Boomers Pension Gravy Train Finally To Be Derailed

Nick_C

Nick_C wrote: »

With inflation at 0% (and an inflation target of 2%) we could easily have increased VAT.

Thrugelmir wrote: »

I fail to see the connection between the two.

Increasing VAT is inflationary. Adding two percentage points to a vatable item would increase its retail price by 1.7%. When inflation was at zero, and with an inflation target of 2%, VAT could have been increased without having a detrimental effect on the economy.

Nick_C wrote: »

And while raising personal allowances is an excellent thing for the poor, it disproportionally benefits the better off.

Thrugelmir wrote: »

It what way is it disportionate?

Because in some cases the better off gain more than the poorest. If your income is only £10K a year, then you get no benefit from raising the personal allowance from £10K to £11K

If your income is £30K a year, raising the personal allowance by £10K to £11K gives you an extra £200 a year.

Nick_C wrote: »

... a pensioner is more likely to be living mortgage free and have investments than a worker.

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Do you have evidence to support this assertion. Also why won't workers own their own homes.

I would have thought this was self-evident. The normal route to buying a home is to save for a deposit, take out a mortgage, and pay it off over 25 or 30 years. People will typically pay off a mortgage at 50/55. So if you are buying a property, for 60% of your working life you are likely to have a mortgage.

Until recently, most lenders would not give you a mortgage with a term that went beyond pensionable age.

Obviously, there are exceptions. Some people will buy a house outright for cash in their early twenties. Some people will have mortgages until their seventies. But generally, I suggest that a pensioner is less likely to have a mortgage than a worker. Until recently, most lenders would not give you a mortgage with a term that went beyond pensionable age.

As for investments, many pensioners receive lump sums on retiring or downsize their homes to release capital.

Nick_C wrote: »

A pensioner with a mix of incomes from savings and investments might have £22,000 a year but only pay £1,000 tax. A worker on £22,000 a year would be paying nearly £4K in tax and NICs, and then have to pay rent, pension contributions, fares to work, lunches out etc.

Castle wrote: »

Even the new state pension is only £8,094 per year so were is this additional £14,000 a year going to come from?

A mix of pensions, interest on savings, and investment income.

chucknorris

Castle wrote: »

Even the new state pension is only £8,094 per year so were is this additional £14,000 a year going to come from?

Have I missed the point or misunderstood here? Surely the answer is obvious, rental income, dividend income, savings interest, corporate bond interest, the list goes on.

DiggerUK

Thrugelmir wrote: »

What's the alternative? Simply continue to promise the unaffordable. Be an own goal for any political party that does attempt this route.

I pay my share towards what retirees need to keep themselves in good stead. I will do this without wingeing until I claim my state pension, winter fuel payment, bus pass, free prescriptions, et al, when I eventually retire. Then I will continue to pay tax, without wingeing.

I knew my payback for paying was that it would be 'quid pro quoed' back to me in retirement. So stop wingeing, and pay your insurance. This is one insurance policy that is backed by the government, not some shyster financiers..._

[Deleted User]

chucknorris wrote: »

Have I missed the point or misunderstood here? Surely the answer is obvious, rental income, dividend income, savings interest, corporate bond interest, the list goes on.

My 90 year old mother doesn't even understand what these are, much less benefit from any of them.
State Pension and that's it for her, I'm afraid.

chucknorris

Sleazy wrote: »

My 90 year old mother doesn't even understand what these are, much less benefit from any of them.
State Pension and that's it for her, I'm afraid.

That's unfortunate, but we are talking about pensioners with at least £22k per annum income (no one said that it was every pensioner), if she doesn't have that much income, then she isn't in the group that we are talking about.

Robisere

I am 71 and worked all my life until an industrial injury brought about disability. I could not get a penny for the injury, as the business changed hands, by declaring bankruptcy and setting up again under another name (a relative). I have been a seaman, a miner, a soldier (12 years) and a workshop foreman. After a broken relationship, I gave all the money I had to my ex-partner, then met my wife, who has also worked until her own disability caught up with her. Neither of us had money and she had two children, but whilst we could work we did and we made a life, saving every penny we could, bringing up our smashing kids and buying a house. When first myself, then my wife, became disabled, we lost the house and rented until we were fortunate to get Sheltered Housing. I have a small pension from the Army and another very small pension which I take as a lump sum in December, to help us afford Christmas. I drive a Motability car, for which I am very thankfull.

I voted to Remain in the EU, because I thought that would be best for my grandchildren. So did many of my age group, which puts the lie to the bald statement that all us old 'uns voted to leave.

We have finished having holidays, because it is just too much expense now, but thankfully we live near the coast and at least Sea air is still free!

My point is that people put our generation into one box. This is just as wrong as some oldphart saying something derogatory about young people. It fails to take into account that we are all individuals, with different life stories. I blame the Referendum: this country is now so divided against itself and people are always looking for someone to blame. Blame the politicians and the media, both sides told us lies in an effort to make us vote one way or the other. The fact is that it doesn't matter a hoot which way the vote went, or which section of the populace voted which way: it was a national referendum, the most democratic process any nation can take part in. I personally wish it had gone the other way, but I will stand by the democratic decision of the people and defy anyone who tries to change it. What does get a hollow laugh from me, is the guy who criticises the vote result, when I know that he did not get his backside down to the Polling Booth.

So now it's "kick the oldies" time, and some doing the kicking have probably never worked as hard as most of us oldpharts did.

Fella

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Millennials have no chance of receiving anything like what today's pensioners are getting, when they retire.

Going by the charts they'll have to listen to much worse music too.

DiggerUK

Sleazy wrote: »

.........State Pension and that's it for her, I'm afraid.

chucknorris wrote: »

............if she doesn't have that much income, then she isn't in the group that we are talking about.

You sound surprised that pensioners on less than £22K even exist. You may not want to talk about them, but those like me do.

To have any kind of comfort on £22K means you have to be free of housing costs.........just what the hell is the point of working 50 odd years to be shat on by some milenial @rsehole who wants to bash a pensioner..._

chucknorris

DiggerUK wrote: »

You sound surprised that pensioners on less than £22K even exist. You may not want to talk about them, but those like me do.

To have any kind of comfort on £22K means you have to be free of housing costs.........just what the hell is the point of working 50 odd years to be shat on by some milenial @rsehole who wants to bash a pensioner..._

How do I sound surprised? I'm not. I was answering a post that asked where would a pensioner (not EVERY pensioner) get £22k income per annum, is it really that difficult for you to understand?

EDIT: I actually think that pension poverty is going to become a real issue in the UK

missbiggles1

Castle wrote: »

Even the new state pension is only £8,094 per year so were is this additional £14,000 a year going to come from?

You're only talking about the basic state pension, many people get far more than that with the various add ons.