Can and Will the Goalposts Change for Pension Savers?

atush

Hurting pensions too drastically (esp now with auto enrollement) means that it would be electoral suicide.

OP I wouldnt worry too much right now- Id keep contributing. If changes come, they dont tend to have too much to do with past contributions (apart from say LA but I assume that wont affect you?)

Just make hay while the sun shines.

badmemory

Why do you think our state pension still has the triple lock? It certainly isn't because this government think it is a good thing. They just realise the impact of removing it would be political suicide. Too high a proportion of the voting public are either retired or approaching retirement.


The whole idea of auto enrollement was to enable reductions in the scope of the state pension & any associated benfits like pension credit.


Every political party for the last 20 years has known that SPA needed changing once equalised & none of them had the guts to do it until the proverbial was about to hit the fan.


So they may twiddle aroung the edges, reduce the tax benefits, but if they want/expect to stay in government then it won't be much. The danger will be from any government that realises they are not likely to get back into power for 12 years anyway so let's do all those things we haven't been able to.

OldMusicGuy

Twointhebush wrote: »

So can and will the goalposts change for pension savers?

Without doubt they will. However, you should not use this as a psychological "excuse" not to save into a pension now. You know what the rules are now, use them to your advantage. If they change in the future, that's when you should decide if you want to continue contributing in the way you are.

nrsql

Linton wrote: »

Why do you think pensions are a particular target for government sequestration? Surely bank accounts would be easier to get hold of and S&S ISAs are not that different to pensions. And then what about real estate. Its difficult to hide.

Because they are locked in until later in life. Less you can do to mitigate losses from rule changes


It is purely rhetoric to say the SP is a Ponzi scheme. It means nothing. What do you deduce from the statement? NI/SP is certainly sustainable provided the retirement age is adjusted to ensure that the contribution income matches the cost over the long term.

Well it means it is financed from future contributions. Relies on a growing workforce or will need to decrease returns or other funding - I think that's what you are saying though.


Any system that provides the elderly with the necessities of life by definition takes from the current workforce. This may be via taxes or it could be by the elderly using their savings. The net effect is the same: some of the goods and services created by the working population that would otherwise be available for their benefit is being used by the non-productive elderly. The current system is surely a benefit for the whole population as it provides security. Apart from a few that may fall between the gaps, no-one needs to be worried that that they may have to work until they drop. What is your alternative - dispose of the non productive part of the population?

That's fine (not sure it's true though - maybe change elderly to vulnerable. Doesn't mean it's sustainable though. There are alternatives but I doubt whether any would win votes without a collapse of the current system.

Comments in bold.
Just found out why people put that at the end of posts.

Paul_Herring

Just found out why people put that at the end of posts

Just copy/paste

[ /quote]

[ quote]

and insert that where ever you'd normally bold, and type in between.. it's about the same effort as bolding, and takes about the same time when you're used to it.

A lot more readable for everyone else as well

greenglide

But only if you get them in the proper order!


The one with the backslash turns quoting off and should appear at the end of the quote section, not the beginning. Also the precise spelling and spacing matters. The inserting of an extra space between the [ and the QUOTE would not be recognised. The use of lower rather than upper case may also cause problems.


Much easier to use the quote button which is at the right hand side of the button row (looks a bit like a speech bubble).

Paul_Herring

greenglide wrote: »

But only if you get them in the proper order!

They were.

The one with the backslash turns quoting off and should appear at the end of the quote section, not the beginning. Also the precise spelling and spacing matters. The inserting of an extra space between the [ and the QUOTE would not be recognised.

It's there, because none of the escaping methods I tried allowed me to display them rather than them getting rendered.

The use of lower rather than upper case may also cause problems.

It won't.

Much easier to use the quote button which is at the right hand side of the button row (looks a bit like a speech bubble).

That quotes the whole post. After which, what I suggested needs to be done.

greenglide

The quote button (not the reply function) inserts a quote and an end quote string at the current cursor position.


The quote is inserted before the /quote. I always assumed this was the order in which they had to appear. Are you saying that the /quote can appear first!


I have tried it here [/QUOTE]AAA

and it didn't work.

Paul_Herring

If you have replied/quoted a whole post, if you want a break in that quote, then you want - in order - a closing /quote , a gap for whatever you want to type, then an opening quote to re-quote the original text.

The button on the reply form quotes a selection - what you need on something you've already quoted is effectively an un-quote (i.e. with the tags in the opposite order.

So, if you start of with (angle brackets used here, instead of square ones) a post you've replied to with their text already quoted:

<quote>
original text
original text
original text
original text
</quote>

and you want to insert your own comment in the middle, you do

<quote>
original text
original text
</quote>

<quote>
original text
original text
</quote>

and write your stuff in that gap.

atush

I just fell asleep