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

Yes, mine too and that was a shock (I had no idea before I joined the public sector). I do have a pension from my private sector job so planning to use that from 65ish under I can access my public sector one.

Instead of making employers contribute more into pension schemes, they have been given huge rises in NI contributions. This massive tax increase on employment can only result in more unemployment.

@MikeRafone government is always short term thinking

You can access it earlier than that if you want, although it will be a reduced rate.

And perhaps pigs will fly

Starting to pay into a private pension makes sense even if it's a small amount. The younger you are when you start paying the better. I retired at 51, by a series of investments over the years and living frugally before retirement.

I've been paying into my private pension to retire early, now they've changed the age of that too, so can't access it

A surgeon will have a private work pension they can drawdown aged 55

If you want an enjoyable retirement you will need to fund it yourself - you are not entitled to decades (or even years) of leisurely retirement. State pension is just another form of safety net, and we cannot afford for everyone to take it. There will always be those that decline / die before the threshold (plenty cannot work into their 60s today), but we need as many people working or paying their own way as possible if we want to keep safety nets for those that cannot.

I think there is a mindset problem in the UK where too few feel any responsibility or urgency over retirement planning. Labour seem to be contemplating reducing tax incentives for retirement savings, which is the exact opposite of what we need. We want people to build big pension pots that will see them through retirement, pay care home fees, etc.

Yep. Too old.. I’ll need to add extra to my private pension in case I’m ever lucky enough to get to that point.

What I suspect will happen (in my very stressful high paced job) is at some point I’ll just keep over dead at work. I think that’s what the people in charge are aiming for. Or a lot of OAPs on sickness benefits and PIP as they won’t be fit enough to work.

How is someone on a minimum wage job supposed to do that?

My mum died of COPD at age 73. She'd been a frail 'old' lady from about age 70 and most certainly wouldn't have been able to work with macular degeneration on top leaving her pretty much blind. Have these people taken into account the rapid increase of health issues after age 65? It was age 65 for a reason, after this you become more prone to health issues and less able to work. Not everyone of course but across the board.

I thought it was the other way round since the pension changes of 10 - 15 years ago (??). With work pensions schemes (money purchase, not final salary) being capable of drawdown aged 55

Yes, but we are talking about people now, I think, and what I have said is more the situation for many working class people. Others, of course, make their own arrangements.

I find this very irritating- private pension access is tied to 10 years before state pension age. I think the answer on a personal level is is also building an ISA for flexible access. If Labour penalise private pensions pots / erode pension tax incentives then this is where my extra will go so that I can retire when I want/need to.

Will paying a pension be worth it if most of us will die before receiving it in the future?

Unless it's final salary, you're allowed to drawdown from aged 55

The introduction of the state pension was the beginning of the welfare state and i wonder if people have forgotten or aren't interested in what society was like before it existed.

How will people on low paid jobs, doing jobs that are fundamentally important but just badly paid ever going to be able to self fund a comfortable old age?

I worry people want to return to what life was like before it, which was basically absolute poverty for low paid workers when they can't work anymore

To be perfectly honest, I’ve been planning to get by without a state pension because I’m pretty certain it’ll be means tested (with virtually any amount of savings or home ownership rendering you ineligible) by the time I get close to it. I expect before that happens there will be both an uplift in the age it becomes available and also an increase in the contribution years. (Start at 70 or 72 and need 40 rather than 35 years of contributions). Doesn’t thrill me, but they’ve done nothing but move the goalposts further away since I started work.
I’m also planning for them to shift the drawdown age for private/workplace pensions back further - it’s now 57 and I highly suspect they’ll push it to 60.

There are already a number of people who cannot work to the current retirement age - if she has no savings then there would be other benefits available to bridge the gap. State pension age is just the age when you become eligible to receive state pension - you can stop working anytime if you have the funds or a medical exemption from work.

I'm lucky enough to have retired early but this sounds grim. 71!! I'm 54 and can't imagine working for 17 years from now. As others have said, many jobs require physical fitness and anyway, there will be fewer jobs for youngsters.

Is it worth it for most of us to pay into the myriad of benefits programmes that we will never use?

It's 67 at the moment and I think it's the absolute limit of being (not being very) reasonable. With statistics It's only another 10 ish years of life and when older.

If you have a good lifelong work pension you can retire earlier but won't get state until later. If you've not worked enough or never, you will get benefits and pension credit plus a lot of extra financial help.

Long gone are the days of retiring in your 50s, which was the norm. Xx

Although we have people in my workplace working into their 70s I couldn't think of anything worse. There's some heavy manual handling, climbing, sometimes you need to kneel down, some muscle strength and co-ordination is involved and I don't think I'll iayss my fitness test even at 60. I plan to retire at 65 even though my state pension doesn't kick in until 68. The system is laughable.

Most sensible and clear thing I've read in ages. Totally puts it in perspective.