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?

We moan government taxes are high but expect the state to pay us huge sums in pension.

We moan council taxes are high but make no plans to pay for our own care.

A gigantic realignment of expectations is overdue.

Agree with this. My kids will get the house (still a substantial amount) but I plan to spend the rest.

The state pension is pretty similar to working age benefits if you assume that people can’t actually work?

so you could ditch the state pensions and put them all on the higher UC rate - or you would be no better off

i think this because those who only have state pensions tend to get a benefit top up as well

ao what you are perhaps suggesting is means testing the state pensions - essentially treating the like a benefit

which then means getting rid of NI contributions

be interesting to see where that would leave the country finances

The state will pay our state pensions

I am expecting the age we are eligible to be increased from 68 I think we are at the moment to 69/70.

The pensions industry was pushing for 70 and some hard nosed realists for 72!

State pensions starting at 70 was the original age - for both sexes - when the State pension was first introduced.

Voters can have a view on anything but it doesn’t alter the fact we won’t have the money . I think the next generation are buggered because more and more people for whatever reason are not working and are net takers . Everyone is going to have to provide for themselves.

I have a theory that in the next couple of decades, assisted dying will become legal and some time after that, the government will incentivise it financially to encourage more people to take that route while allowing them to leave something to their families (and reduce cost burden on the state for expensive pensions, healthcare, etc).

Call me cynical, but there's going to be a harsh reality to face and there has to be a solution somewhere.

I only hope to be working at 75 because there will be no pension options so I have to support myself somehow. Maybe I won’t be able to. Once I’m too old to work, then I guess the only decent thing to do is to top myself.

Don't worry, the government has instigated the 'assisted suicide' bill/act.
Obviously, they don't want to pay pensions.
Pressure on elderly folk to end it all, etc etc
I know there is supposed to be safeguards, but if I look at other countries, these eventually seem to be relaxed.
(I'm retired, so this is what I see happening)

I’m okay with that. I won’t have family by that time so perhaps I could sign my assets over to the state in return for a painless death 🤷‍♀️

If it’s any consolation I would be happy to volunteer when my time comes

hmm, you feel old people should just kill themselves to avoid being a burden on a society that can't support them. Interesting.

I think part of the problem for future generations is that the money paid in by workers isn't ring fenced for pensions and NHS, same should hold for money paid when you pay annually for your car, it should be ring fenced for roads and used for that and other transport.
Apparently if extra is collected it is put in the general fund. It should used as a buffer and saved for pensions and NHS.

I am 62 and retired early thanks to diligently saving into a personal pension. I expect my state pension, which I will get at 67, to be paid for by the taxpayers of the time - which will include me, as once I get it I will be paying income tax.

I expect to be paying for my own care in later life, if needed. Because DH and I have made significant savings over our working lives to put us in a position to be able to do that.

I am open to whether the taxpayers paying for my state pension in the future are just NI payers or more general taxation. That’s a matter for governments and financial experts to work out.

What I don’t think they should do is introduce means testing retrospectively. There should be a long lead in time, so that people still in work have enough time to factor it in to their planning. We have factored in that we would be receiving a state pension, and they have already pushed it back from 65 to 66 for DH, and from 60 to 67 for me. But we had time to plan for that.

My mother retired at 50 and got teachers pension and then state pension at 60. She’s been claiming her work pension for 32 years. My father retired at 60 and claim work pension followed by state pension he’s now 87 so 27 years of pensions.

My parents then had the nerve to tell me of course I should be working hard until 67, I had to remind them they have been pulling pensions for decades. Apparently going at 50 is too young or 55 - but ok for them!

I have assumed my children won’t get a state pension and I’m sure as hell happy they have inheritance coming their way early I hope to make a difference.

Me too . I think we need to start thinking about quality of life not length of life . Who really wants to be 95 , incontinent , bed ridden and not have any awareness of what’s going on . No , be allowed to die with dignity .

Future generations can do what past generations have had to do. Work it out for themselves

I don't think it will 'go out the window', but I do think its value will be slashed with the removal of the triple lock - and that is the real threat for anyone who is relying on it to support them in old age.

This is my plan too. I plan to have a lovely time until I can’t then hopefully I’ll remember to off myself.

I didn't lose a generation. I'm gen X with silent generation parents (and gen Z kids). No boomer money for me.

Obviously there will be some gen X who inherit from boomers though, because the boundaries are artificial, it's not black and white. It's still true that on average the millennial generation is going to inherit a lot from boomers.

Even if a lot goes on care home fees, that wealth is still going to benefit the family. The children of wealthy boomers will still benefit from their parents' resources, even just through having better financial resources to help with caring. And it won't all go on care home fees.

Do you lack comprehension?

I said I am expecting to have to do that. I as in ME. I’m not advocating others do it.

"They were a generation of workers"

I barely know any women whose mothers worked more than odd jobs, here and there, nanny, shop work, part time on and off. The generation before that, my grandmother's, never did a days work in the lives after marriage around 24yrs old... A few years as a secretary in the WAAF in 1943-45, then marriage, then claiming full pension from the 80s to about 2010... 30 years of pension claims after about 3 years of full time work.

My mum always said they were entitled to full pensions because their husband paid in for long enough...

Whatever the case, arguing the older people all paid in and worked hard is rubbish. Most of the women in my family had lovely middle class lives 3 or 4 bed homes from mid 20s, and never really worked, ever... Bit of voluntary befriending in the hospital, but never really had a boss.

Ok, well I was asking at a societal level, not just about your own personal arrangements. So the children born now will benefit you and people your age.

And no need to be so rude.

There are other ways to get NI contributions increased than having children who cost the tax payer a lot before they can work.

immigration can have a massive impact why grow our own when we can get in fully formed tax payers

It's daft to me that older people want the government to pay for their old age but also want to leave a load of assets to their children!

yes it’s giving on one hand & taking away from the other!