Soon every employee must pay into a pension - will you opt out? Poll discussion

A.Jones

B B B B B (is that long enough?)

JamiSaint

If you die does the pension pot go to the state or to your estate?

Philycheesesteak

I used to put into a pension when it was a final salary scheme, since the company scrapped it, it became less attractive, especially when the forecast statements came through showing how little I'll be getting (bearing in mind the cost of living increases).

So I've stopped putting in to one.

My main reasons:

They say it's tax efficient saving, but they tax you when you retire. So you're just delaying paying the tax.

The sums don't add up in terms of input to what you get out. People are living too long after retirment and the amount you have to put in for any decent pay out is too high (unless you're earning silly money.)

It's not guaranteed, based on the money markets never is, if there's a crash a few years before you retire you've possibly lost everything!!

Your money is tied up, you cannot get it out before you retire, so if you've been told you've got a terminal illness or desperate for money for other reasons beforehand, tough.

I'm not making this decision blind, I know I have to save for my future but believe property and precious metals is a better bet. Plus making sure you're not in debt when you retire.

If you're in a final salary scheme you're lucky and probably wont have it long, the company will soon scrap it or go bust.

I am envious of those who work for council or nationalised insitutions who get decent pensions... I do think it's slightly unfair in all honesty as it's the private sector who through taxes funds them. It makes me think if the likes of the Post Office can't afford it's scheme and news today that the Wedgewood Museum might have to close because Administrators need £13 million for the pension scheme of the bust Wedgewood company... isn't these public sector final salary schemes adding to this country's debt?

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I want to die in my sleep like my nan, not screaming like the passengers in her car.

scarlet_shoegal

Unfortunately, because pensions began shortly after the war and there was no money in the pot for them, each working generation pays the pension of those who are already retired. That basically means your NI contributions are currently paying for your grand parents / parents retirement, the same as they paid for theirs. The problem we're facing is that in future years, there won't be enough people working to meet the requirements of those that have already finished work. It absolutely seems unfair, but it's the reality of the situation. The money is going to run out and if you want a decent retirement, you're going to have to pay for it yourself or take pot luck at whatever the government of the day can afford to pay you...

Blonde_Bint

I dont work i'm a sahm so.....

lol dh works but he doesnt pay into a pension. To be honest at the moment we couldnt afford it. I dont think we'll be in a position to be able to pay into a pension in 2 yrs time though either.

Though it is a p*ss take. We pay contributions for this contributions for that then we are told you'll have to pay into a pension as well. wonder what else they'll come up with for us to fork out for. Lets face it the people that were due to retire couldnt because the government couldnt pay for it because they fooked up with their contributions. Just because we are forced to pay into a private pension in 2 yrs is no guarantee that the government will be handing it out to you when the time comes (just ask your parents who WERE due to retire;) and who now cant) :rotfl: they are taking the p*ss and as usual the great british public are going to roll over and say take some more of my wages I dont mind.:mad: They are truly on a roll they should try it on with the window tax again never know their luck 2nd time could be the charm:rotfl:

Paul_Herring

Soon every employee must pay into a pension - will you opt out?

If they must pay, it can't be opted out of. If it can be opted out of, then they mustn't pay.

Can we at least get the headlines accurate please? This isn't The Sun or Daily Mail.

"Soon every employee not contributing to a pension will be enrolled into a pension by default - will you opt out?"

for example.

chris1973

Another stupid hare-brained scheme brought in by a bunch of muppets so far removed from everyday reality and the struggles of working folk, that they may as well reside on Jupiter.

As a single person working full time and earning less than £12k, i'm already penalised by the absence of any benefits, family tax credits or other financal help (other than council tax single occupancy). 'Punished' it seems because i'm not yet engaged in raising the next generation of milkable tax payers!.

I have a second part time occupation over the weekends which earns a small amount of money, of which i'm taxed on every penny of profit because my tax free allowance is already used up on my full time job. Again, i'm financially penalised for having the enthusiasm to create a little extra work for myself in order to top up my main low income!.

Between the two jobs, I pay two lots of N.I. One lot from the full time work and the second contribution through self assessment for the weekend S/Emp. Why the hell should I be expected to pay for a pension?. Isn't that what the N.I is for?.

Even working 7 days a week, I barely pay the bills and rent as it is with two low income jobs. An additional burden on this already palty income will probably mean neither is worth the effort, and I may as well join the UK's one and only remaining growth industry - UNEMPLOYMENT, and start enjoying my weekends again.

When the next election comes, Choose wisely.

CPJames19

Does anyone know if temps who work through an agency have to pay into a pension?

MartinWickham

I was at college in the 1970's when it was widely proclaimed that our generation were going to have a future with so much leisure time that we weren't going to know what to do with it. It didn’t, and won’t, happen. The naivety was tantamount to lying.

Repeatedly the State keeps promising that we are all going to live for longer, perhaps forever?? Just how gullible are some people? There is evidence that fewer people now smoke, these individuals are likely to live longer but the cost of this is already factored in to the economics of insurance, pensions and annuities. Fewer women and children die in childbirth, as they did in Victorian times, but that was over a century ago. Has anyone seen a shred of substantiated evidence that we are going to live significantly longer, other than the two irrelevant examples cited? Yes, there’s plenty of often-repeated, ignorant hearsay, but it’s not even a rational extrapolation from the past if you think about the long-term economic outlook and how current and likely changes to legislation will impact your life.

The simple facts are documented and indisputable. The economics of the baby boomer generation has been exceptionally advantageous and exploitative throughout their decades, but the politics of the same generation has been to enjoy the personalise their wealth rather than sponsor the State. That now leaves the question of the vast number of the baby boomer glut who are now busting the pensions and care homes budgets. Baby boomers appear to want the State they were reluctant to support to supply for their needs, and the younger generations to pick up the bill (in addition to the bills for their university education).

No, I think we need a different answer. Actuarial calculations illustrate very clearly that people who work just a few years longer die significantly younger. The generations currently of working age are not going to live longer; many are going to work until they die so they won’t be needing a compulsory, or any other, pension. We need to stop fantasising about our apparent immortality and start talking about how the baby boomers are going use their own wealth to pick up the tab for their own generation’s care.

ThinkingOfLinking

Fulham_Mark wrote: »

I'll opt out for 2 reasons:

1. I don't trust the government! The retirement age is up, pension funds are now taxed, in 10 years time who knows what they will be taking from them

I'm with you on this so I'd also answer (E) although sadly at the moment I am unemployed so my current answer is (a).