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

[itsadlibitum]

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?

You fannied about with travelling.
I had my first job at 16.

I am OP :)

I wouldn't say I am pissed off about it, but I do think it's misselling. It's the social contract, pay your NI and get your state pension. The number of flyers I got about it when I was pregnant - remember to claim CB if I took time off work to get my NI credits for pension.

People won't work longer, at least not long enough to make up for the proportionate aging population, and they are going to become more expensive. Not least because of poor healthy life expectancy.

State pension, like all benefits, is designed so the elderly don't die homeless or of starvation. Not to give a certain standard of living. I think it will continue and be means tested but it won't be there as an top up to spend on golf club membership and cruises.

I'm in my early 50s. I grew up with the expectation that the state pension qualification date would increase as life expectancy increased and as birth rates fell. It was drummed into my peers that a private pension was essential if you wanted any level of reasonable retirement. Was that not the case for everyone?

My quality of life is immeasurably better than my grandmother (a farm worker married to an abuser who was forced to bear 8 children) and my mother (minimum wage and socially housed).

Same! Was promised this when starting work back in the 80s. Feel like I was scammed!

Well, good for you! Doesn’t alter my point.

The youngest 'boomers' also won't retire till they're 67 despite starting work at 15/16. As ever it's more a class issue than a generational issue.

I'm 36 and I'm going through life assuming that there will be no government issued pension available to me when I retire so I put a decent chunk into my pension with that in mind. If there is still a state pension then it'll be a pleasant surprise, but I'm not banking on it!

Actually all very different. So police and firemen. Super early retirement. Continue to work part time. Teachers gone part time. Doctors gone part time. Lots of self employed consultant types given up due to tax and other burdens for sme's.

I wasn't able to have children and while I am happy for my taxes to go to helping those with kids I am not sure if I should be penalised for infertility.

Healthy life expectancy isn't rising anywhere near as fast though and sits around 62ish last I saw

Just out of interest, how is "healthy" defined?

Police service/Fire Service, Doctors, Teachers and Consultants.

A real cross section of all types of employment then.......😂

I'm not sure what will happen, but I definitely think it's mis-sold. Many people seem to think that by paying their taxes they are paying into some kind of 'pot' that will be waiting for them when they retire.

Being able to walk because your knees and back haven't given out after more than forty years of lifting and shifting????

That would be entirely unacceptable. We pay NI and will need it all back, with interest,if we are not given state pension.

And they need to do away with means testing child benefit also, as well as the marginal tax zone

I am retired, as is husband. We are net tax payers by quite a large amount (ie. we pay far more tax than we receive in state pension) so I would guess we are paying for ourselves and for a few other people as well. No, before you ask, I don't begrudge it.

The thing is, it wasn’t set up for you to ‘enjoy’ your leisure time. It was ensure a basic income to prevent poverty.

The fact that previous generations have been able to retire early, live long lives in relative comfort (for some) is why we all have to work until we drop and our DC most likely won’t be getting one at all!

According to the government: It can be defined as ‘a measure of the average number of years a person would expect to live in good health based on contemporary mortality rates and prevalence of self-reported good health’.

You can read more here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/understanding-the-drivers-of-healthy-life-expectancy/understanding-the-drivers-of-healthy-life-expectancy-report#:~:text=It%20can%20be%20defined%20as,prevalence%20of%20self%2Dreported%20good%20health'.

How would it be means tested?
Private pension?
Investments?
Cash in bank accounts?
Equity in property?

I'm trying to be less of a burden by smoking and drinking. Pay loads of tax on it then drop down dead before any caring arrangements or pension become necessary?! 🤣

The tax payer will bail people out.

Many of the women though were stay at home mums and housewives, they were not all workers

Maybe it's a generational thing. I am pretty sure I read that millennials are the first generation that will be worse off (collectively) than their parents' generation. We are watching boomer parents living in houses they have paid off with generous final salary pensions and a triple lock guarantee on their state pension, knowing we can expect to not see anything remotely similar. Certainly not when people stop having kids that will be paying their NI to pay for us.

Totally agree.
" Enjoy" is in quotation marks because I'm using it sarcastically.

I don't think I am entitled to 25 years playing golf , but I do believe we need an alternative to dropping dead on the job or two years later.

Can you provide a link to your claim this is putting the state pension I jeopardy?

No one wants to admit it but I think the plan is that the assisted dying bill will be part of the solution...