Government Help for Private Pensions?

Mick70

No chance , the market will always fall and rise , the odd crash and the odd boom period also 

Paul_Herring

through no fault of their own

LOL, no.

Dips like this are part and parcel of investing in the stock market. In fact, over the long term, it could be said they're needed (pound cost averaging, e.g.)

If this dip has materially affected you (e.g. you're retiring now/soon) then you shouldn't have been so heavily invested for it to affect you. And that *is* your fault.

If all that's happening is you're looking at graphs, going OMG!!!, but don't actually require those funds now, then you should be viewing this as an opportunity, not a crisis.

gary83

If only there was some kind of box you had to tick whenever you made an investment that said you understood & accepted the risk and were aware that investments could go down, as well as up.

if you pocketed the gains and the government gave you the money every time there was a loss we’d all be maxing out our lines of credit, getting every possible loan available to invest in the stock market, after all in your scenario it’d be the government’s responsibility to make up for any losses, even though they might be invested worldwide, we couldn’t possibly lose.

Imagine  I had a hypothetical pension which I’d Chosen to invest in just a couple of high risk ventures. Something like gold mining in the Antarctic, and oil production in the Middle East. The value of the pension has shrunk as the price of oils gone down and my imaginary gold mine in the Antarctic was struggling, seems pretty incompetent that was a bad stock pick, a bit of a gamble. Why should the British taxpayers refund me the money I’ve lost? 

If suddenly next week, once I’d received the government’s money the Antarctic gold mine surprisingly came good, they found massive gold deposits another year passes & the Corona virus is just a distant memory, oil prices have shot back up so I was now rich beyond my wildest dreams, how would the government get back the compensation it’s already given me for taking a punt? 

Paul_Herring

were aware that investments could go down, as well as up.

Or as some wag had it last time around "the value could go down as well as plummet..."

Thrugelmir

gary83 said:

If only there was some kind of box you had to tick whenever you made an investment that said you understood & accepted the risk and were aware that investments could go down, as well as up.

Plastered everywhere for years. 

Anonymous101

Along similar lines, I did have a bit of a rant at the TV last night as a small business owner complained that she wouldn't be getting a government hand out as she didn't qualify due to paying herself in dividends for the last 10 years.
I thought it was a little bit ironic that she had actively played the system in order to minimise income tax for years and now she was complaining that the taxes that she hadn't paid were going elsewhere.

Prism

Anonymous101 said:

Along similar lines, I did have a bit of a rant at the TV last night as a small business owner complained that she wouldn't be getting a government hand out as she didn't qualify due to paying herself in dividends for the last 10 years.
I thought it was a little bit ironic that she had actively played the system in order to minimise income tax for years and now she was complaining that the taxes that she hadn't paid were going elsewhere.

Agreed. Small business owners and limited company contractors are unlikely to receive much in the way of help at the individual level, although there are a few options available to help with business cash flow. Choosing to pay corporation and dividend tax rather than income tax has benefited director/owners for many years - enough so that the extra from paying less tax should go a long way to have built up a cash fund to keep those dividends flowing in situations like this. If someone has been extracting every penny out of the business with little thought to events like this then I guess their option is to take a loan using the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

For reference I contract through my limited company

zagfles

Anonymous101 said:

Along similar lines, I did have a bit of a rant at the TV last night as a small business owner complained that she wouldn't be getting a government hand out as she didn't qualify due to paying herself in dividends for the last 10 years.
I thought it was a little bit ironic that she had actively played the system in order to minimise income tax for years and now she was complaining that the taxes that she hadn't paid were going elsewhere.

My heart bleeds. Dividends are unearned income so anyone complaining that their dividends have gone down are in the same position as people whose investments have gone down. Any government support should be for earnings, not investment income like dividends. If people have been playing the system to effectively pretend earned income is unearned to avoid NI then that's their own fault. Or maybe their accountant or IFA if they advised them - maybe they should ask them for a bail out!

Thrugelmir

On one phone in. One couple who were both self employed consultants (and milking the tax system) were enraged by the lack of proposals. Asked what their mortgage was, £2,500 a month. Cars on lease BMW 5 series and BMW 3 series. Full sky package. The list went on. Interviewer suggested politely that perhaps they could review their budgets.......

Bravepants

Sounds like the OP wants the benefits of capitalism in the good years, and the benefits of socialism in the bad years! Make up your mind OP!