Pensions to rise with inflation - but what about working people???

[doris9034]

BBC Website: "Liz Truss and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt jointly agreed to guarantee that the state pension rises with inflation next year - thereby maintaining the "triple lock" - ahead of PMQs this morning, Downing Street says.
In a huddle with reporters after PMQs, the prime minister's official spokesman said the decision reflected the "unique position" of pensioners who are "unable to increase their earnings through work"

But I - and millions of others - are also unable to "increase our earnings through work" because we are in the middle income bracket, our employers do not have the capacity to raise our earnings in line with inflation and we don't qualify for any state related benefits.

So, whilst I 100% don't begrudge the helping of pensioners (many of whom are probably among the better off anyway), I can't help but feeling a bit annoyed that it always seems to be the ordinary working person / family that never gets any respite from the ever increasing cost of living.

I wasn’t aware that a decision had been made on the % rise of benefits. Perhaps your crystal ball is functioning better than mine. You obviously believe it is as you seem able to see decades into the future to accurately forecast the kind of retirement you might have.

Your generation isn’t the first or only one to have mortgages, how do you think all those allegedly wealthy pensioners bought their houses? One day your mortgage will be paid off and the window of paying for childcare is relatively short.

Maybe read @ArseInTheCoOpWindow’s post again and reflect on it. Not only has my generation paid for two generations’ healthcare costs, education (probably including yours) and the rest of government spending, but it’s paid two previous generations’ pensions too. Currently it’s also paying for the social care of what remains of the previous generation too.

Does it not concern older people that an entire generation feel so disenfranchised and let down?

Yes, of course it does. But is it an entire generation, or just vocal people on here.

You seem to forget that we have children in their 20’s and 30’s. They’ve been absolutely fucked over. Absolutely. Ds has just bought a house. He’s lived at home since university to save the deposit. It’s shit shit for him. It’s shit for all of them. He’s 29. It’s shit that he’s got student loans. It’s shit that he won’t have any disposeable income due to CoL.

But it’s not the parent’s fault. I’ve voted Labour all my life. I’ve paid NI all my life. That’s about 36 years, in the expectation I’d get a pension.

Then people come on and say, ‘they shouldn’t get the state pension’ Why did l pay NI? DH has paid in 47 years. All those schools, doctors, teachers he’s paid for. And would you just turn round and says ‘we’ll you can’t have it any more’ He’s got a small private pension, but he’s been relying on getting his state pension.

l don’t know any wealthy ‘older’ people. Most are just scrabbling about, similar to younger people tbh.

I would think voting patterns are a pretty clear indication that young people generally feel disenfranchised

Part of the problem is definitely NI. It's just a tax. Calling it National Insurance, and seperating it out, does seem to mean a lot of people think its money being paid into their own personal pension pot.
It needs to just be added to general taxation I think since that's what it is used for. Would probably stop a lot of confusion.
But other than that something does need to be done. An element of the pensions maybe should be means tested? Incentives given for downsizing homes on retirement? I don't know, but we can't carry on as we are. There will be nothing left for my generation and I literally fear for the one after that.

It’s not an entire generation. None of the people we know in that generation regularly attack older people. It’s a bitter, resentful minority who think decades of work and paying tax mean nothing.

I'm certainly not bitter and resentful. I'd just like to see a bit more support for the young as well as older people.
And I think it is an entire generation. Just look at how many young people vote. Is it because we're all spoilt and don't know we're born, or because we feel utterly forgotten?

You pay NI to fund various benefits now, not to receive a pension in future.

The simple fact is that the generation who have been in government and positions of power over the last few decades have mismanaged the economy (and the planet) to breaking point. Unless there is a drastic change there will be severe and significant impacts to benefits and public services because they are unaffordable under the current model.

The only question that remains is who should bear the brunt of those impacts, those who created the mess or those who have been handed a broken system?

In my own experience there has been a huge surge in participation and intrest i politics from the younger generations.

I'm in my early 30s and have always had an active interest in politics. 10 years ago I was in the minority in my social circles but now virtually every single person I know has become more invested and active in politics. It's even more noticeable in those younger than me and many I speak to genuinely feel like their futures have been stolen from them by the greed and selfishness of older generations.

The past few months illustrate this is brilliantly. Poll after poll after poll shows the no.1 concern of millenials and younger is climate change, by a considerable margin (something like 73% say this is their biggest concern). The next biggest concern is wealth inequality.

So what are those in power doing to address this? Nothing. In fact, they are actively supporting and pursuing initiatives and policies that will make both worse in the future so that they can continue living unsustainably now.

NI was set up as a ‘contract’ between young and old. That was how it was structured. It was developed for a ‘cradle to grave’ approach. You pay NI for a pension

It’s on the government website.

How are we the reason we’re buggered? We’ve, on the whole, worked, paid our taxes, paid into our pensions and done everything we were supposed to. The only questionable thing I’ve done is have a child but nobody knew that it was the single thing that had the most detrimental impact on the environment 47 years ago. What exactly have we done to be so hated?

Please explain why you believe this to be the case

It's not true that the boomers enjoyed a bonanza with low house prices and easy affordability. Figures from Hamptons/Bank of England quoted in the Sunday Times two days ago, using the then average FT salaries of single person households to calculate the % of salary necessary to pay 75% mortgages over 25 year terms show that from January 1974 until Q3 2007, it cost anywhere between 69% of salary in Jan 1974 and 52% in Q3 2007. In October 89 it peaked at 77% of salary, with interest rates at just under 15%. In Q3 2022, the same figure shows 46% of salary is swallowed by mortgage costs.

Link below, if you can defeat the paywall!

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/why-double-digit-interest-rates-could-crash-the-housing-market-xs6t65lld

It's not competitive misery: buying a property has ALWAYS been difficult, especially the early years. However, childcare costs are eyewatering now, but I wasn't a parent when I bought my little flat.

Here you go. Sorry about the fucked up formatting, it’s a casualty of c & p.

Affordability over time

Mortgage repayments as a percentage of the average salary

Table with 4 columns and 6 rows. Currently displaying rows 1 to 6.
Year Percentage of salary spent on mortgage BoE base rate Equivalent base rate today
Jan-74 69% 12.75% 6.5%
Apr-80 66% 17.00% 6%
Oct-89 77% 14.88% 8%
2007 Q3 52% 5.50% 3.5%
2022 Q3 46% 2.25% 2.25%

Thanks @Blossomtoes . I am sh8t at formatting!

The first graph shows how the cost burden on young people has increased and the benefits to the older generation through the triple lock has increased.

Those graphs don’t cover the same time period @1dayatatime. And I’m struggling to understand the first one. Any chance of a link?

Nice.

Maybe we should just shoot them all then.
Eugenics shoukd see them off.

These wicked people who’ve looked you when ill, taught you, paid for your recreational facilities, supported your parents in a similar manner. How dare they carry on being alive and scrounging off you?

@1dayatatime, I think Bank of England figures trump the Resolution Foundation.

Well said, @ArseInTheCoOpWindow !

It was interesting that Rishi said about not heaping debt on the younger generations

The big problem is that we are getting to a point where 2 generations of pensioners are going to need state help. That is a huge amount of people and not something that was forseen when the state pension was created.

That’s always been the case. It’s nothing new.

But the point is that younger people are paying more for older people to have better retirements than they will ever be able to have themselves

But you don’t know for sure.

Well we know private schemes aren't as generous even for those in the public sector & we know that state retirement age has been moved out.

It hasn't always been the case though has it. This is the first population boom since pensions began. It is quite literally unprecedented and we have totally failed to plan for it.