Pensioners and savers.

Gray_colt

Well what a bunch of idiots we have turned out to be! All these years being responsible and look what has happened. This is a great site but its becoming more irrelevent by the day. With interest rates @.5till 2012 at least and tax payers bailing out the banks, the mortgage holders, businesses. I reiterate what a bunch of idiots we have become!! Im telling my grandchildren never to take out a pension or save but get into debt and spend spend spend. What a irresponsible government we had and have to give this message out.

Aegis

Gray_colt wrote: »

Well what a bunch of idiots we have turned out to be! All these years being responsible and look what has happened. This is a great site but its becoming more irrelevent by the day. With interest rates @.5till 2012 at least and tax payers bailing out the banks, the mortgage holders, businesses. I reiterate what a bunch of idiots we have become!! Im telling my grandchildren never to take out a pension or save but get into debt and spend spend spend. What a irresponsible government we had and have to give this message out.

Sounds like a silly message to me. Why are you encouraging them not to save or take out a pension? There doesn't seem to be any rationale behind that decision.

I for one wouldn't want any family member to be reliant on state benefits when they hit retirement age.

Aegis

ed123 wrote: »

.............I agree we "savers" are mugs.......we are not in effect "savers" but losers, the best rate available is 4.75% gross icici 5 year account (3.8% net for base rate taxpayers) so with rpi at 5.1%( which is questionable) we are losing 1.3% pa so £100 saved pa would be worth £98.70 at the end of the year

On the other hand, if you simply spend the money, you have nothing at the end of the year.

When it comes to saving for your future, something is better than nothing. It's also a good idea to look for inflation-beating investments rather than just relying on cash.

Onawingandaprayer

Erm...I suspect the previous government :mad: had a tad more to do with the situation we are in than the current one. (IMHO)

Botany

Gray_colt wrote: »

Im telling my grandchildren never to take out a pension or save but get into debt and spend spend spend.

I cannot imagine a more irresponsible message to give your grandchildren :eek:

StevieJ

Gray_colt wrote: »

Well what a bunch of idiots we have turned out to be! All these years being responsible and look what has happened. This is a great site but its becoming more irrelevent by the day. With interest rates @.5till 2012 at least and tax payers bailing out the banks, the mortgage holders, businesses. I reiterate what a bunch of idiots we have become!! Im telling my grandchildren never to take out a pension or save but get into debt and spend spend spend. What a irresponsible government we had and have to give this message out.

My cash savings are earning between 3.5% and 6.5% tax free at the moment also got quite a few NS&I index linked, not fantastic but not bad. BTW don't you like your grandchildren? giving out such irresponsible advice.

peterbaker

Maybe the OP watched the last in the three Money Watch programmes on BBC2 tonight entitled "How to beat tough times 3/3: in which Martin took part ... Growing It. (The team examine saving and investing in a tough economic climate.). The previous edition was entitled Spending It .

Basically it was concluded that ordinary retail workers investing maybe £30 a month or even £100 a month in their own pension, despite having their contributions matched up to 5% by a 'benevolent' employer, were going to be so little better off than those who spent all they earned that maybe they were wasting their time. The invited IFA (not Martin I hasten to add) had to conclude that the best investment over the last year was equities at an average of 40% (try basing an investment strategy on that piece of info) and the best long term investment over the last 20 years by far was fine wines. Apparently some people can not only afford to invest in it but some are also rich enough or daft enough to drink the stuff which creates more demand or something :cool:

What use is that to an ordinary saver or pensioner? Absolutely useless. So I quite agree with the sentiments of the OP. Since there are far more totally disillusioned ordinary savers in this world of the same view as the OP (and many who have already died holding, and will die holding that opinion) than there are IFAs of any opinion, I'd even go as far as to say that the OPs view is far more valid than that of the IFAs amongst us.

Bit of a sad indictment of the financial services industry as a whole, don't you think?

peterbaker

... and that just about sums it up ... separate this jonicomelately guy (*spammer) from a high street full of equally obtuse investment propositions from people with apparently legit names on their well-oiled doors if you can. In practice, it's become a tad tedious for the ordinary punter to even bother with any of them, let alone to avoid the vacuous spaces between them.

*(spammed us with some financial snake oil l . i . n . k between this post and my last one for all of ten minutes, inviting us to delete spaces before he was stamped on and squashed ... RIP jonirussel ... maybe he'll come back in another life further up the foodchain.)

amcluesent

Just wait for the "mansion tax" to become the detached tax, then semi-detached then terrace tax...

FACT All Western ecomies will spiral into decline over the next few decades, and goverments will stagger on by systematically seizing private wealth and assets, starting by taxing not income but capital. Can't pay? Sorry you'll have to sell - and pay the duty and taxes!

Gray_colt

Think you will find this government is going to be as bad if not worse than the previous, they sanctioned the abolition of the index linkage. Thus demonstrating their disrespect for savers and anyone respossible. So where does this leave us. Never save because you get **** on and get into debt so as you cant afford repayments on your mortgage and get all the bail outs and benifits you desire. Broken society we have under labour and this shower in power now are intent on following though with the distruction of sense. Martin does a get job on here hats off to the fella but i bet his frustrated as hell, like most savers.

VT82

peterbaker wrote: »

Maybe the OP watched the last in the three Money Watch programmes on BBC2 tonight entitled "How to beat tough times 3/3: in which Martin took part ... Growing It. (The team examine saving and investing in a tough economic climate.). The previous edition was entitled Spending It .

Basically it was concluded that ordinary retail workers investing maybe £30 a month or even £100 a month in their own pension, despite having their contributions matched up to 5% by a 'benevolent' employer, were going to be so little better off than those who spent all they earned that maybe they were wasting their time.

That programme made me angry - and not in the way the participants wanted me to. There's not going to be that much sympathy for people with so much money to save they are worried about their interest rates, when rates are being kept low to avoid people losing their jobs and families being turfed out of their homes. Who says there is a God-given right to earn above inflation on your savings anyway? If you don't like it, stick it under the mattress and see how much interest that gets you.

And that example with the girl putting 30 quid a month into her pension was really deceptive. She was putting in a measly 30 quid a month into her pension, and didn't think that getting an extra 90 quid a week (360 per month) on retirement was worth it! Well boo-hoo for her. Talk about looking a gift horse in the month!