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

You might get occasional days of Supply (if you can cope with it!) but I can't see the being keen to offer someone of 71 a full time job, with form tutoring, preparing, marking, and teaching.

That's exactly the position I'm in now. I either eat today, or in 30 years.

Good points made.
I'm very lucky to have reached state pension age last summer aged 66.
I retired from teaching July '23 a month short of turning 65.
Teaching is a very physical job, non stop from the moment you walk through the school door.
Can't see many teachers making it to late 60s to be honest

Yes they are. But you have to start early enough. Compounding does the work.

At 55 you haven't got very long to plan to make up the loss of 4 years pension which is like 45k to save over 12 years.

Wheras as 21 you have 40 years to save up that 4 year gap.

Both my parents had serious health problems by that age that would have prevented them working. Cancer, surgeries, chemo, major abdominal surgery. Neither of my PILs could have worked at that age either - and were dead a short few years later. You can't get blood from a stone.

If we don't pay people state pension when they are old, then we will need to pay them sick pay or some sort of benefits instead.

Wheras as 21 you have 40 years to save up that 4 year gap.

Not with housing costs and shot wages...

Well that's not how its going so far, generations are getting less healthy

Wow, those are sobering statistics indeed.

This. And you're not so easily able to shift career paths into something that you'll be able to work longer in as well - a 55 year old has limited career change or retraining opportunities because of age discrimination from employers and existing commitments (eg children) that mean they can't easily take a short term pay cut for longer term gain.

At 21 you have more options.

I completely agree but it's always been on the cards - both the private and public pensions, and particularly the generous final pension schemes, are unsustainable and slowly bankupting the country. I'm born in 1975 and not sure I'll be particularly fit for work at 71 - god knows what all us fogeys will actually be expected to do, especially given the ongoing massive ageism in the workplace - so it sucks but it's always been inevitable. I've got a private pension but it won't be enough to retire on without the state pension to back it up. Seriously, the baby boomer generation have been sooooooo lucky in comparison to us Gen Xers and everyone else who's come after them!

"I think it's having a major impact on the maturity of the young people - everyone takes that step of maturity when they get their first job and it's just not happening at the same ages as previously."

They will be working for so many years that they shouldn't be starting to early.

Well not being able to fund it yourself will stop many people won't it?

It's only the state pension which no-one should seriously expect to live off anyway. You should be making alternate arrangements and if you want to stop earlier, make sure you save enough. No-one is stopping you. It's more about what the country can afford than how long you want to work. If the pot is too small to pay out earlier than age 71, what can you do?

You may think it's a fabulous pension - but how much about it do you actually know, bar a simple statement?

If you did, then you'd know it was linked to the state pension age/

Exactly. How much more will a 21 year old have to pay in housing. I'm guessing far more than funding that 4 year gap.

Oh dear. That 'early enough' has already gone for many of us.

It's been completely obvious to me since I was a child that state pension will not exist when I get to it, so it should have been obvious to you if you were an adult.

Everyone needs to take responsibility for themselves, you can't have the state propping everyone up until they're 18 and then again from 60-95, that would mean people were only paying in for half their lives, that's completely unsustainable.

I'm a millennial so entirely used to having the rug pulled out from under me at every turn. It's not right for older generations to say it's not fair on them, but fine for us constantly. I don't feel like that towards zoomers.

I think this is a crucial point. We are paying billions to sustain people who are very elderly, and ready to go. My mother is in her eighties, and has had enough. Dementia and heart problems. This is no quality of life, whatsoever.

I don't want to live like that either.

That's not how it works. There is no 'pot'. Pensions are paid from current tax revenues (and borrowing).

Who's fault is that? For years we've been told to pay into a private pensions. All the information is out there.

The amount of I'm alright Jack and you should just do what I do is truly sickening and is showing your arse privilege.

Plus I think people forget how much voluntary stuff is reliant on active retirees. Many community groups and charities will dry up because there will be far fewer people retiring while still in good enough health to do that kind of thing.

They want people to work until they drop, die on the job. Far too old!

Yeah but what's the alternative? The poor people with no pensions just....die?