£610 a week pension demand is insane

[Thisismyfinesthour]

Just read that there is an online petition doing the rounds for a £610 a WEEK pension demand to the government.
WTAF? Is the heat melting some peoples brains? It seems over 5000 have signed it.
Where do they think the money is coming from?

What do you think the "young" should get from the state?

Ideally, nothing. But what they definitely should not have is frozen income tax thresholds and wage stagnation.

You can live in a normal place in a normal house and as a couple have assets of £1 million e.g. 3 bed semi in Croydon £500k

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/173213330

Plus £250k each personal pension pot = £1 million.

I agree with that but remember that this started in 2010 with Tory “Austerity”.

Funny how a £100k wage doesn’t go very far these days according to mumsnet but £12548 is deemed riches beyond belief.

It didn't! The tax free personal allowance rose by a whopping 93% between 2010 and 2020! It was £6,475 in 2010 and rose to £12.5k by 2020.

The average OAP won't be paying thousands in childcare costs, commuting for work, paying into pensions, paying a massive mortgage, etc etc. You've also ignored the fact that the £12548 is effectively free of tax, whereas a wage of £100k results in income tax, national insurance, potentially student loan deductions, etc., which can amount to nearly forty thousand pounds, meaning net is just over £60k before childcare, mortgage, commuting, pension contributions, etc. You're really not comparing like for like in any way, shape nor form.

I don't know why you think I'll answer you after your personal attacks when you name changed. I won't again.

You're mistaken. I've not name changed nor made any personal attacks. Apology please!

Ok. My mistake. I apologise.

The majority on here do though

The average working person won’t either. Childcare is for a very small proportion of a working life. A massive mortgage is a choice, as are commuting costs. Pension contributions come out before tax and many people on high salaries over contribute as a way of reducing their tax bill. And of course the first £1257 of £100k is tax free just like a pensioner’s state pension.

It’s just disingenuous to compare someone existing on a state pension with someone earning more than two and a half times the average salary. Yet you keep on doing this on thread after thread, and painting these people as the underdog and worthy of sympathy. It’s getting very old now.

You're clearly unhappy with your lot and seem to be very bitter. Unfortunately this is how it is. What is it that you want to happen?

Oh well better keep my thoughts to myself then.

Well if you are in a different country you can't state something is in a particular way.

Scotland for example is generous on the council tax reduction for pensioners also. If you have only state pension you are likely to get 100% reduction wWales is similar.

Do you are either in Ireland or not in the UK at all

Scotland and I can assure you that I would only get council tax reduction if I have savings under 16k or am in receipt of pension credit.

Neither of which apply and I’m retired.

That's not what the Scottish govt site says. In fact I've just ran entitled to with someone getting a state pension only of £240 week , no pension credit on a band c property. It says you won't need to pay any

Of course if you have over 16k of savings it's a different thing b

That’s not the average income by any stretch of the imagination. Only 13% live on state pension alone. 50% have incomes higher than the average full time salary and over 25% are in households which are millionaires. As a cohort, they have the highest average incomes after tax and housing costs of any demographic in society and the highest wealth in assets by far, on average.

A tiny proportion struggle for money and they also usually have their rent paid on top of their state pension, pay no council tax and receive additional benefits and top ups.

Many of them paid nowhere near sufficient tax over their working lifetimes to cover the welfare and state services they are receiving (an average shortfall in real terms of £200k per person amongst current retirees).

Which is why I said it didn’t apply. I have over £16,000 savings and my income is £750 a week.

I won’t get my state pension for 5 years and I still won’t be eligible as I won’t get pension credit.

I said all this in my post

https://www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk/info/200181/you_and_your_household/662/council_tax_reduction_scheme

I've read so much of this thread, and I have to say I agree with people on both sides of this argument.

There are poor pensioners who are struggling ( not that many where I am).
There are pensioners who are very comfortable ( I seem to know a lot, I'm in North East England - not necessarily huge private pensions but enough to ensure a comfortable retirement).

I agree that the current pension system is unsustainable.

I'm not going to go on about how my generation (aged 68), suffered, or how much better off people are now, life gets better with each generation.

We, as a couple, live a much more frugal life than our married kids, although we have more disposable income. It's just the way we are and I'm not complaining.

But I have to save we have been very generous to our kids regarding finances- deposits on houses, weddings, grandchildren, so we do pay A LOT of money back into the economy in that way.
It grieves me to hear some pensioners asking for more when they really don't need it. And equally grieves me to hear some younger people being so vitriolic towards older people.

As has been said up thread, there's rich and poor in every age group.

Well then it's irrelevant to the subject of people on state pensions isn't it so not sure why you are going on about it

And it was the people saying that pensioners are paying £50 a week council tax out of their £240 pension. Which ( unless they have more than 16k stashed away) is just not true

😅😅😅 I've read through this monologue twice. You either carry an enormous amount of info around in your head or it's good old Google as we often see on these threads. I mean, nobody knows this stuff on speck, surely, unless you're the most boring git in the world. Do people in groups avoid you? Do pensioners head for the hills when they see you?

Admit it. You got the wrong end of the stick.

50% have incomes higher than the average full time salary and over 25% are in households which are millionaires.

Many of them paid nowhere near sufficient tax over their working lifetimes to cover the welfare and state services they are receiving (an average shortfall in real terms of £200k per person amongst current retirees).

Now these two statements can’t both be true. Most pensioners are tax payers all their lives and all those included in the first are and have been higher tax payers.

They won’t get council tax relief if they are on the full state pension!