Predators stalk your pension

Daniel54

bowlhead99 wrote: »

I was the one who mentioned left and right but the point was not to talk about how to vote. The point is, most of us have an idea of what a group of politicians will claim to intend to do for us for better or worse, and if we don't, we should probably endeavour to find out. What is likely to be best for individuals depends on individual circumstances and is obviously not as clear cut as left or right depending on whether our existing pension pot is low or high.

So, painting one party as the good guys or bad guys on a specific forum for pensions or for loans or credit or investment or whatever, should not need doing ; we have our ideologies and should not need helpful hints or politically slanted diatribe on how we might like to vote to make the world a better or worse place. A "practical suggestion" that we can influence future policies by voting, is not a suggestion that needs to be made, because we all know what voting is.

The forums work better when the politics stays in the pub or the "debate the economy" board or somewhere people are not going for actual real advice and questions about how pensions work.

Agree with this

Come the election next year,each party will set out their stall and publish their manifestos,and each voter will make a decision,which may or may not be in what they perceive to be their best interests ( as opposed to the best interests of the country as a whole)

Either way,speculation and fear-mongering over what one party may or may not do has no place on this or the other knowledge focussed forums

Teaandscones

If we want to look at politicians damaging pensions then they all have form not just one party. I can list a few (I am sure that others will be able to add ones that I have missed).

Thatcher/Major government
Pensions miss-selling on a vast scale.
Lax regulation re Equitable life
Penalty payments on surpluses within DB pensions, so that when the hard times came there was no fat to cover the losses.
First reduction of dividend tax credit

Blair/Brown government
Abolition of dividend tax credit
Increase of means testing so that for many paying into a pension was worthless
Failed stakeholder pension initiative
A new pension minister every year so a general outcome of drift with private pension provision declining.

Coalition
Retrospective reduction in pensions due to RPI CPI change to public and some private sector DB funds
Reduction in the lifetime allowance
Increase in state pension age, particularly affecting women born in 1954.
Effective reduction in SERPS benefits of long-term contracted in employees under the new single pension arrangements.

There were arguable reasons for many of the above not least saving money and there have also been many improvements in pensions regulations such as the ability to have more than one pension so change has not all been for the worst. What I do argue though is that ALL POLITICAL PARTIES can be a danger to pensions policy.

le_loup

Daniel54 wrote: »

and each voter will make a decision,which may or may not be in what they perceive to be their best interests (as opposed to the best interests of the country as a whole)

Agree with your post but disagree with the bit that seems to assume that we all vote for our own interests.
Some of us do vote for what we believe is in the best interest of our country. I hope I have always done that.

Daniel54

le_loup wrote: »

Agree with your post but disagree with the bit that seems to assume that we all vote for our own interests.
Some of us do vote for what we believe is in the best interest of our country. I hope I have always done that.

I completely agree and must have expressed myself poorly.

In the words you quote I was actually seeking to rebut the assumption made by Robin61 .

Bootsox

excelpaul wrote: »

I am finding the trend of some of these comments totally appalling.
You only have to read some of the forums on MSE to realise that things politically are not so simple as left and right.E.

Seems pretty simple to me: Labour are the party of scroungers and dole monkeys, Conservatives are the party of decent, hard working people.

robin61

Daniel54 wrote: »

Agree with this

Come the election next year,each party will set out their stall and publish their manifestos,and each voter will make a decision,which may or may not be in what they perceive to be their best interests ( as opposed to the best interests of the country as a whole)

Either way,speculation and fear-mongering over what one party may or may not do has no place on this or the other knowledge focussed forums

Labour have been pretty clear that they do not like tax relief being given at the rate which people earning more than £42k per annum actually pay tax and Milliband has in the past spoken out against the PCLS being tax free over £30k. Most of these people are hardly rich they are just prudent and hard working and are an easy target because of that.
As far as I am concerned the biggest threat to me being able to retire when I am planning to (after 41 years of hard work) is that of Labour pulling the rug away from me during my last few years of work.
I agree that probably the original post was better placed elsewhere but as it wasn't I feel entitled to express my opinion and speak out. There is already enough concern about Labour's position to justify this.

robin61

le_loup wrote: »

Some of us do vote for what we believe is in the best interest of our country. I hope I have always done that.

That is very public spirited of you. My priorities lie with looking after the best interests of myself and my family because if I do not do that then in my experience nobody else will.

Linton

robin61 wrote: »

That is very public spirited of you. My priorities lie with looking after the best interests of myself and my family because if I do not do that then in my experience nobody else will.

I dont know about yours, but the best interests of my family dont just lie with with maximising our net income as opposed to that of other people. Its not even the top priority. More important is the environment in which we live, both social and physical.

robin61

Linton wrote: »

I dont know about yours, but the best interests of my family dont just lie with with maximising our net income as opposed to that of other people. Its not even the top priority. More important is the environment in which we live, both social and physical.

A lot of taxpayer's moneymoney is wasted and until I think otherwise my top priority will be to retain as much of the money I have worked damned hard to earn for the benefit of myself and my family. I make no apologies for this I am not and will never be a socialist and I have no desire for a greater proportion of my income to be redistributed.

James_B.

le_loup wrote: »

Agree with your post but disagree with the bit that seems to assume that we all vote for our own interests.
Some of us do vote for what we believe is in the best interest of our country. I hope I have always done that.

As do I. It's amazing, though, how few people on the left believe that right-of-centre voters do so.

The right tend to view the left as well-meaning, but wrong, the left seem to tend to view the right as purely self-interested.