how are all these final salary pensions going to be funded?

purch

If I hadn't had the flat and pension to tide me over I would never have been able to raise a family with my new Lithuanian wife.

I went out with a Lithuanian girl for a while :j

Mr.Brown_4

purch wrote: »

I went out with a Lithuanian girl for a while :j

That may be the best use of an emoticon for a while...

aelitaman

The councils will go bankrupt and renegage on the pension commitments and pay pence in the pound.

bodgerx

I don't consider 'final salary' pensions to be as lucrative to the pensioner or as blood-sucking to the public sector organisations as many of you have made out.

Not all funds are run at a deficit. I work for a County Council and the fund is healthy balanced with zero losses.

The benefits of such schemes have been reduced significantly over the last few years - to the point where I'm even considering moving over to a stakeholder pension.

Basically, a pension scheme should be a balanced book - regardless of whether it is public sector or private.

CLAPTON

bodgerx wrote: »

I don't consider 'final salary' pensions to be as lucrative to the pensioner or as blood-sucking to the public sector organisations as many of you have made out.

Not all funds are run at a deficit. I work for a County Council and the fund is healthy balanced with zero losses.

The benefits of such schemes have been reduced significantly over the last few years - to the point where I'm even considering moving over to a stakeholder pension.

Basically, a pension scheme should be a balanced book - regardless of whether it is public sector or private.

please tell us which county council

please tell us how the scheme has been reduced and how you are better off in a stakeholder scheme

treliac

Mr.Brown wrote: »

That may be the best use of an emoticon for a while...

Mr Brown, if you ever come onto the dating market.... there'll be a mad stampede of females beating a path to your door.

bodgerx

CLAPTON wrote: »

please tell us which county council

please tell us how the scheme has been reduced and how you are better off in a stakeholder scheme

Its a northern County Council.

The reduction in final salary pension benefits in the public sector are well documented. e.g. rule of 85.

Most employees have seen there contribution rate increase for no increased payout. I used to pay 6% whereas now I pay 6.75% - a lot have seen it increase by more. There is no flexibility in this rate either - it's either that or nothing.

Davesnave

My index-linked is pretty average, but I also have a smallish private pension. However, I want my cake and eat it, so I'm also setting up a new business which will earn diddly-squat for the first few years. With a bit of luck, that could mean a few years of Tax Credits, before I qualify for my State Pension, of course.

Then I'll sell the business.

B'stard baby boomers, eh?:rotfl:

Old_Slaphead

bodgerx wrote: »

Its a northern County Council.

The reduction in final salary pension benefits in the public sector are well documented. e.g. rule of 85.

Most employees have seen there contribution rate increase for no increased payout. I used to pay 6% whereas now I pay 6.75% - a lot have seen it increase by more. There is no flexibility in this rate either - it's either that or nothing.

Do please tell us which northern council is it - I'd like to see what they are doing right which all other councils cannot replicate. They're likely to publish their accounts and I'd like to have a boochas.

BTW the 6.75% before tax that you contribute goes NOWHERE NEAR funding your pension entitlement (the taxpayer is contributing another 20+%).

The 3 yearly funding review - due to take place this month, will show the state of underprovision in all it's aweful glory.

HammerSmashedFace

How are all these final salary pensions going to be funded?

The simple answer is, they won't. It's yet another pyramid scheme much like the housing market, that requires unlimited funding shoved in at the bottom for it to work.

Unfortunately, just like the housing market, it's been backed into a corner so far that there is really no way out. Those people under 40 or even 50 who are retiring at 65 (or is 68 ? funny that hey) will likely see nothing from any kind of private pension, nor will these people who think they've got a gold plated one from the public sector.

We are going to see an unraveling of most of what we consider normal over the next 2 decades, the start of which was Aut 2008.