Pensions… again

[GoodnightAdeline]

https://amp.theguardian.com/money/2024/apr/08/uk-state-pensions-benefits-changes-april-triple-lock-rise

Another pension increase we can’t afford when working people are grappling with the cost of the country.

What will be the endgame in all this? Where will we be in 20 years?

I’m retired, can’t yet get my state pension and still pay tax. When I do get it, it will be fully taxed. My income will be the same as my husbands, who’s well off retirement age. Our tax bills will be the same. Pensioners who have both state and private pensions pay tax and that tax supports the economy.

I could say the same about anyone who says Jeff Bezos should pay more tax. Trying to shut down conversation with ‘politics of envy’ rubbish is a Tory tactic actually.

My AIBU is that we are not in a financial position to be paying more to pensioners

But costs have gone up for them too. How are they supposed to buy food & pay bills if they don't get any increase?

How do any of us?

This is an insulting post. AS a boomer, born 1952 I have never called anyone a workshy snowflake. You make a lot of generalisations. I personally have a moderate pension from the NHS in addition to the state pension and I know that, in many ways i am one of a fortunate generation. Nevertheless, there have always been people in low wage employment, always been people with disabilities etc. who have not been fortunate enough to be able to save for retirement. Mortgage interest rates where extremely high in the early 1990s. Maternity leave didn't start until 1979, childcare was hard to find and there was no financial help with it, so some women were out of the labour force for a while. I don't like your ageist generalisations and attempts to whip up a generation war rather than to acknowledge the inequalities in society across all generations.

I know a lot of people in their 30s and 40s and a lot of young people. I am well aware of the housing crisis, high rents and student debt. Don't make lazy generalisations.

Happy to discuss it in a rational way -you start.

All you've posted, repeatedly is ;wah wah wah we can't afford it, it's too expensive' nothing else.

Why not start with your ideas for a solution? What do you think would be a better option (rather than just 'wah wah it's soooooo expensive' and you might GET a rational debate - so off you go...

😂😂 honestly this poster is right up there and not in a good way. Vile post.

Quite right!

When you have parents with not very much these posts seem ridiculous.

And the responses have been hysterical ‘just have pensioners shot then’, so…

I don’t think there should be a ‘solution’. I think the rise shouldn’t happen, and the money should instead be spent on infrastructure.

Saying we can’t afford a pension rise (which we can’t) is ‘vile’? Are hard truths all vile to you or only when you disagree?

What do you mean they’re paying for this rise? There are approx 11 million over 65s - and approx 8.5 million of them are still paying Income Tax, so they’re paying too.
If there isn’t enough money to run the welfare state then look to the corrupt government and their bad decisions and stop playing in to their divide and conquer rhetoric - lest the income tax paying over 50s all start to demand that their hard earned taxpayer money stops being spent on in work benefits and childcare for the younger generations…..

@GoodnightAdeline

How do any of us?

Well I have taken on extra hours at work & selling stuff on Vinted.

Do you get child benefit? Have you had money towards child care at any point? I see lots of people on here getting 85% child care costs paid & lots of free hours (which I never got). Why pick on old people?

Yep. My father is still working at 78.

Even Labour acknowledge our spending is so far beyond our means that there’s going to be little they can actually do, they’ve had to put a pin in all their expensive policies.

The tories are awful and many of them should be locked up frankly, but dragging them out as an excuse for everything is inaccurate and impedes us facing reality.

Your attitude is disgusting. Take a long look in the mirror OP. Your I'm alright Jack attitude 35 years before retirement makes me want to hurl.

Thank you!

I've actually used a food bank since we became pensioners.

No I don’t get child benefit. I’ve never claimed any benefits whatsoever. I get tax free childcare but have paid the full rate which actually supports other people who don’t work in getting it for free.

So then, once again, Is it just pension increases you’re outraged about or are you similarly agitated by all of the other benefits that will be raised next month too?

@GoodnightAdeline
May I politely ask how many years you have to go before qualifying for the state pension in its current form - i.e. with the age set at 66, and the triple lock being in place?
Of course you don't need to answer that, but can I assume that when you do begin receiving it, you will decline any increase because the country can't afford it?

There doesn't seem to be much point in having a proper discussion with you though, as you aren't coming across as well-informed.

As has been pointed out, the economy is not like balancing a budget. There is enough money to pay people's pensions - it's just that it's not coming out of a piggy bank where their contributions have been stored for decades. Pensioners, on the whole, did not get furlough payments, many of them didn't get subsidised university places (and even with fees, most undergraduates are subsidised), they worked since they were teenagers and didn't get allowances for childcare or even maternity pay. Different generations have different challenges, and many pensioners are parents of young adults who are struggling with housing costs and so on. Some will leave inheritances to their Millenial and GenY children, too - I never hear friends say they are going to donate their inheritances to the poor, do you?

As a matter of interest, what exactly have you done to make the economy better for your children's generation? I'm not expecting the answer to be that you've done very much, as it's virtually impossible to do anything other than pay your taxes and not defraud the system. Much like today's pensioners, really.

Why don't we just bring back the workhouses and be done with it!

Yes that’s exactly what I’ve been saying.

Not.

That's why you need to make your own pension provision.

Even when the state pension was introduced, it was a safety net. It was never meant to be more than that. Everyone needs to set up a private pension.

I’m not agitated by means tested benefits.