To think that a lot of us will be in trouble when we retire...

[Fleetheart]

This generation seems very unlike the previous ones in that we take out loans for everything, buy holidays on credit, kitchens on credit, new clothes etc etc. And pension schemes are getting less and less generous. And most of us don’t understand them anyway. I’ve always earned well, but have split up from partner, so still have s lot on my mortgage, no savings, and really not very much in my random pension schemes most of which are money purchase schemes and won’t pay a lot. And I know many people of my age (mid 50s) who have no pension at all. And meanwhile the govt is being less and less generous. What will become of us all?

am also a bit upset about pointless crap, work in shopping centre cleaning including toilets to top up pension , not poor but not rolling in it, a means to an end as must be with many people

She wasn't belittling people by saying 'pointless crap'. Many jobs are a means to an end and to pay the bills etc like pp have said. I'm a carer and whilst it can be worthwhile it's mostly pointless crap. Literally. And often getting treated like crap by patients who often don't know any better but it is what it is.

Surely if a job pays the bills its hardly "pointless crap"
Boring,repetitive -probably but show me someone who hasnt done a job like that at some point.
I always wonder if SAHP tell their OH their job is pointless crap ??
Nope its only reserved for other women
Sad that threads always end up like this when essentially we are all on the same side.

I've read the whole thread and the info about pensions has been really interesting. I am really concerned about those who rent and what they will do in the future, I am early 30s and all my friends who have bought had some kind of inheritance or help from family (including me and my DP), those who haven't can't afford to save the deposit while renting. Which is obviously hugely unfair as well as worrying for the future. Interesting that someone brought up interest only mortgages as well, it seems it was fairly easy to get one of these years ago, someone in my family has one with no plan that I know of to pay it back which is scary (I'm assuming they are planning on selling)....are providers still giving these out or have the rules been tightened up now? There must be quite a few people with those about who got them when it was easier to do so.

Some jobs don't pay all the bills. That's the point. We can't seem to accept that not all work is a route out of poverty. For some people working will be pointless because it won't provide enough to live on or save for retirement.

And I'm allowed to feel like a lot of my old jobs were pointless crap because to me they were.

I don't recognise the OPs description of buying holidays and stuff on finance. I've never done this and don't think my friends are doing it either as far as I know. Graduating just after the crash may have made us more risk adverse I think.

And for what it's worth plenty of my male friends are also affected by low pay and in work poverty.

I agree snuggy wages in the UK are low for a lot of people.

You often don't get that impression from MN though!

It's the blindness to it I don't get.

You have taken what I said literally .
I meant you might have a boring job but it pays at the end of the day.
Im not blind to poverty I was raised in it.
I agree private rents are ridiculous and wages dont come near covering even the basics for many people.
Work should always pay and as Ive stated previously there should be much more help for parents .

My point wasn't so much that a job could be boring but that some jobs don't pay enough. Not paying enough does make a job pointless crap in that there is no point in having the job if it doesn't stop you being poor.

I took what you said literally then -that the role was boring and pointless rather than simply low paid.
How do you manage then Snuggy?

Married someone who earns more luckily. Otherwise I'd still be in my childhood bedroom most likely.

@XingMing, why on earth aren’t you taking on an apprentice so those skills can be passed on? I bet those highly skilled guys would love to teach them to a new generation.

@Alsohuman, our young engineers already learn from the older ones, but there simply isn't enough work to justify more than a superficial training in the old artisan skills and it's impossible to duplicate their finesse, achieved over 45 or 50 years of practice, with the half dozen such jobs we get per year, which mainly come in as restoration projects. The industry has had a big shift in technology over the last 10 years and almost all new systems are built so that you can slot in replacement units with minimal training and simple tools.

And we plan to have an apprentice in the next year, so they will get an idea of how it's done, but the person will never match the older guys unless they opt to specialise in the craft skills.