Crunch Time: A crisis that is dividing young and old

dylansmum

StevieJ wrote: »

But thet pay for ot themselves :rolleyes:

Not quite. The fee is a small part of the overall cost of HE per student. HEFCE grants, direct from taxpayers covers the bulk still.

SingleSue

needahome wrote: »

I had to pay for my university education, they got theirs for free.

They got final salary pensions, I don't

I've got to work longer than they did, to pay for their greed.

They bought their homes a lot cheaper then we do in relation to their wages.

need I go on ?

Think there is just a tad of generalising there.....

My parents have had to scrimp and save to get the retirement they are now living.

There was no final salary pension for my father.
He started work at age 14.
It took up nearly half of his income to pay the mortgage.
There was no chance of him going to university as because he was the eldest and despite him being very bright, he had to get out and work to help support his parents and siblings.
To give them a decent retirement, they went without during their working years so that they could build up a decent pension pot and savings....going without meant we didn't have the latest televisions, our holidays were £1 a night camping specials (in the 80's), we were the last ones to get a VCR....after I left home!
Mum would make our clothes rather than buying new ones.

My parents savings were not OTT, same with their pensions really....you don't get to build up a huge pot when you have had an accident which has left you disabled and which, I believe, many a person nowadays would then just spend the rest of their lives on disability but dad did his best to divert as much as he could towards it without leaving them short.

My parents have never mewed, never taken out finance for a car (they have never ever owned a brand new one and would probably baulk at the thought), never had credit cards and would certainly never think about taking out a loan for a holiday...if they couldn't pay it on their savings, or normal money then they didn't have it, ergo they have never had luxury cars or holidays.

At one point in our lives, my parents had next to no money at all..this was in the years after my dads accident....us kids had to have jumble sale clothes or ones my mum had knitted or made, there was no holidays of any description and to save on the electricity, we would have nights when there was only candles and not lights.

After his accident, my father had to completely retrain and rethink...he was classed as 50% disabled, could only walk with sticks (no nice disabilities laws back then), he had been in construction earning a pretty good salary (ok a blooming good one!) but of course, with reduced mobility could no longer do that so he changed tact and went to work in an office. It took him a fair while to get someone to take him on and in the meantime and to pay the mortgage, he sold stuff out of a suitcase, struggled door to door on crutches to sell things etc....when he did get someone to take him on in an office, his salary was about a quarter of what it had been in construction.

So no, I don't believe pensioners have lived the charmed life you believe they have, things were hard back then too but also, people were far more likely to live within their means and go without.

The mantra I have grown up with and which has stood me in good stead, was always......

Only buy what you can afford to buy out of your money, even if it means going without.

Yes, they now own their home outright and of course it has increased in value but it didnt just come to them, they had to fight and work hard to keep it just like the youngsters now having to fight and work hard to keep theirs.

ukcarper

I have a final salary pension but when my friends were moving to other companies to increase their wages I stayed put on a much lower salary so that I could keep my final salary pension. Companies that complain about final salary schemes are often paying lower salaries to compensate.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

ukcarper wrote: »

I have a final salary pension but when my friends were moving to other companies to increase their wages I stayed put on a much lower salary so that I could keep my final salary pension. Companies that complain about final salary schemes are often paying lower salaries to compensate.

I agree with you here.My own husband has stayed put in his own job as he did'nt want to lose his final salary pension.He has 6 years till retirement and has paid into his pension over 30 years.From July final salary will be scrapped and although his final salary pension is safe for those years already paid into,the last 5 years of his working life will be paid into a different scheme by his company.So he's going to lose out somewhere along the line.
He may have had the pension scheme but like you his salary was lower than if he'd worked elsewhere.
Swings and round-a-bouts I suppose.

StevieJ

ukcarper wrote: »

I'm not sure they are brave souls I think they have an axe to grind

Like the ones that passed secrets to the Ruskies :cool:

Jennifer_Jane

StevieJ wrote: »

Like the ones that passed secrets to the Ruskies :cool:

Oh I really don't think that revealing some illegal expense claiming is the same as betraying your Country and putting lives at stake, and I'm sure you don't either.

I also do think the person revealing the Smith expenses is a brave soul (or coming up for retirement). The powers that be will already know who the most likely person is (from what I hear from someone who used to work in the House of Commons), they would have known immediately. Well, at the least they would probably never work again, and if you think of David Kelly, well, who knows.

Jen
x

ukcarper

You have to wonder why the leaks are all about labour MPs as I’m sure just as many Tories are up to it to.

Old_Slaphead

ukcarper wrote: »

Companies that complain about final salary schemes are often paying lower salaries to compensate.

I don't understand what you mean by this - can you explain?

ukcarper

I would have thought it is quite clear

Old_Slaphead

ukcarper wrote: »

I would have thought it is quite clear

So BT, British Gas, M&S, Water Companies, the Banks etc are all paying low salaries to compensate for offering FS schemes?