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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the old style pensions should be capped.

618 replies

Blindering · 25/08/2021 16:17

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?

OP posts:
Original poster
Blindering · 25/08/2021 18:34

''So in total they get approximately £2000 a month why do you think that is too much?''

if their pension is paid then yes, what would one 'need' 500 quid a month for at that stage in life?

OP posts:
NoSquirrels · 25/08/2021 18:35

I've been paying a pension for over 20 years. Now I have been told I have to work longer for a lot less, so yes they have already done this to us the current working generation

But you’re still working. It’s only your projected pension and retirement age which has changed - it was never a guarantee, even if you thought it was.

Once you have retired, you are guaranteed whatever the terms were that you retired on. It can’t be changed retrospectively or it would be monstrously unfair.

PearlyBird · 25/08/2021 18:35

@Blindering

''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.''

And so alternatively we rob the younger generations so they can sit on over inflated pensions?

And this is why all new civil servants and public servants have been members of The Single Scheme (Pension).since 2013
Blossomtoes · 25/08/2021 18:36

@PlanDeRaccordement

Hold on, how is the pension getting bigger? It started out at £500/week and OP now says it’s £2500/mo after tax? So it’s gone from £26k per annum to £40.8k per annum?

Someone’s not got their facts straight.

Someone’s making it up as they go along.
NoSquirrels · 25/08/2021 18:36

@Blindering

''So in total they get approximately £2000 a month why do you think that is too much?''

if their pension is paid then yes, what would one 'need' 500 quid a month for at that stage in life?

Why do you think age is the defining factor in who is deserving of spending money?

That’s why people are accusing you of being ageist. Because you think older people are somehow less deserving of money.

StatisticallyChallenged · 25/08/2021 18:37

I can think of plenty of things I could spend £2k a month on - don't see why my age has anything to do with it.

So is the theory here that all pensions should be capped? So we'll screw those who have already retired, anyone still building up their pension will immediately stop and invest in anything else they can to avoid it.

Not really sensible.

HalzTangz · 25/08/2021 18:37

@Blindering

''The stage of life when you've worked for 40 years and now are free to do what you want? I can think of loads to do with it. |''

and the entire generation below them can't afford housing because the govt is paying whopper pensions to older generation.

But that's not his generations fault. It's not their fault they could buy cheaper housing, let's face it if houses dropped in price today, you, I and everyone else would jump on that bandwagon and buy one.

As for pension, he paid into it, so why shouldn't he be allowed to draw on it.

You sound incredibly jealous to me

Original poster
Blindering · 25/08/2021 18:37

''Hold on, how is the pension getting bigger? It started out at £500/week and OP now says it’s £2500/mo after tax? So it’s gone from £26k per annum to £40.8k per annum?

Someone’s not got their facts straight.''

513 a week stg equivalent to 600 euro a week. He gets 2500 euro a month so that's about 625 euro a week in total or 535 pounds stg a week. I never mentioned tax until other posters said it and I pointed out that his total net pay into his account was 2500 euro a month.

OP posts:
Sugarplumfairy65 · 25/08/2021 18:38

Are you deliberately missing the point?
He paid part of his salary every month into his works pension fund . The money in a pension fund is invested so that when you retire you get an income from your pension pot. Civil servants have never been well paid but always had a good pension to look forward to. That's what he's getting now, HIS pension. The government don't decide how much pension he gets every week, that's down to his pension provider.
It has Fuck all to do with you what his income is. Its his money, not yours, not the tax payers and not the governments

Socksey · 25/08/2021 18:39

@PhoenixFreesias

No, I think old style pensions should be reinstated for everyone.

This drive to beat down everyone else’s living standards is the equivalent of battery hens pecking one another til they have no curly yes or feathers left.

This... why the race to the bottom? My parents have this Irish pension too and have a bigger pension than my UK salary... They paid into a plan with expected benefits ... the problem is someone along the line decided it cist too much so my generation with get less than half that, despite needing to work until at least 68 instead of 58 etc
titchy · 25/08/2021 18:39

Why do you think age is the defining factor in who is deserving of spending money?

Exactly. Why not start a thread about the ridiculous amount premiership footballers are paid? They can't possibly need half a million a week.

FuzzyPuffling · 25/08/2021 18:40

Have I missed something?
Why are you so concerned about UK pensions, OP, when you don't live in this country?

PlanDeRaccordement · 25/08/2021 18:41

@Blindering
Thank for for clarifying. In future would help to put a £ or € on your figures when you’re switching back and forthcoming between currencies.

SimonJT · 25/08/2021 18:41

@Blindering

''Hold on, how is the pension getting bigger? It started out at £500/week and OP now says it’s £2500/mo after tax? So it’s gone from £26k per annum to £40.8k per annum?

Someone’s not got their facts straight.''

513 a week stg equivalent to 600 euro a week. He gets 2500 euro a month so that's about 625 euro a week in total or 535 pounds stg a week. I never mentioned tax until other posters said it and I pointed out that his total net pay into his account was 2500 euro a month.

