To not have realised that my pension age has gone up?

[IIdentifyAsInnocent]

I'm 45, 46 this year. Checked online 2 years ago and my state pension age was 67, which I thought was bad enough, for some reason checked again today and it's gone up to 68!!

I knew that the govt were thinking of doing this but I have no recollection of being told it had actually happened. This affects my work pension which I now can't take until 68 too as it aligns to state pension age.

Annoyingly, my brother who is 2 years older can still retire at 67!
Have I missed some huge public announcement?

@Hedjwitch I'll probably be the same as you, 40s and want to buy a small flat. I was hoping to work until 67 but who knows for any of us what will happen healthwise?

@TeenLifeMum I am sure you won't retire at 90 😁

I can't imagine they'd stop state pension altogether but am sure they'll do some fiddling around with it.

Well exactly, which is why IMO this whole delaying of state pension age is so stupid. Using up care cost budget, Forcing older people to take jobs from younger people who then may need to seek benefits… and not be saving into their own pensions as a result.

The majority of my NHS pension I can get with a lump sum without penalty at 55. A few of us still have this 'special class status'. Expect even more of a mass exodus of NHS staff as this comes to fruition for us in the next decade. I know so many on the final countdown. 2.5 years for me.
The remaining four years worth I will have to wait until 67.

This is very interesting...and depressing..(hope the link works).

inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/money/pensions-and-retirement/pension-age-rise-68-before-2044-pay-triple-lock-2976913#:~:text=The%20Government%20plans%20for%20a,'%2C%20says%20one%20ex%2Dminister&text=The%20state%20pension%20age%20may,former%20Tory%20ministers%20have%20warned.

I'm 45 and fully expect the state pension to be gone by the time I get to 75.

I’m a woman in the WASPI age group.

I wasn’t sent a letter or personally informed but did generally hear via news channels. Problem was having worked in a low paid charity sector that made no employers pension contributions until the last legal date at the lowest legal rate (and coming very late during the working years) there was barely enough time to save for a pension that you could afford to take any earlier than the state pension.

I am OK. I have incredibly thrifty habits, I never took years out from NI as a SAHM so have a full record and thankfully Covid ate my job and I got a modest redundancy payment that I eked out from age 64 onwards.

I am furious that people younger than me will not get a state pension til older. But at least for my own Dc the employers contributions have been added to their salaries from day one of their employment.

you can retire as a teacher and NHS worker from age 55 but there is a reduction in the amount you receive as obviously they will be paying a lesser amount for longer if you take it 5 years early at 62 it is about 20% less so if due to retire with 15 K per year you will get 12K a year instead, however because the other person is still paying pension contributions their pension will have risen rom 15K to 16-17K

I am ignoring inflation and the fact that NHS and teachers pensions are index linked for the purposes of illustration. Though you have to bear in mind that the person aiming to retire at 67 will have an extra 5 years of contributions to pension pot too. After 10 years if you retired at 62 you will have got 120K in total; if you retire at 67 10 years from today you have 5 years of salary and 75k. By the age of 85 the person retiring at 62 will have had 276K ( 23 x 12K) of pension, the person retiring at 67 will have had 288k( 18 x 16K) pension ( plus 5 years extra salary) basically you need to live to over 83 ish ( if you retire at 67) to get more money from your pension you paid into than the person who retired at 62 with exactly the same pension pot at 62

the real question is therefore can you afford to live on "12K" from 62-67 and then continue with 12K + state pension for the rest of your life to enable you to gainr the extra 5 years from early retirement. This of course depends on many other things do you have other income, savings, do you have a partner with a pension? are they older and already SPA when you are 62 have you paid off your mortgage can you downsize etc etc

Talk about divide and rule.

And the upcoming generation should also be protected by the triple lock. Costs are costs, inflation is inflation and once you are retired your income and resources are finite.

They could support the triple lock via other means FFS.

Completely agree. I've just had to open a bottle of wine to calm me down.

I don’t even bother to pay attention to the age now. It will no doubt change more times in the next 20 years before I get to mid 60s

This was announced when David Cameron was Prime Minister and George (Gideon) Osborne Chancellor. Though so many people have become disengaged with politics it does not surprise me if anyone missed it.

It’s not 55 for everyone. It’s ten years before your state pension age, so if your state pension age is 67, the earliest you can take your pension is 57. NHS may be different but this applies to teacher & local government schemes

Me & my husband was meant to retire at 55, we paid into everything so that at 55 we would be able to retire and live very comfortably for at least 20/25 years, unfortunately that money wouldn’t even let us live comfortably for 25 months let alone years now because of the cost of everything!!

They are just hoping we all die before we get our state pensions it seems . It seems life will just be much harder. , all you will do is work and die

Get a financial advisor. My close friend was in the same position , turned 52 this year and hubby 53 and realised they didn’t have enough so after discussing it with a financial adviser they invested in property ( more specifically holiday homes abroad ) and even on their worst predictions they would still be able to live of it .

And for the WASPI women the extra six years weren't added on gradually, a year or so over a long period. It was a sharp cliff edge, an extra five years to equalise with men (which had to be done, but not in such a way), and then an extra year as well which was like salt in the wound.

As well as bad communication there was hardly any tapering protection, so it was a brutal and sudden extra six years.

Yep, my Mum was a WASPIE, died before she got her pension. With the way the NHS is going we'll be dead before pension age anyway

It’s been due to go up to 68 for about 15 years. It’s been on the books for years.

Really? I took mine at 55. I can’t see anything online saying this has changed

Christ, I'll have to take annual leave for my own funeral at this rate.

That's not true for the vast majority of NHS staff. Only those in the older (1995) section with special class status can retire at 55 (a limited number of front-line proffesionals). Its a bit of myth perpetuated that NHS staff have amazing pensions that kick in at 55....The vast majority are linked to state pension age....

I'm expecting there to not be a state pension by the time I retire. Either that, or it will only be for folks with a minimal alternative provision given that we've had auto enrollment pensions in place for long enough.

The Tories might secretly like to do that, but all European countries have state pensions (better than ours). I’m confident it will continue. Hopefully it’ll stop being pushed back too.

This, am sure last time I checked there was a disclaimer 'this is no guarantee of a state pension' why do people think there's this shite of workplace pension 'we're all in this together' ?( and not the HSM type)
I absolutely believe if you have 75p a week of a private pension you'll get nothing state!

Really? I took mine at 55 in 2019/20 and a google still says that’s possible.