Unders 65s missing out all round

enthusiasticsaver

No I do not believe you are hard done by through missing out on pensioners bonds. Think yourself lucky to be retired at 61 when many of us in our 50s will have to work until 66,67 or 68 unless we have made our own private pension arrangements (luckily we have.)


If you have worked all your life presumably you must have higher than £148.40 pw due to serps? Also did you not have an employers pension scheme? Final salary schemes were common when you were working but have disappeared now for those of us retiring in ten years time.


I think the generation hardest done by are those in their twenties and thirties who face a lifetime of debt through student fees for a university education, insecure employment, extortionate housing costs and the prospect of working until they are 70 or beyond.

ViolaLass

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I think the generation hardest done by are those in their twenties and thirties who face a lifetime of debt through student fees for a university education albeit income dependent, won't be chased by debt collectors and disappears after a while if not paid off, insecure employmentor more possibilities to move and try other things, extortionate housing costs yeah, tricky to argue that one though it does depend where you live and the prospect of working until they are 70 or beyond.unless they too make their own pension arrangements in addition to state/employer ones

I'm one of that group but I'll be the one who decides when I retire.

jamesd

boaters wrote: »

Am I missing something or are the U-65s pensioners missing out all round?

No, not compared to those to come later.

boaters wrote: »

Second we only get the current state pension - a few years younger and we'd get a whopping £148.40pw. I've worked all my life so no benefit to the reduction in NI qualifying years.

Why would you want your state pension cut to only £148.40? A lifetime low income person would be getting something in the £190+ a week region in state pension. If you're way under that you were probably in a contracted out workplace defined benefit pension that is paying you the money instead of the state system. If you were in defined benefit pensions you'd get a cut to the flat rate to allow for that and probably end up with no more than you get now.

About those defined benefit pensions. These days new joiners are only likely to get those in the public sector and they aren't likely to be final salary but average salary. If you''re getting one of these you're probably way ahead of the following generations in terms of pension paid to you for each Pound of your own money that went in, without having to take the investment risk that the youngsters outside the public sector are stuck with.

boaters wrote: »

Third, despite being of pension age we don't qualify for the new Pensioner Bond.

That's not a particularly good deal except for low risk. If you don't mind some investment risk you can get 10% from peer to peer lending.

You can do way better by doing something like deferring your state pension and getting a 10.4% increase for life per year of deferral. You can do that once even if you've already claimed and it's partly inheritable by a spouse. Under the flat rate rules the corresponding increase is 5.8% not inheritable. It's a great move near state pension age if you're in normal good health.

boaters wrote: »

Does anyone agree with me that we seem to have got a raw deal all round?

No, just look at the state pension cap at the flat rate that the generation after yours is going to suffer, instead of earnings-related addition to the basic state pension that continues as long as you're working and under state pension age.

This autumn you'll have the option to buy up to £25 a week of extra state pension. Since you're fairly close to state pension age that will not be as good a deal for you as deferring the state pension.

In some ways you're a victim of the things that the politicians don't say about the new flat rate set up. Like that big deduction for being contracted out or the way it's less than a person working even on a low wage under the current system would get if they weren't contracted out a lot. Missing out details like that has given quite a lot of people that they are missing out when they aren't. It's those who didn't do much paid work who are missing out, not those like you who did a full working life.

ermine

boaters wrote: »

Am I missing something or are the U-65s pensioners missing out all round?[...whinge, whinge, snip]
Does anyone agree with me that we seem to have got a raw deal all round?

Blimey. Do you recall what people were like at your age 50,60 years ago? Decrepit, joint pains from 45, knackered? 50 years of medical advances, better heating than in the 60s, massive increases to longevity? That don't impress you much, eh?

You're a hell of a long time dead. Don't wish your life away. Chin up and enjoy the ride. Y'know, some of those things you're moaning about arise because people like you are living longer? That's not such a bad thing in my book, though if we're all going to go round grizzling and griping like that I can see the downside.

Raw deal !!!!!!! Carpe Diem.

System

boaters wrote: »

Does anyone agree with me that we seem to have got a raw deal all round?

But you will have a longer and healthier life-expectancy, so will have even more time to grumble and complain about other people, rather than enjoy your own good fortune.

Sterlingtimes

It hasn't been a bad ride (nearing 60 now): DB pensions for half of career, tax relief on mortgage contributions (for a time), Government subsidies on life assurance contributions (for a time), and now older tax payers do not need to fully subsidise higher education fees and grants for young students despite having benefited themselves. And Community Charge was great while I was single. Additionally, high inflation served to reduce mortgage payments in real terms while salaries increased mainly in line with inflation.