To think the old style pensions should be capped.

[Blindering]

ok, I am in Ireland so unaware of how UK pensions function but my neighbour who worked as a college lecturer but retired in 2008 in his 70s gets 600 euro a week in pension, equivalent to 513 stg.
This is on top of a 150k pay off he got when he left the job which I believe all civil servants here were getting.

But aibu to think a bachelor living in a house with the mortgage long paid off has no need for over 500stg a week? Like what would one need the money for at that stage in life?

''It should be averaged up so everyone gets the same as him.''

and where do you propose the money for this comes from?

The final salary pension was removed during my working life and the defined benefits calculater get worse and worse while the age to receive it goes up. I do not understand why my pension entitlement can keep changing but the pensions of those that retired earlier are set in tablets of stone and cannot be even slighty reduced to help the scheme deficit and support the next generations

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of pensions

Pensions already earned cannot be reduced without agreement . How would you like it if your pension entitlement was suddenly cut?

Your future pension has become more expensive and less generous because current market conditions (government bond returns) mean it is more expensive to provide. Pensions already earned by other people and you in the past do not come into this calculation and are funded in addition

I’ll be getting 3k+ a month pension and have lots of plans for spending it. YABU.

''I’ll be getting 3k+ a month pension and have lots of plans for spending it. YABU.''

and yet you''ll moan that your grandkids can't buy a house or get x,y and z.

@IridescentPurple

eh I struggle to think of anybody in their mid 70s still paying a mortgage

My mortgage will be paid back when I'm 77. You can actually get a small mortgage at 70.

Seriously loads have mortgages in their 70s. How naive,

''Seriously loads have mortgages in their 70s. How naive,''

I can't think of 1 person.

The ideal would be- the money people put into a pension scheme is invested and put into a pot so then they can claim it back when they retire.

Instead it is used for whatever the government needs and expects the current tax payers to fund the pension.

Unfortunately you cant expect people who have paid into their pension for years to forgo what they have been promised just because the government mismanaged it.

I'm not sure you would enjoy paying into a pension and then being given a mediocre payout, which will then end up being means-tested despite how much you've paid in.

And then further cut down because the current taxpayers expect to get even less when they eventually retire.

@Blindering

''It should be averaged up so everyone gets the same as him.''

and where do you propose the money for this comes from?

In the UK i think you'll find the government has magically found billions that they've managed to funnel through to their mates.

The money is there. They just want you believe they havent got it.

@RedElephants the state pension is £179.60 . Between the two of you ,you have forty years left to save into a pension.

@AuntieJoyce

The final salary pension was removed during my working life and the defined benefits calculater get worse and worse while the age to receive it goes up. I do not understand why my pension entitlement can keep changing but the pensions of those that retired earlier are set in tablets of stone and cannot be even slighty reduced to help the scheme deficit and support the next generations

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of pensions

Pensions already earned cannot be reduced without agreement . How would you like it if your pension entitlement was suddenly cut?

Your future pension has become more expensive and less generous because current market conditions (government bond returns) mean it is more expensive to provide. Pensions already earned by other people and you in the past do not come into this calculation and are funded in addition

But my pension entitlement has been cut. And will be cut again over my working life. No, I don't like it, but it would certainly seem fairer if all USS beneficiaries shared the pain. Why must the younger generation work to fund final salary pensions they will never receive themselves?

With this kind of attitude you'd fit in really well in Russia @Blindering. Oh no, I forgot. That's not REALLY a communist state any more is it? You've got a very perverted view of the role of pensions and how they are accrued over a working life. i worked in the public sector all my life. I earned below wages paid to private sector workers, but I didn't mind because, as I was told, I'd get a better pension (delayed gratification).So now, here I am enjoying a comfortable retirement - and it's none of your business how I'm spending it.

I do not understand why my pension entitlement can keep changing but the pensions of those that retired earlier are set in tablets of stone and cannot be even slighty reduced to help the scheme deficit and support the next generations.

Because they’re already retired and you aren’t. You have the option to earn more and save more and they don’t.

It might feel like a generational inequality, perhaps it is. But the generation now retired will have had its own inequalities to contend with. As PP has pointed out, pensioners pay income tax & VAT and all the other taxes working people do. They are still contributing to the economy in this way, just as much as other tax payers. And their incomes are fixed, and for many eroded by inflation. Their costs increase in as many ways as they decrease as they age.

It’s bloody stupid to think ‘means-testing’ someone’s personal occupational pension would solve anything. Where would the incentive be to save, own property, anything?

Give your head a wobble, OP.

I’ll be much poorer in retirement than my parents. But that’s not their fault.

