To think 71 is too old for state pension age?

[winterwonder1]

This isn't just for people who are 21 now - that's for people born after 1970 - so 55 now. I can't imagine being fit enough to do my job at 71.
DWP State Pension age will have to rise to 71 says report | News Shopper

What about them? There are precious few of them left now. State pension age has been more than 60 for everyone for a decade now. The thing I don’t understand is why prescriptions are still free from 60, I could easily afford to pay for mine.

This isn’t true. You’ll only get the whole NHS pension if you wait til retirement age but you can take it with penalties from minimum pension age (55 or 57 depending on your age)

In 1908 when the State Pension was first introduced for those aged 70 and over, a woman of this age was expected to live on average an additional 9.3 years, and a man 8.4 years (1901), meaning pensions needed to last around 9 years. However, compare this to the latest figures and we see how pensions need to last longer. The current state pension age for men is 65 and for women it will reach 65 by November 2018. In 2011 men and women at this age were expected to live for approximately 20 more years, meaning we need to make our pensions last more than twice as long as when they were first introduced.

@wipeywipe

54 was taking out 0-5 years but the above will hopefully give a more comparable view of pension years

Or volunteers to work in the charity sector etc.

Very good point

Also if you're on UC and manage to save for retirement - or anything else - you're penalised for it, I'd raise the savings limit

if you save into a work pension whilst claiming UC you actually decrease your take home pay and therefore not only save into your pension but increase your UC amount

That's already the case for many families.

I am of the WASPI cohort.
Having worked for decades as a PICU nurse I developed ME just after the DWP reneged on our contract to deliver my state pension at age sixty. I struggled on for as long as I could, increasing my hours to improve my SP forecast but soon burnt out and had to stop altogether . I am so glad I persisted paying into my nurses' pension, it supported me until SP kicked in years later but it was a lean time.
Terms and Conditions at work/H&S/ pension rights have changed for women but the physical, emotional and mental toil of nursing is brutal - especially coupled with the babybearing and childrearing years .
Although I have just received notification of an increase to my SP I think the amount paid to future retirees will lessen and the age to qualify will increase til we're all close to death.

Retirement age is 63 for men, 58 for women (managerial) and 55 for other women in China. It's a question of political will I expect therefore.

@winterwonder1
Whilst it's great that you've sparked an interesting debate and people thinking about all the dilemmas of an aging demographic everyone on the thread needs to know this is not actually being proposed
What has happened is that Winters local online newspaper published a story about a report that was written by a small niche charity. My guess the 'personal finance journalist' knows someone in said tinpot charity and/or it was a slow news day/she was struggling for copy and the editors were out to lunch. The 'report' is not from government or anybody relevant to government decision making.....

I've worked full-time my whole life, but as a single parent after divorce, couldn't afford to pay into a pension. The government and people who don't get this are just tone deaf. Many of us wouldn't be able to pay our gas/electric if we paid into a pension. We're not choosing fags and booze over a pension. We're trying to keep a roof over our head.

Cheers. I'll tell my exh that after he completed wrecked my life I every way inc financially, from which I've never really recovered. Oh but I will have paid 51 years NI when I get my pension. Clearly not enough in your view. With the high cost of childcare etc I never managed to have a private pension. So hey, maybe I should just starve then. With 51 years payments accrued.
FFS.

Exactly. BUT then the grandparents look after the grandchildren. No worries about SAHM's or childcare when they go back to work. Granny AND grandad do it. An entirely sensible system.

I am nearly 40 so I expect this will be my state retirement age. However I have also been saving into a private pension since I started working at least 10% so won’t have to rely on state pension and will be able to retire earlier.

We need a shift in culture where individuals prioritise private pension contributions

A lot of people are barely making ends meet now. How is one supposed to save up for a pension in this day and age if you're not a high earner?

What about them?

My previous point, did they stop
paying NI at 60?

I take your response as a yes!

The thing I don’t understand is why prescriptions are still free from 60,

I don't get this at all, it won't be around for the youngsters though.

I am in the same boat. Divorce has shattered my finances, and absolutely ruined me. I think the stress of it (it did give me stress-related health issues at the time) has taken years off my life, I really do, so maybe I won't need a pension after all anyway. The best I feel I can do now is put a whatever I can aside now for my children so they have a better start in life than I did, and if they feel like it, maybe they can share me in my old age, in a campervan in their garden.

I've been paying a decent amount into a decent private pension pretty much since I graduated. I'm late 50s now and still can't foreseeably retire until much before state pension age.

@MikeRafone pensions were maybe never really sustainable but it's ok if you have pyramid demographics.

I think this is just another route to bypass means testing it but achieving a similar result.

• wealthier people with private pensions will have the choice to retire earlier at their own expense.
• poorer people will probably have to reduce their hours through their 60s as they become less able to manage full time work, and receive benefit top ups to maintain their income.

Overall the state will spend less as it won't have to provide state pension to wealthier people until later.

There has also been a huge push to force employers to provide pensions and i suspect over time required contributions will rise a lot.

Do you mean pay into a pension instead of heating the house? Or instead of eating?

Some of us don't have the ability to save anything into a pension. Minimum wage doesn't enable this.

Yes, there are a lot of job vacancies that can’t be filled. But they are not going to be filled with 70 year olds.

Cancer has completely fucked up my ability to progress/ save, whatever. I will be lucky if I get to take my LGP/ Teacher pension, let alone my state pension!

regardless of a pyramid or a tube - if the governments had prepared for the cost - they'd have years to do so and somehow expect the public to prepare but don't lead by example...

well perhaps the charities can employ them to do the volunteer work

My pension age is 67 but realistically I am expecting I will have to work until 70. But yep, it is horrendous to be looking at that as a standard age.