Public sector monster needs to be tamed

donaldtramp

I'm not in the pension scheme, I've told you this before.

Do you work in the public sector? If not, why on Earth are you defending it?

beingjdc

donaldtramp wrote: »

Do you work in the public sector? If not, why on Earth are you defending it?

Sort of public sector, yes, I work for an organisation Councils join to share advice and campaigning work with each other rather than all doing it individually. I'm eligible for membership of the pension scheme if I want, I just don't expect it to pay out anything like what it's promised when I'm 65, and in the meantime I have better uses for the £250 a month it would cost me to opt in.

mumps

donaldtramp wrote: »

In Britain some people are more equal than others.
Your better off here if you work in certain sectors.

You are so bitter, different jobs have different benefits. some are high paid, some are rewarding in other way, some have good benefits package. These are things we all consider when choosing a job. You chose yours, I chose mine. I have no regrets, you seem to have regrets but that is life. Get over it. By the way I used to work in local government but don't anymore. Somethings about my job are better, some are worse. My choice. The pension is worse other benefits better.

treliac

donaldtramp wrote: »

Do you work in the public sector? If not, why on Earth are you defending it?

Whether in or out, not everyone's as bitter and twisted as you.

And quite a lot of us realise how lucky we are to live in a (relatively) civilised society with a broad spectrum of public services.

mumps

beingjdc wrote: »

Sort of public sector, yes, I work for an organisation Councils join to share advice and campaigning work with each other rather than all doing it individually. I'm eligible for membership of the pension scheme if I want, I just don't expect it to pay out anything like what it's promised when I'm 65, and in the meantime I have better uses for the £250 a month it would cost me to opt in.

When i started in public sector we didn't have the choice. I would have taken the money at the time (single mom with two kids) Now I'm glad I didn't but it was hard at the time.

donaldtramp

I'm eligible for membership of the pension scheme if I want, I just don't expect it to pay out anything like what it's promised when I'm 65, and in the meantime I have better uses for the £250 a month it would cost me to opt in.

That makes sense to me now! Even though I gripe a wee bit:o,(for discussion sakes!) I am in a similar position, I think we ALL are now!
So what'll happen when 65 comes along? (I really don't know the answer for me by the way either!)

donaldtramp

You are so bitter, different jobs have different benefits. some are high paid, some are rewarding in other way, some have good benefits package. These are things we all consider when choosing a job. You chose yours, I chose mine. I have no regrets, you seem to have regrets but that is life. Get over it.

Once again, I am not jealous of the public sector (nor wish to work in it in any form)
Again, I just don't want to pay for the massive pension benefits.

Do you really think the public sector pensions are sustainable long term?
Do you have any idea what the statistics and actuarial calculations are looking like for this countries finances in the future?

beingjdc

donaldtramp wrote: »

That makes sense to me now! Even though I gripe a wee bit:o,(for discussion sakes!) I am in a similar position, I think we ALL are now!
So what'll happen when 65 comes along? (I really don't know the answer for me by the way either!)

I'm unconvinced I'll make it to 65, though I suppose there's no specific reason I shouldn't.

What I'm doing with the £250 a month at the moment is putting it (and a lot more besides, I live very frugally) into my own savings and investments. When I feel the housing market has bottomed I will be stretching myself and spending "a lot" to get somewhere nice in a good location, and I will hopefully have saved 25% of "a lot" so will be able to get a good mortgage deal.

If I make it to 65 I will have to examine the situation - frankly I think we'll have run out of oil and I'll be subsistence farming until I can't and then starving to death, but let's assume that isn't happening - my plans are, depending on my health, that I either downsize and buy an annuity with the difference and whatever further savings I've acquired, or rent out my big place and use the income to live with and pay the rent on a retirement flat.

I am, at the moment, free to opt back into the pension scheme if I want to, though when I next change job I will have opted out three times, and will become ineligible for readmission, so that's a dilemma because I don't want to buy anywhere at least until I get my next job and know where I will be living for a few years.

bigheadxx

beingjdc wrote: »

I'm unconvinced I'll make it to 65, though I suppose there's no specific reason I shouldn't.

What I'm doing with the £250 a month at the moment is putting it (and a lot more besides, I live very frugally) into my own savings and investments. When I feel the housing market has bottomed I will be stretching myself and spending "a lot" to get somewhere nice in a good location, and I will hopefully have saved 25% of "a lot" so will be able to get a good mortgage deal.

If I make it to 65 I will have to examine the situation - frankly I think we'll have run out of oil and I'll be subsistence farming until I can't and then starving to death, but let's assume that isn't happening - my plans are, depending on my health, that I either downsize and buy an annuity with the difference and whatever further savings I've acquired, or rent out my big place and use the income to live with and pay the rent on a retirement flat.

I am, at the moment, free to opt back into the pension scheme if I want to, though when I next change job I will have opted out three times, and will become ineligible for readmission, so that's a dilemma because I don't want to buy anywhere at least until I get my next job and know where I will be living for a few years.

Does this mean that you can buy into the security of a state backed pension at a future date or would you receive a lower pension than had you been in the scheme from the beginning?

beingjdc

bigheadxx wrote: »

Does this mean that you can buy into the security of a state backed pension at a future date or would you receive a lower pension than had you been in the scheme from the beginning?

It's a percentage of your final salary based on the number of years you have contributed, so yes I can opt back in, but yes I would get less - if I join at 45 and retire at 65 I would get exactly half as much pension as if I'd joined at 25.