Penalised for putting a 'bit by for your old age' no longer

Batchy

FACT... doesnt matter what the government does, for workers life will be expensive, for doler's life will always be free.

Balancing the two will never be an option as the money from the earners will always pay for those who never work.

Be it in taxes, or Theft, Crime.

Its all pretty much the same, but taxes are supposed to be organised at least and safe.

Ill be happy with a flat rate, especially knowing that now, with so long to go before I retire. I earn a good screw, and no doubt my private pension with continued top ups will grow nicely.

jamesd

i8change wrote: »

It's here under 1. The inherited system ...
Also "Clearly less generous than the continental European systems" as they put it.

Thanks, didn't find it perhaps because it says among rather than amongst.

That's fine in general, so far as I'm concerned, provided we retain a system where the state pension is supposed to be basic provision with people able to choose how much they add individually. That flexibility is one of the great strengths of the UK system.

So far there looks to be no plan to change the core objective of the UK system, that it should be enough to avoid benefits. The focus at present looks to be on getting the result above the anticipated level of Pension Credit so we don't see a surge in that as it becomes more generous due to the link to earnings rather than inflation.

Good to see someone else who's apparently read at least some of what the Pensions Commission produced!

Thrugelmir

jamesd wrote: »

Neither the state pensions nor any investment, nor the level of means tested benefits offers a completely guaranteed result. according to the Barclays Capital 2011 Equity Gilt Study the average return on share investments in the UK market was 5.1% plus inflation over the 111 years to the end of 2010.

Not many investors have had the opportunity to invest for 111 years.

FTSE over last 10 years is currently up 56.3% with dividends reinvested. That's a more meaningful figure in my mind.

jamesd

Yes, I agree that is more meaningful today but it's good to know what the long term trend is, how it varies with demographics and why that implies that investing outside the UK is likely to do better than in the UK markets.