With respect Re your last paragraph answers the problem. Work till you die. Our generation and those b4. Very rarely lived beyond our means. And saved for a rainy day. Credit was minute in comparison to today. You couldn't afford it you didn't buy it. A completely different mindset to today. You say it's the right thing to do on ballance. For you maybe, but not everyone. I did point out those that can afford to. And if they can afford to and are employed by a co. That has a scheme I'd recommend seeking financial advise. Barmy not to. Not everyone works in finance. You may think you don't need advice. I'd argue differently. Depending on folks circumstances. I may not be in finance but have advisors. Both banking and pensions and they have served me more than well. But I also have a very good understanding.
I am not a great deal younger than you and I sometimes get irked when I hear of how lucky people of our generation are. From the day I was born until I went to university, I lived in a house with no inside toilet, and I recall frequently having to empty the three family chamber pots into a plastic bucket before breakfast and then deposit the contents into the outside toilet. For the first eight years of my life I lived in a house with just one cold water tap. We too had a tin bath , hanging outside the back door. We shared our outside toilet with a next door neighbour. I slept in a single bed in my parents' bedroom, and my two brothers slept together in a small second bedroom. When we moved to our slightly better house, with our own outside toilet, we still had no central heating. Indeed, my parents never had any. We never had a car. We never went on a family holiday, other than the very occasional day trip to Scarborough or Blackpool. These days most people take for granted so many things which would have been luxuries beyond our wildest dreams in my early years. My four children, aged from early 30s to early 40s, all own their own houses, with a mortgage, despite what seem to be very high prices. One major difference these days is the fact that the entire housing market is based upon two incomes per household now, and this is what has pushed up house prices so greatly. A key trigger for the necessity of a two income mortgage was the perfectly reasonable desire on the part of women to take up full-time paid work, rather than just being "homemakers". You cannot blame anyone for this, but there have undoubtedly been some negative consequences of it, as well as the obvious positive ones.
Agree with this. When I said "current pensioners" earlier I was intending to refer to those currently reaching pension age/just reached it and worded it poorly. I recognise that older pensioners definitely didn't have it as good.
It's easier to save for something that's attainable. It's not so easy to save for a house given the prices and the fact that rent is exorbitant, with many people prevented from saving a deposit by the fact they're ironically having to pay more in rent per month than a mortgage would cost them.
Correct. When was the last time you had 12 pints dressed up as a Nun and ended up jizzing over Jenny from Sunderland's boobs on a Plumbing apprenticeship, eh?
Pardon me if my view is over-simplistic, but if you are 42 it seems to me you could still pay into some form of pension plan for 25 years before you're (current) state pension age. That would surely only be of benefit to you in the long run? All the more so if your pessimistic view of the state pension availability proves correct.
Simple question. As I've gone over affordability. For those that can afford to contribute. To a scheme with all the benefits I've mentioned. Tax relief. Company contributions. Would you recommend seeking financial advise from a reputable company or not. (Lots of companies with schemes bring in advisors to do talks) Simple yes or no will do. My stance is Yes.
Any pension I took would currently be non-contribution - unless I took permanent work; in which case I’d end up on a lower bring home pay and be unlikely to be able to spare the money. I do actually have some plans and so on for later life - but many don’t and realistically couldn’t have. I used my family as an illustration. It is quite frustrating when people fail to recognise the hugely different world we live in now. Households on two full time salaries have less expendable income in the same houses than say thirty or forty years ago on one salary. All you get is ‘we lived to our means’ or ‘kids today just borrow and borrow’. Actually look at what the situation is. Getting a deposit together to buy a house is improbable for many, and likely impossible much before the age of 30 and even then it’s if you are in a couple and childless. You’d get to that point either having had to live with mum and dad until then or having rented a house at ridiculous prices. I’ve just had a quick scan - there’s a three bedroom terraced house up for rent in Intake, Donny. Not a nice area and not a particularly nice looking property either. Kitchen and bathroom looks functional but aged. They’re asking for £850 per month rent. For someone single - a one bed flat in a converted terraced house in Bentley. Again, not exactly in an area you’d aspire to live in particularly - four rooms in total. £500 a month. Someone working 37.5 hours minimum wage would likely be bringing home about £1600. £500 just in rent - then all the bills, living costs, travel to work and so on. Where are they going to save up a deposit or put aside for their old age? Normal working people are being priced out of home ownership. So they are being priced out of the wealth increase that affords. That house I mentioned my grandad bought cost £2000 in ‘64. With inflation £2000 then would be about £50k now. That house is now worth well over £200k. I know I’m probably doing pretty ok compared to many of my vintage. We will be fine. It doesn’t mean I don’t recognise the difficulties people face now in comparison to before.
Totally agree with this. I think it is difficult for younger folk. Our two are both on the housing ladder, but they didn't achieve that until after they were 30. 'Lived within our means' is interesting. I think what happened in many cases is that there were fairly predictable rises in wages and inflation for a few decades. You stretched yourself to buy a first - or better - house, inflation slowly devalued the amount of the debt, and steady wage rises aided the ability to service it. A lot of people were caught out in 2008, when the merry-go-round stopped.
Yes. My comment wasn't about pensions in particular, but the suggestion that younger generations' issues are due to an inability to save or financial irresponsibility.
I as b4 said, based on affordability I didn't go into detail as it would have been even more long winded. I took it as folk would understand. But lots of those that can afford to, live for today. Expensive holidays. Latest new cars. Newest homes. Mostly driving em into debt, and no idea of the consequences come retirement age. I was fortunate as it was more or less not an option to contribute. But the benefit of hindsight means I would look at options. Some Young uns will only realise that when it's too late. Spoken to many of them. And they still plod along as though they'll be OK. Come crunchtime it's too late. And we end up with a situation where state pension if available or handouts, allowances. Dare i say wfa. Are their only income. I personally don't want the wfa and neither does my Mrs. But would rather it go to those most in need. not just pensioners. I'd no rather a young family/child go cold than anyone else.
Yeah I bought the house in 2008 before the arse fell out of the market. The value of the debt pretty much doubled in under six months. I was in negative equity for well over a decade and the house has only been worth more than I paid for it 17 years ago for probably the last two or three.
The only way we will ever get sensible politics is by reforming the voting system. FPTP is not fit for purpose, last year's election is the clearest illustration of how bokers it is. Remember, Thatcher never got a majority of the popular vote, 42% being her best, but was able to sell off all of our national assets, for which we are now suffering. Consensus politics is needed in this broken country of ours.
It seems Dave, sat in weatherspoons is very angry about the chagos islands today. I can’t see what the fuss is myself?
Starmers Britain the gift that keeps on giving https://news.sky.com/story/criminal...-could-be-released-from-prison-early-13372068
Actually, it's a gift from the Tories who spent 14 years running the prisons and the justice system down. Oh, and it's a former Conservative Lord Chancellor who is advising them about the only possible way of addressing the problem. But crack on!