The private sector can pay what it likes, it’s simply up to their shareholders to decide how remuneration works. Public sector pensions, however, are simply unsustainable if they are cushioned to this extent.

''But my pension entitlement has been cut. And will be cut again over my working life. No, I don't like it, but it would certainly seem fairer if all USS beneficiaries shared the pain. Why must the younger generation work to fund final salary pensions they will never receive themselves?''

but the same thing happened in Ireland, pensions and salaries were cut for teachers in 2010 on the agreement that existing union members keep their pay safe. But ofcourse when you raise this unfairness you get accused of being 'jealous' and how they worked hard for their money so the younger generation must take the hit.

It's not a case of whether he needs this money at all.

It's simply the case that he is entitled to this money because he paid into the system all his life.

The pension is not, and never should be, a means tested benefit.

But my pension entitlement has been cut. And will be cut again over my working life. No, I don't like it, but it would certainly seem fairer if all USS beneficiaries shared the pain. Why must the younger generation work to fund final salary pensions they will never receive themselves?

Not quite. Your entitlement at the point you made the contribution hasn't changed. The scheme has changed from a fixed point onwards. Contributions made prior to that fixed point a couple of years ago will contribute the expected calculated amount.

@Blindering

''Seriously loads have mortgages in their 70s. How naive,''

I can't think of 1 person.

It doesn’t matter, though. A mortgage or housing payment is just one cost. You still have to fund all the other costs of living - and if you own a property you need to pay to maintain it too. Having paid off the mortgage is not a golden ticket to great wealth and riches in retirement. It just makes it a bit easier.

@Marcee

If think printing money is the solution to all problems, that’s a scary lack of knowledge.

@sst1234

The private sector can pay what it likes, it’s simply up to their shareholders to decide how remuneration works. Public sector pensions, however, are simply unsustainable if they are cushioned to this extent.

USS isn't a public sector scheme...

''I’ll be much poorer in retirement than my parents. But that’s not their fault.''

but I never pointed the finger at my neighbour or individuals who benefitted from their situation, I am pointing it at the govt who could make changes so things are more fair.

@Blindering

''But my pension entitlement has been cut. And will be cut again over my working life. No, I don't like it, but it would certainly seem fairer if all USS beneficiaries shared the pain. Why must the younger generation work to fund final salary pensions they will never receive themselves?''

but the same thing happened in Ireland, pensions and salaries were cut for teachers in 2010 on the agreement that existing union members keep their pay safe. But ofcourse when you raise this unfairness you get accused of being 'jealous' and how they worked hard for their money so the younger generation must take the hit.

A change to a scheme must occur at a fixed point.

If the change must happen, you think all those people who paid in before you were even employed should share what they paid?

No one would agree to that. Would you?

@Blindering

''Why would you say that he doesn't need the money ?''

I struggle to think what the average person in their 70s would do with over 500stg a week, Their kids will be adults, their mortgages will most likely be paid.

Care? Things to make their lives a bit easier? A few luxuries to make old age bearable? Heating when mobility decreases? Or are old people supposed to sit in their armchairs, wrapped in blankets, eating their meals on wheels and watching tv?

Another bloody ageist thread on mn. Why am I not surprised.

Why would it be about needing the money? Surely pensions are a product of what you pay in through contributions, either government (NI) or private and therefore it's yours, for whatever you want.

As for housing my DM has a mortgaged house, her parents paid off their mortgage early and I will be renting forever. This is a result of house prices / supply and demand for past generations.

I can't see why any of that is your neighbour's fault and why he shouldn't be able to enjoy his retirement with what he has earned.

@Blindering

''I’ll be much poorer in retirement than my parents. But that’s not their fault.''

but I never pointed the finger at my neighbour or individuals who benefitted from their situation, I am pointing it at the govt who could make changes so things are more fair.

What changes?

We’re an aging population. The changes have been made precisely so that we don’t all run out of cash entirely in retirement.

The schemes the previous generation had set up are not sustainable for future generations. So they’ve been changed. Doesn’t mean we rob the previous generation of what they worked for all their lives. That they were given a more generous deal than us is just how it goes.

I understand the pain. I myself am paying into a scheme that if I'd been 10-20 years older I would have got a huge amount more.

I'm paying huge amounts from my salary into the pension scheme and every few years they change it so we get less out.

But I dont begrudge the older pensioners- it's all down to the mismanagement from the government.

By changing the terms for the retired, I'd lose all confidence and probably opt out- I mean what's stopping them from changing it further- but at least I know what I've paid in already is protected.

And I'm also looking into other investments because I don't think the pension scheme will pay out enough despite how much I'm putting in.