To think this is a real possibility in the future? (State pension)

[TheOtherBoleynSister]

I am 34 and ever since I started working people have said don’t rely on there being a state pension. So I’m pretty pessimistic about it.

I honestly believe that for people under 40, the universal state pension (paid regardless of income or capital to those who have paid NI for a certain number of years) won’t exist. That there will be no qualifying ‘age’, and instead older people will be the same as the rest of the population when it comes to benefit eligibility ie. Have to be certified as too ill or physically unable to work, and get UC if income is low and savings are below £16k. In other words, being a certain age won’t entitle us to any benefit like it does now.

In this awful very bleak future, older people who can no longer work, who have savings/money above the threshold or private pensions, will need to rely solely on the money they have unless or until they get to the point where they now qualify for benefits.

Of course I don’t want this to happen, but with all the stories about the cost of pensions and the rising number of older people it feels inevitable. But the reality is many people’s private pensions won’t be nearly enough to last (but maybe they will be forced to spend them before any help), and there’s also talk in the press of some wanting to do away with ‘generous’ public sector pensions (which are not as generous as they used to be, albeit they are better than a lot of private schemes).

I am quite aware of pensions due to older relatives and friends who are of that age, but many people my age haven’t a clue about them or how they work. I do think we will be seeing a real disaster in less than 30 years, but people don’t care as it’s someone else’s/ tomorrow’s problem.

In the future the way roles are etc it will have to be universal basic income, especially when robots and machines will dso the majority of roles etc

Surely that isn’t really feasible though? No one would want to do the less desirable jobs anymore, those that can’t be done by robots.

Yes, I imagine it will be means tested in the future.
Public sector pensions is another problem where we keep kicking the can down the road - over one trillion of unfunded liability.

Of course there won’t be any state pension, there will only be set benefits that people will be on for life. If you’ve ever worked, you will pay out towards others and never receive anything!

some roles would still need doing but the amout of people needed would be alot smaller than it would have been during the industrial revolution era

I can’t see it happening. I don’t think it would be good for society for either. What would all the people who can’t get a job do all day? Plus everyone would have less money so it would kill many industries.

I don’t agree. I think people who are pensioners now are financially less literate and had less opportunity for private pensions than the working generations today.

For example, they didn’t have opt out pension contributions. When pensions were less regulated, it wasn’t uncommon for people to just lose them - my dad did, for example. The “pension company” just went bankrupt. We have more regulation now to mitigate against this.

neither my parents or in laws have private pensions- the only friends and family they know who do had professions known for good pensions- teacher, local authority employee, nhs.

it’s far more common now for people to have private pensions, although I agree most people won’t be able to build a pot that supports them until death.

What do people do now who don’t work? Scroll through their phones?

I agree. I think it's a disaster waiting to happen, and once all the people in the private sector on defined benefit pensions have gone, the rest will realise they don't have anything close to enough money in their defined contribution pension or SIPP and people are going to severely curtail their lifestyles to the point of a recession.

The only retirees who will have a comfortable life will be public sector workers. And the private sector workers will be paying for that.

Was just having this conversation with DH today. I think we’re in for a very rough retirement, despite both being above average income with modest private pensions.

Well most are either trying to get a job, have caring responsibilities, unwell/not able to work etc. Very few will be not working because they just don’t want to.

I disagree with you there, I think there’ll be an influx of people trying to get sickness benefits as a guaranteed income. Like there is already

There will be no pension for people currently under the age 40. People currently in their 50s will be ok. There is a reason everyone has to have a pension now - it will stop. They will give people 20 years notice but nothing more .

Perhaps - but the ability to take public sector pensions is also tied to state pension age, and if you want to take it earlier it’s reduced by quite a lot. When the Gov increases SPA, the age you can access these pensions goes up too.

We have 978000 NEETS- what are they all doing?
I am not implying that nobody wants to work, but these are the taxpayers of the future so this economic inactivity is a massive problem.

It’s extremely difficult for young people out of education to get a job now. Entry level jobs and apprenticeships get upwards of 300 applications.

Assuming these public sector pensions can be funded, as they are primarily unfunded.

why do you think this? It’s quite specific

No point in building savings for retirement, then!

I’m 38, from fairly young adulthood I assumed there would either be no state pension, or it would be means tested so I’ve always planned not to rely on it. I know live abroad, I also wouldn’t be surprised if you had to be resident in the UK during pensionable age to claim your state pension.

I started work in 1986. I knew then, or very shortly after, that the state pension would be insufficient. I agree with @ShanghaiDiva that it will eventually be means tested.

I am 55 now, just coming up 56, and I shudder to think what would happen if I were solely reliant on the state pension.

It is a perfect storm of people of my age and onward not understanding the gravity of the situation, cost of living caused by war, cost of living caused by pandemic, and cost of living caused by successive shit governments.

That, and that we have had low taxes forever when compared to other countries with better everything. We do have the highest rate of tax we have ever had, but it is still low compared to other countries.

I've been hearing this since I was younger than you and I am a lot closer to pension age now than you. What I would say is that making changes to pensions take a long time. The 1 year increase in the pension age from 2026 was first discussed in 2011 and legislated for in 2014 - so 12 years to phase in. The next increase is not currently for 20 years (although with possibility to review). The experiences with the WASPI women has shown the need to inform well in advance. Australia started generations in advance when superan at 10% minimum of salary was introduced. So it is not something that will take you by surprise. Only key point to note on that is that pensioners (boomers) vote and so the govt is more wary of p*ssing them off!

I agree OP. That's why the government needs to remove the triple lock for current pensioners, to prevent massive generational unfairness.

Massive generational unfairness? I think not! Triple lock is only a modest increase in pension, swiftly wiped out by the rise in council tax!

I think this is true and I don't understand why it's such a bad idea. NI is just another tax, not a private savings pot. Universal benefits are nuts. We can't afford it.