How much do you put away every month in Pension savings....? (I put away approx £900 a month into my Pension) Should people be forced to save ? I get a little pissed off paying taxes to fund other people who expect a god given right to a pension but do not save for one..... debate !!
Well the taxes that go towards the pension funds are for a basic state pension, something that you'll also be entitled to. You are saving so that you can have a better standard of living in your retirement to that afforded by the basic state pension. People who can afford to contribute to a private pension, should be encouraged to do wo to take the burden off the state pension - however this does not mean that people should not also pay taxes toward a state system that benefits the less well off otherwise you are proposing having some old people not getting any assistance, which in a civilised society is abhorent. Oh - and I do contribute to a company pension scheme but can't recall how much, and I wouldn't discuss it even if I could remember
Never mind the money What about the age of retirement going up. My pension scheme has just raised the min age of retirement this week. I fear they are assuming life expectancy will contiue to rise, while in reality it may come down because of our poor eating habits and more stressful working patterns. I for one love my job, but it will kill me if I work this hard until 65!
Gordon Brown Taken £5billion every year from private pension funds. And at the same time there's been an explosion in public sector jobs, all on lovely pensions. **** off Gordon.
Sobering thought When my father started work the average life expectancy for males was 55; the pension age was 65. He died aged 53. On present life expectancy for men, perhaps 86 would be a more realistic retirement age for New Labour to contempate!
I think it's fair to say That if you can afford to put £900 per month away on a personl pension then you have a lot of disposable income. I'm not for one minute suggesting you don't deserve that. I'm sure you've worked very hard to be in that position and good luck to you. However, there are millions in this country working on minimum wage who don't even bring home £900. Millions more may earn more but don't have anywhere near that amount left when the mortgage and bills have been paid. However, all these people do pay into the national insurance scheme so are entitled to a state pension, jus as you are.
RE: I think it's fair to say The problem is the system can't (or won't be able to) afford a state pension for everyone. Not enough money goes into it to pay the pensions. Like an earlier poster said, the average years people claimed a state pension used to be 5 or 10, now it's nearer 20. That funding gap has to be filled somehow, either by massively increasing NI contributions or by forcing people to save a %age of income into priv pensions. A knock on problem is that people realise pensions won't give them a decent income so invest in property which in turn drives up prices, forces people to live further away from work, increases congestion etc.
Why not scrap the N.I.C. ceiling ? At the moment , the less well off pay a greater percentage of their income on N.I. than the wealthier members of society .
Public Sector Pensions They're now talking about upping the retirement age to 67 so that we can pay for these public sector workers (I use the term loosely) to retire at 60 on index-linked pensions. They're also on about increasing the price of a postage stamp by 9p so that postmen can retire at 60. Should be the same rules for all of us, soon there'll be no geese left to lay any golden eggs.
RE: Public Sector Pensions Successive government have seen this coming for years and done nothing, which is gross negligence
I wish !!! That figure is made up of all sorts of factors not simply salary and the figure is not the point. I was a little fed up hence the debate..... I'm married with 2 kids and the Mrs does not work, through choice....and claims no benefit. From 18 when I started work I have always saved into a Pension. Younger brother (27) and his girlfriend live with our parents still. He pays no board at all...their combined salary is way higher than mine and he has never saved a penny in Pensions !!! Total different outlook on life these days !!
