Beware State Pension shock when partner dies

cloud_dog

badmemory wrote: »

Auto enrolment sounds good, but if people & employers only pay in the minimum, even if they start at 18 it will not be anywhere near enough to fund a decent retirement.

True but, at what point do you expect people to become responsible for themselves and their actions?

Years ago, pre the interweb, obtaining information, projections, confirmation was laborious, now it is only a few clicks away.

Seriously, I wonder what else we can blame on someone not doing something for us....mmm

JoeCrystal

cloud_dog wrote: »

True but, at what point do you expect people to become responsible for themselves and their actions?

Years ago, pre the interweb, obtaining information, projections, confirmation was laborious, now it is only a few clicks away.

Seriously, I wonder what else we can blame on someone not doing something for us....mmm

Hopefully the Pension Dashboard would help the people in understanding their position. An annual statement paper based on Pension Dashboard might actually be helpful. Hopefully, Dashboard might have more tools to help people to work out what more they need to contribute to get a reasonable income??

Maybe I am too hopeful. The current pension calculators are way too depressing as to how much one need to contribute unfortunately.

cloud_dog

JoeCrystal wrote: »

Hopefully the Pension Dashboard would help the people in understanding their position. An annual statement paper based on Pension Dashboard might actually be helpful. Hopefully, Dashboard might have more tools to help people to work out what more they need to contribute to get a reasonable income??

Maybe I am too hopeful. The current pension calculators are way too depressing as to how much one need to contribute unfortunately.

And that is probably the crux of the matter I'm afraid...it is ostrich time for anyone who doesn't want to face reality.

Off topic for the OP but very relevant to today's young 'uns.

Malthusian

westport wrote: »

Getting the drunks and crackheads to pay for it through automatic fines seems like a good idea to me and the hospital trust CEO I spoke to, unless you have better ideas on how to care for pensioners.

Drunks and crackheads don't pay fines, because they don't have any money. So what you are proposing is that not only should working people pay for the cost of treating them, but that they should also pay to hire several thousand people doing the completely pointless job of issuing them fines, administering their fines, and sending round bailiffs to confiscate their no money.

Then of course we would need to imprison the drunks and crackheads for non-payment of fines (if we can find them), which would cost about £40,000 per annum per crackhead. Again paid for by working people.

With problem solving ability like that I'm not surprised this genius works as a chief bureaucrat.

LHW99

Auto enrolment sounds good, but if people & employers only pay in the minimum, even if they start at 18 it will not be anywhere near enough to fund a decent retirement.

Since the scheme's introduction, that is the case, however from April next year contributions would reach 8% minimum. So for someone starting at 18, that's not too far off the 50% of your age suggestion. On top of the SP it would make a difference. I suspect that at least a proprtion of employers / ees would pay more than the minimum, and that may increase again in future.

GunJack

michaels wrote: »

TO buy an annuity of 8k at 60 would require a pot of about 280k so effectively on a salary of say 17k.

Ignoring inflation/salary increases over 23 years at 17k your wife has earned 391k plus a pension entitlement worth 280k or about 12k per annum on top of her salary.

If that is not 'gold plated' I don't know what is - not many private sector jobs where you get pension contributions of 72% of your gross salary

Or looked at another way, your wife was on a 'salary and pension' package worth 29k - how does that compare to the private sector equivalent of her job?

Look, instead of bashing public sector schemes (which have got worse over the years), why not put the effort into bashing the many private sector schemes which have got MUCH worse over the same time period????

I've used myself as an example before in this sort of debate, leaving CS and into Industry got me a 20% pay rise, and a very similar FS DB pension (now CARE, which will be slightly better than the pure FS). That was only 10 yrs ago, and the DB CARE scheme is still there with no signs of going anywhere, so there are companies that can (and still do) provide a decent DB pension.

This shouldn't ever be about a race to the bottom....

Thrugelmir

GunJack wrote: »

This shouldn't ever be about a race to the bottom....

The damage was done by a former chancellor who saw private sector pension funds (and personal pensions) as an easy target to tax. £5 billion a year if I remember correctly, and that was 20 years ago.

GunJack

Thrugelmir wrote: »

The damage was done by a former chancellor who saw private sector pension funds (and personal pensions) as an easy target to tax. £5 billion a year if I remember correctly, and that was 20 years ago.

Which probably wouldn't have been such an issue if the previous govt. hadn't allowed companies to take payment holidays previously..

atush

Did you have an NI number even though you didn't work. When I was a SAHM I was credited with the number of years I claimed child benefit ( I think that was it)

Yes, I had a temporary one at first, then i got a permanent one. Iw as credited with CB payments plus 3 years for age 16-18 (which has since been withdrawn from new claiments).

Now i am paying voluntary. I have done some paid work, but never enough to pay NI.

caveman38

cloud_dog wrote: »

Seriously, I wonder what else we can blame on someone not doing something for us....mmm

What Have the Romans Ever Done For Us?