old. Care ( private care anyway) is already 1000 a week around here , what will it be like when i am in my 80s in 30 years time? house , that i wanted to leave the kids, will be gone, savings gone etc etc. bleak future ahead i fear!
If your very rich, i suppose its not as much of a worry.

Last night I got my Dh to check how much he'd put into the pot through the .gov website. He was disappointed with how much was in the pot, but he does have a decent private pension or two going. Mine is just rubbish too.

But, you get thinking about, why should we contribute to this pot? When it's quite likely we'll never receive it, and that money could have been invested elsewhere.

We too are looking at options to invest, but we do have savings.

I have until 2043, Dh retires 2040, if we even get it.

StillDriving - me neither. On the bright side; I imagine we'll have legal euthanasia by the time I'm old. I'm late forties now.

Student debt is another myth. Martin Lewis Money Saving Expert did a piece on it. Irrespective of income, it will never be paid back in full, the majority written off. (although dated 2012 he just recirculated it)

[http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/repay-post-2012-student-loan]

1. The interest doesn't change what you repay each year

Student loans are repaid at 9% of everything you earn above £21,000 each year (or technically £1,750 a month). So if you earn £26,000, as that's £5,000 more than the threshold, you repay 9% of that – which is £450 a year.

This means the amount you owe (the borrowing plus interest) never has an impact on what you repay each year. I know people really struggle with this, so let's pick out of the air a current salary of £31,000 (done for maths ease as it's £10,000 above the threshold) and look at how different levels of borrowing impact your repayments – though the same principle applies whatever you earn.

• Student loan & interest: £20,000. Your earnings: £31,000.

As you repay 9% of everything above £21,000 your annual repayment is £900.

• Student loan & interest: £50,000. Your earnings: £31,000.

As you repay 9% of everything above £21,000 your annual repayment is £900.

• Student loan & interest: £1 billion. Your earnings: £31,000.

As you repay 9% of everything above £21,000 your annual repayment is £900.

As you can see, changing what you owe – even to the absurd level of £1 billion – simply doesn't impact your repayments (you may find it easier to listen to my BBC Radio 5 Live student finance podcast to understand this).

The recent change to pension regulations to say you don't have to buy an annuity is all part and parcel of this. The new model will be that you save up a private pension just to give you some money to live on in between when you really can't work any more and when state pension kicks in.

I'm going on the assumption that there won't be a state pension when I retire. I will have to live off my private pension. This pension is tiny and, unless I come into money, I will be a very poor pensioner. But that is the reality.

Still I agree with you. Life at any cost, is no life at all.