Strike and final pension

[EuroExpat]

Weren´t you shocked when you heard on breakfast TV this morning that the average worker striking today will receive a pension of only 4000 pounds per year? I´m absolutely horrified!! And the pompous so-and-so doing the interview said men deserved to get more money as they "worked" for more years than women. This sort of thing really makes me worry that women feel feminism is no longer needed.

[EuroExpat]

NOBODY is shocked or bothered about this?

[expatinscotland]

No

Long ago, I came to the conclusion that there isn't a society around wealthy enough to afford to have huge amounts of its population not working and potentially ill w/expensive diseases to treat as well.

'Retirement' as we think of it - 20+ years of sitting around not working, yet still living comfortably - was a badly conceived Western social experiment from the last century that's obviously failing.

People are just going to have buck up and keep working and all these ridiculous age-discriminatory laws here (which came as a HUGE shock to me) are going to have to go. Young people are also going to have to learn to compete w/older ones. They do in the US already.

That's life!

[FairyMum]

I am not shocked. I agree with Expat it's the reality I'm afraid. Men don't deserve to get more money than women, but both men and women need to wake up to the fact that this is what's happening. If you take time out to look after children or caring for relatives, you will loose out when it comes to your pension.

[EuroExpat]

Yes Expat, but my point is that MEN are not receiving only 4000 quid are they? And only a tiny proportion of British women even receive the "full" state pension!

[expatinscotland]

I'm not planning on retiring until I am physically unable to work. That's how it's going to be, peeps, unless you're really rich. The state system will probably be bankrupt by the time people like me get to their 60s. It's just another tax and the sooner you see it that way and get over it, the sooner you can start thinking more clearly about what you're going to do.

My plan is career training that will allow me to set up a business so I can keep working as long as I can, b/c I cannot afford to save a bean, much less for a pension.

I'm far, far from alone.

As I said, such is life. Time to get over it and move on.

[expatinscotland]

I don't plan on receiving ANY state pension and I'm a woman. It's just another tax.

[EuroExpat]

Hm, it´s not time to get over it and move on but to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, don´t you think. If somebody treats you badly do you just accept it? I certainly do not. And I don´t accept that while my DH can sit back and retire at 65 on a comfortable sum I will be living in poverty if dependent on my own pension, and yes like you, will probably have to continue to work.

[expatinscotland]

I am doing something about it: accepting that retirement is NOT going to be an option for me and a whole hell of a lot of other people and career re-training.

Anyone who is under 35 and thinks they're going to kick back and retire comfortably at 60 or 65 on a state pension is deluding themselves.

[Bozza]

Hmmm I agree that there should not be inequality in women's and men's pensions. And I would expect that if DH and I ever split up that his pension would be taken into a/c. I have a 2/3 final salary pension scheme which I started paying into at age 23 so theoretically I should be able to retire on 2/3 salary at age 63 which would be great - except that for the last 5 years I have been working 3 days a week so those years only count as 3/5 of a year which immediately puts me up to 65 to receive my full pension. But as DD is only 1 I have not plans to go back full time yet.

[Normsnockers]

Euro Expat.

How is the £4,000 arrived at ?

Is that state pension or employers pension scheme or both ?

I think a huge proportion of the UK population needs shocking into putting aside money for retirement instead of living for today. The "rainy day funds required" mentality is dying out and may have gone completely in 30 years.

Unfortunately the drive to get practically every school leaver into higher education, leaving them with debts to pay off during their early working years when they might instead be starting to make their own pension contributions (employers contributory schemes excepted) plus the high cost of housing and ever increasing taxation levels is not conducive to saving for the future when you may need every penny to survive the jere and now.

[Normsnockers]

OOPs, "here and now"

[expatinscotland]

I can't afford to save anything, Norms. Not a bean. My rent alone is £6000/pa. Another £1300/pa on council tax and £1200/pa on power - this flat runs ENTIRELY on electricity and we've not choice about that b/c it's a rental.

And before someone says 'move somewhere cheaper', please consider that will mean limited employment opportunities and higher commuting costs.

The myth that people who don't save don't do so b/c they're blowing money on frivolous luxuries, drink and holidays is beyond false!

LOL.

[blueshoes]

The state pension should be minimal, so that people don't think they can comfortably live off society for the last 20 years of their lives, not having worked, scrimped and/or saved like the rest of us mugs.

[essvee]

I'm a librarian on strike today over the 85 year rule - I don't expect to retire before 65 (I'm 41 now) so the 85 year rule won't apply to me BUT I want to send a message to the gov that they can't just walk all over public sector workers! Things have changed - we don't have the job security the last generation of PS workers had, and we work a d* sight harder too... still for the same sort of salary! A decent pension is one of the last draws to the PS. I'm striking not just for myself and my colleagues but to defend services in the future, as if the attack on our P&Cs continues there won't be any half decent staff running public services soon!!

[compo]

what worries me is who is going to employ people when they are 65 or 70 unless you have a lifelong career. The binman's striking today will probably be nable to empty bins when they are 65+

[FairyMum]

ASDA. I am sure most of the staff in my local ASDA are at least 80.

[Tinker]

Are state pensions pretty minimal anyway? Don't see many oaps quaffing champagne and caviar very often

[essvee]

I agree, batters. We need to have respect for, and take care of, our elders. The vast majority of them have worked (in or out of the paid work force) all their lives. I think a lack of respect for elders is the hallmark of a morally bankrupt society (sorry if that sounds a bit pompous).

[eefs]

is it £4000 in todays money?

[blueshoes]

Batters, the state pension is there, funded by the taxpayers past and present, for all and sundry and those whose circumstances change or preclude saving. It should be just enough to live on, not a jolly. The state pension should be minimal, so that the young of today will take note and plan accordingly for the rest of their lives. I would love to be generous but the cost of funding a comfortable state pension and the social ramifications of such a safety net are untenable.

[Normsnockers]

ExpatinScotland

As I said some people may be needing every penny to survive in the here and now, therefore not able to put away for the future.

You have to admit though that for some people who are not strapped for cash, nice cars, new furniture, gadgets, designer clothes (even for kids ffs), holidays etc take precedence over saving for the future.

I particularly do not appreciate contributing to the substnatial and guaranteed retirement pots of senior civil servants and M.P.'s who seem to think it O.K. to phase out final salary schemes for everyone else.

I do live in the real world and am aware that final salary schemes for civil servants, when the rest of us have to gamble on money purchase pension schemes, is in inequality that will probably be phased out, particularly as the non civil servants end up partly contributing to the funds required to pay guaranteed final salary scheme amounts, via their taxes. I'm not saying civil servants don't make contributions from their salaries throughout their workiong life but if you compare their contributions with the benefits to those available in respect of money purchase pension schemes you can see why pensions advisers rate such schemes highly.

I agree with ExpatinScotland, in that we need to get over it and not expecting that if we protest enough the status quo can be maintained. We will need to work longer or be poor in retirement, its a horrible financial fact of life.

[Tinker]

So what happens to people not lucky enough to get a) jobs with pension schemes or b) well-paid enough jobs to pay into their own scheme? Should they just be condemened to a "just enough to live on" old-age?

[blueshoes]

"Just enough to live on" is still a lot better than what is offered in other countries - zilch. Ok, I really don't want to be so harsh. If someone can tell me how much it would cost to me as a taxpayer to bump up the state pension from breadline to comfortable, then I would have enough facts to conceivably change my mind. As it is, there are a lot of other areas (education, crime etc) that are crying for more funds out of the same pot.