Who is going to pay for your state pension/ care in old age?

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Apparently birth rates are falling, and this is putting future pensions (and I would imagine general tax income) in jeopardy as the population will proportionally age.

What's the solution? Should we just write off our paid for "right" to a state pension and state support for care in older age?

Does this change your view on public investment in supporting people to have children if you otherwise thought this was a personal choice and you should support/ pay for your own children?

AIBU to think that NI contributions for "pension" is essentially government mandated mis-selling and state pension will go out the window in the next few decades?

I don't think anyone should hold Japan up as a model of how to deal with an aging population.

Why don't we have people save for their own pensions? You privately save up with your nest egg?

One of the biggest reasons I haven’t had children is because I want to be able to retire one day. Household income would be too much for benefits, but not enough to live comfortably if there’s a child in the scenario. The biggest cost would be childcare or the loss of income by reducing hours - or both.

I also know having a child would mean I’d probably never be able to retire as I wouldn’t be able to put much in my pension for the future. If it’s a choice between having a child and working until 70+, or not having one but being able to stop working earlier, I’ll choose the latter.

It only works in Japan because the population is trained to do the right thing, clean, tidy. Have you looked at the UK standard of behaviour?

Retiring abroad doesn't exactly solve the issue because, having worked in the UK since the age of 21, I will still be drawing my UK pension even when living abroad. I won't use the NHS so that's the only saving to the public purse.
Also, I struggle to imagine why would I retire abroad to a country that hasn't been my home for over 45 years at that point...

Interesting that you see the state pension as the top up for a better lifestyle, rather than the other way round, with workers' private pensions being the top up. The state pension should be there to stop people being destitute. Private and workplace pensions are for workers who want better in retirement than just the basics. That's why they work their socks off and do salary sacrifice and AVCs, and go with fewer luxuries during their working life.

If the government were to suddenly tell people that all that sacrifice during their working life was for nothing, and that actually they were working so hard just to give themselves exactly the same as someone who HADN'T sacrificed the same, there would be a revolt. People would go back to hoarding cash under their beds.

Quite a lot of public sector workers retire earlier. I know 2 headteachers and 3 teachers, a senior police officer all left after 30 years service. Its not as unusual as you think.

I don’t know, it worries me too, maybe they will bring workhouses back and put us all in there.

Honestly I'm glad Japan isn't opening their doors to mass immigration at least as a cheap fix.

That’s because public sector pensions are so generous surely.

and police pension kicks in early.

Sometimes, I think hoarding cash under the bed is not the worst idea. Workhouses are suddenly looking like a possibility. Hopefully we have enough put by to dodge being sent there.

Because we should be encouraging people to make provision for their future. I thought I said that already?

If people want to discuss having a means tested state pension in the future fine - but people need adequate time to prefer for such a shift. But the more and more all aspects of the welfare state is just reserved for the poorest / feckless the less and less support there will be for it.

Still retired early. Which was what was asked. Common in some occupations.

If you don’t like in Japan why would you care?

I’m not sure if that’s the case anymore, for women especially.

Lonely and broke pensioners in Japan have been turning to crime to get sent to prison so they have company and shelter.
If you google it, it has been a thing going on for years.

My neighbours, a former headteacher and his wife a deputy at a different school retired late 50's.

Other neighbours a community nurse manager retired before 60 and her husband public servant, sone type of statistical work retired at 60.

It's more common in public sector but lots of people work in public sector.

Partner' ex retired at 58 from clinical psychologist role. Partner due to retire is not 60 yet.

Cousin and husband partner's in law firm early 50's but could easily retire if they wished to.

Everyone who retires early lives on private pension. That’s what early means - before you’re eligible for state pension.

I don't mind working the extra years because at 63 I'm still running 10k. Contraception means I didn't have 7 children like my mum. I've had better healthcare, better nutrition etc. I have better housing, a car etc so my life is not comparable to my mums. And work is administrative rather than manual.
I've paid 45 years NI so far.

I think the requirement to get a full state pension will rise from 35 to 40 years NI and maybe more.

Nobody gets state support for care if they have assets above £20k - you have to pay for it.

It would make barely any difference to raise it from 35 to 40 years. Most people will have 40+ years on their record by the time they get to their 60s as you get years for having children, being on benefits, full time education under 18 etc. Some people will have 40 years and never worked.

Some of the people who wouldn’t have enough years would be those who worked part time jobs and didn’t earn enough. For example I worked for years at a supermarket while studying, some months I earned enough to pay NI, sometimes I didn’t, but because it was inconsistent I didn’t get full years ‘stamp’ for those years despite still paying something.

But then if you don’t have ‘full stamp’ and have low savings and income you can get pension credit which is worth more than the state pension anyway (due to the other things it makes you eligible for).

Does housing count? No sure what you will do with all these homeless pensioners who had to sell their homes to fund their pensions 🤷🏼‍♀️

So we agree, then. What period of time do you think the country needs to plan for such a shift and a means tested pension?

How long would it take a person on average wage to add 12k a year to their private pension? That long.

Aren't people who own their houses have to pay from their estate/assets for care?

Whilst those on benefits in a rented council house get free care?