The Truth About The State Pension

Andy_L

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

In which case those in company pension schemes would get something for nothing.
People pay extra NI for these benefits so they shouldn't be available to all.

BTW - as per your earlier posting, please let me know why (ie itemise the costs) you think the average pensioner needs £230pw minimum to live on.

Presuemably they'd have to end contracting out at the same time. perhaps even end the fiction that NI is anything other than an income tax

EdInvestor

marklv wrote: »

Personally, I believe it would be so much better if they ditched the mind bogglingly complicated SERPS/S2P pension and simply paid out £150 a week (or more) basic state pension to every adult aged 65. Simple.

You might think that (you're obviously not a pensioner) but anyone who found his entitlement to 2 state pensions that he'd paid for suddenly replaced by means- tested benefits might not be so keen.

bryanb

EdInvestor wrote: »

You might think that (you're obviously not a pensioner) but anyone who found his entitlement to 2 state pensions that he'd paid for suddenly replaced by means- tested benefits might not be so keen.

To be fair, I cannot see the bit about means testing. Have I missed it?

marklv

bryanb wrote: »

To be fair, I cannot see the bit about means testing. Have I missed it?

No, EDinvestor made it up just to confuse people. I never mentioned it.

bumpoowee

State pension needs to go, which it will, but not soon enough. The economically luckiest generation in history are coming up to retirement and should not receive this handout at the expense of their childrens generation, who will almost certainly not get a state pension. This will also give the young working people of today enough notice to save for a private pension, and the reduced taxes would help them do this.

dave4545454

bumpoowee wrote: »

State pension needs to go, which it will, but not soon enough. The economically luckiest generation in history are coming up to retirement and should not receive this handout at the expense of their childrens generation, who will almost certainly not get a state pension. This will also give the young working people of today enough notice to save for a private pension, and the reduced taxes would help them do this.

why does the state pension need to go?
so how will the poor who either can't afford private pensions or believe they are a rip off survive if they've stopped state pensions?

how about all those people who wouldn't touch a private pension with a bargepole cos they've seen how many fail?

bumpoowee

dave4545454 wrote: »

why does the state pension need to go?
so how will the poor who either can't afford private pensions or believe they are a rip off survive if they've stopped state pensions?

how about all those people who wouldn't touch a private pension with a bargepole cos they've seen how many fail?

As the population becomes 65+ heavy, it will be unaffordable. At the very least the age needs to be raised substantially, perhaps to 80+.

If people choose not to provide for themselves then I'm not interested in helping them. If people don't like traditional pensions then they should save for their old age in some other way, not expect a proportionally shrinking and ever poorer working population to suffer because of their lack of personal responsibility.

jamesd

At the moment on the state pension the system is currently increasing the pensionable age in stages based on date of birth. That has two effects, increasing the number of years during which people pay contributions and decreasing the number of years they will live and receive the pension. So pay more, get less. The pay more means we will pay more in NI for those who already have retired and the receive less means the following generation won't have to pay as much as they otherwise would have.

As a gradual process that's more likely to be politically acceptable than telling people suddenly that they are going to lose eight years of state pension. It's still taking away a benefit that people have already partly paid for.

dave4545454 seems to have a very wrong idea about private pensions failing. Very few have, none or almost none of the modern money purchase type, where the pension just depends on how much is paid in and how the investments the money buys perform.

marklv

bumpoowee wrote: »

State pension needs to go, which it will, but not soon enough. The economically luckiest generation in history are coming up to retirement and should not receive this handout at the expense of their childrens generation, who will almost certainly not get a state pension. This will also give the young working people of today enough notice to save for a private pension, and the reduced taxes would help them do this.

What you say is absurd. Get rid of the state pension and millions will fall into dire poverty - if you want that you deserve to be locked in prison for the rest of your life. The state pension can easily be sustained, by ensuring that NI contributions keep up with financial demands.

marklv

bumpoowee wrote: »

As the population becomes 65+ heavy, it will be unaffordable. At the very least the age needs to be raised substantially, perhaps to 80+.

If people choose not to provide for themselves then I'm not interested in helping them. If people don't like traditional pensions then they should save for their old age in some other way, not expect a proportionally shrinking and ever poorer working population to suffer because of their lack of personal responsibility.

Why not raise it to 100? That's where you're heading, isn't it? Nonsense.

If it was up to me, I would reduce the state pension age to 60 and get the rich bas**rds to cough up more - at gunpoint if necessary.