£535 really isn’t a lot to live on per week after food, utilities, general direct debits like phone, internet, insurance etc. Plus you then need a slush fund for home improvements/maintenance, gifts, clothes, holidays.

You’re more than welcome to live on £535 a week if you think its a fortune.

FlipFlops4Me · 25/08/2021 18:41

My husband worked bloody hard for years and paid into his private pension pot. Now, when he has had a stroke and can't drive, and needs a LOT of care we need that money.

According to you because we don't go out, we've paid off our mortgage (for which both of us worked our socks off) and our kids have left home - hey, we don't need much money.

What about - because we don't/can't go out, and his abilities are severely impaired - I get nice food delivered (no car, I don't drive, shops a long way away) - so that he has some pleasure in life. Is that OK with you, or should we exist on gruel? If we go out, we have to have a taxi. That adds up. Because I have to be with him 24/7 I have a cleaner - is that unreasonable or should I leave him to have an accident while I clean the kitchen?

You sound so pea green bloody jealous it's not true.

PearlyBird · 25/08/2021 18:41

Yes, those pre-95 officers paid their contributions all along. They have no entitlement to a state pension.

MrsTulipTattsyrup · 25/08/2021 18:42

@Blindering

''So in total they get approximately £2000 a month why do you think that is too much?''

if their pension is paid then yes, what would one 'need' 500 quid a month for at that stage in life?

Fuck me, anyone would think that people over 65 are five minutes from the grave! Their lives don’t just go on hold as soon as they don’t have to go to work any more! Even if he doesn’t blow it all on poker and floozies, he might need to replace the roof of his house; have it rewired or replumbed; fix the ceiling after a water leak; install a ground floor bathroom because he finds stairs difficult; have to buy a car when his current one breaks down; pay for dental treatment; need new glasses regularly; need to pay for new furniture and electrical appliances as things break down; and any number of other obligations - as well as all the normal bills that everyone has to pay whether they’re 21 or 71.
Beachhutsandsand · 25/08/2021 18:43

Rude and none of your business. Are u jealous?

Bigboysmademedoit · 25/08/2021 18:44

You are nasty, judgemental and entitled.

Original poster
Blindering · 25/08/2021 18:45

''£535 really isn’t a lot to live on per week after food, utilities, general direct debits like phone, internet, insurance etc. Plus you then need a slush fund for home improvements/maintenance, gifts, clothes, holidays.

You’re more than welcome to live on £535 a week if you think its a fortune.''

it's more than many uk and irish wages, I know cos I lived in the uk for a decade.

OP posts:
FlipFlops4Me · 25/08/2021 18:46

Yep - we need a new freezer and soon we'll need a new microwave. According to you we don't need those things and shouldn't be able to afford them! I am 65 and he is 74 - we were hoping to last a good deal longer.... What about when we need a new carpet, or re-wiring, plumbing work - are we not supposed to have these things done?

Jesus Christ on a bicycle I am so angry with you!

Jessica60 · 25/08/2021 18:46

@Blindering

''It is tricky. My University pension is steadily getting worse and worse, I have to keep paying a greater percentage of my salary to get my pension later and receive a worse pension. This is in part because of having to continue to pay the pensions of earlier generations who were able to retire earlier with a final salary pension who are in general, unsurprisingly in such favourable circumstances, living very long lives.

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.

Not helped that I have a vile retired family member who gloats about his fat final salary pension from USS and how I am working to pay for it - when I will never receive anything like it.

It is a great intergenerational unfairness so I don't think the OP is being unreasonable in raising it.''

Just for all the people who are accusing me of ''not getting it'', this poster has explained very well my point and what many of you don't seem to get. This isn't a pensioner bashing thread, it is about over inflated pensions and inequality.

I agree. I signed up and paid into a pension, still paying which they have changed on me. Basically paying into a pension being told a can retire at x years with x money. Then being told no sorry thanks for the money but we are now giving you a crap pension and you are going to be so old before we will give it you you will not benefit or even be dead
Original poster
Blindering · 25/08/2021 18:47

''This... why the race to the bottom?
My parents have this Irish pension too and have a bigger pension than my UK salary...
They paid into a plan with expected benefits ... the problem is someone along the line decided it cist too much so my generation with get less than half that, despite needing to work until at least 68 instead of 58 etc''

and prepare to be shot and nailed to the cross for raising this.

OP posts:
Davros · 25/08/2021 18:49

they could plan more easily as their wages were higher and their mortgages were a fraction of today, that and money they paid in got much better returns. It's not black and white as you say. It's a case of inequality that I am pointing out.
When were mortgages a fraction of today? I remember the 80s and 90s when interest rates were sky high, mortgages got handed out like confetti and when it all collapsed, many people lost their homes

Original poster
Blindering · 25/08/2021 18:49

''What about when we need a new carpet, or re-wiring, plumbing work - are we not supposed to have these things done?''

what about the generations coming after you who won't have the safety net you have though because it was all spent on yours?

OP posts: