State Pension. Non existent in the near future?

pearl123

Thank you. It's been interesting reading your replies.

Seabee42

There is definitely an increase in expenditure coming due to the increase in the number of elderly. This is both NHS and in pensions all be a lot of that is civil service. It was definitely one of the arguments for the ten million increase in the population due to immigrants but is really just kicking the can down the road. Even if that in turn just massively increased benefits as housing costs increased. No problem is so easily fixed.


Now as people have suggested stopping the state pension is a vote loser but they have put an earnings cap in for child benefit so it is not totally impossible to imagine. Will the majority care if the "rich" have benefits stopped?


Whilst there maybe an overhaul of taxes so that people like google amazon actually pay tax it cannot be an easy thing to do or it would have been done already. So either we reduce government spending (yeah right) or we raise taxes and again its left to the few all the time.


Nevermind pipe dreams like stopping student loans.

Nick_C

pearl123 wrote: »

A friend of mine suggested that in twenty to thirty years time there might not be any state pension due to not enough money.

I was saying this over thirty years ago. As it happens I was wrong. But by planning for the worst case scenario, I've ended up in a very comfortable position.

datlex

Nick_C wrote: »

I was saying this over thirty years ago. As it happens I was wrong. But by planning for the worst case scenario, I've ended up in a very comfortable position.

I remember folk saying this in the 1990s. Like you I took action to safeguard myself in my case opting out of the second state pension to ensure I got some pension. Now as it stands I gain because I will have enough for a full state pension plus the second pension. I doubt the State pension will end but other changes may occur to help fund it,

davieg11

I don't believe that the state pension will ever stop. Some OAP's are the most vulnerable in society and cannot afford to put on the heating. When OAP's become the majority they will vote in who benefits them most. The government will just need to increase NI to 20% and make HR taxpayers pay more than the 2% they pay now.

bigheadxx

If the State Pension survives the baby boomers retiring then it will be pretty safe for future generations. Very few people retiring over the last 5 years and for the next 20 years are going to be worse off than their parents when they themselves retired and many current retirees have accrued "additional state pension" which can be worth thousands of pounds a year.

There is no longer a right to accrue earnings related top up to the state pension and the "flat rate" is a poor deal for future generations, especially those on middle incomes as they will pay the same National Insurance as todays pensioners but will receive a huge amount less.

The government has safeguarded the State Pension but it will provide a basic level of income. Pension Credit will of course be long gone in 30 years, the flat rate pension has seen to that so it is down to individuals to ensure that they save enough for retirement and also be prepared for working well into their seventies as they will be far healthier, one would presume, than their parents.