No pay rise? Blame the baby boomers' gilded pension pots

BobQ

jacko74 wrote: »

Bob I'm not trying to wind anyone up, I'm just offering my opinion based on my personal experience, maybe I'm just unfortunate in the type of boomers I know but I absolutely stand by my description of them.

I could give you a whole page of anecdotal evidence to back up my opinion that the boomer generation had (and still has) it far easier than anybody else before or after them.

I find it ironic when I frequently hear boomers bragging about what cushy working lives they had, yet as soon as you suggest to them that they had it easy they start foaming at the mouth and insisting that their lavish (early) retirements are funded by 'a lifetime of hard work'... they clearly don't know the meaning of the phrase compared to how hard their parents and children's generation had/have to work, with nothing like the same level of rewards to show for it.

I don't actually begrudge anybody getting a lucky break I just wish the boomers would have the decency and honesty to admit that pretty much their whole adult 'working' life was one long lucky break.

Ok. I accept that some workers retired early and some got good pensions and lasted longer than anyone expected at the time.

But many others retired early, had a limited retirement as a result of industrial diseases that have largely been eliminated thanks to modern health and safety measures. Others did not work for firms that paid pensions and retired after leaving school at 14, working for 45 years in a manual occupation and retiring on a basic state pension.

As to "cushy jobs" what exactly are you talking about? I suspect many of those you say had them would regard some of the desk bound jobs of today as quite cushy too? Even today's manual jobs would be regarded as quite cushy compared with when the boomers were working without a plethora of power tools.

BobQ

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Although as an organisation we are in the private sector our shareholders are entirely public sector entities. Our pension scheme mirrors that of the Civil Service. The organisation isn't 40 years old.

When I was a civil servant in the late 70s, the employer's contribution to the civil service pension was 7%. It has now risen as you say.

http://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/employers/employer-contribution-rates/

It is of particular value to the higher paid. Or to put it another way it is a good recruitment and retention aid when you chose to pay low salaries for professional level staff.

Thrugelmir

BobQ wrote: »

When I was a civil servant in the late 70s, the employer's contribution to the civil service pension was 7%. It has now risen as you say.

People are living and drawing their pensions for longer.

ruggedtoast

There are boomers who retiring now who will still be living it up on their bumper inflation adjusted pensions when I retire, on a fraction of what they have awarded themselves.

CLAPTON

ruggedtoast wrote: »

There are boomers who retiring now who will still be living it up on their bumper inflation adjusted pensions when I retire, on a fraction of what they have awarded themselves.

just award yourself more

BobQ

ruggedtoast wrote: »

There are boomers who retiring now who will still be living it up on their bumper inflation adjusted pensions when I retire, on a fraction of what they have awarded themselves.

Probably true, but it is not their fault.

The affordability of pensions has been an issue for many years. The concept that people should enjoy an income in retirement that they pay for in their working life is sound, particularly when the alternative is welfare costs

Australia came up with a fairly sound and integrated pension system many years ago. We just allowed employers to opt out altogether. Combine that with an ever increasing number of self employed many of whom have failed to make provision for retirement and we now have a problem. Compulsory pensions for the employed are long overdue.

But none of this is the responsibility of individual boomers just because they chose to work for organisations that included good pensions or made provision for such pensions in their working life.
There are many boomers and many in later generations who failed to make provision.

gadgetmind

BobQ wrote: »

There are many boomers and many in later generations who failed to make provision.

Well, quite. I've always put a big chunk of my income into pensions, and we've always contributed what we can into my wife's pension too, and made sure she'll qualify for full state pension. Many my age have ignored the issue, or tried to blame their problems on another generation!

Similarly, we employ people of all ages, and I know that (nearly) all of them are going to do well in life because they paid attention at school and are willing to work hard. A few have turned into drifters, who haven't continued to apply themselves, and haven't kept their skills up to date. I'm sure they blame everyone except themselves for this.

patanne

So now people can all blame the so called baby boomers. Who will be blamed when we have all died out. I guess that will be the "entitled to" generation.

Thrugelmir

Seems as if productivity may be an issue as well.

UK productivity lags G7 peers in 2014 - ONS

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/09/18/uk-britain-economy-productivity-idUKKCN0RI11Q20150918


Simply not working hard enough............

mayonnaise

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Simply not working hard enough............

....outside London and the SE.