Pensions envy. Are we heading for financially comfortable but socially uncomfortable retirements?

Flugelhorn

drummersdale said:

Oh the irony of retired Civil Servants (I'm not quite there just yet) getting a 3.1% pension uplift based on September's CPI rate - considerably greater than what they will have received for the last 10 year pay freeze (for most) - good luck to them.  Unless the Government can find some wheeze to get out of it of course.

Happened with DH's pension - he deferred it for 12 years and it was CPI'd (after a bit of RPI) - went up far more than it would have done if it had been based on the rate of pay for the job

older_and_no_wiser

It really doesn't take a huge effort for someone with a "decent" job/career to be able to retire early and live comfortably. Maybe not buying a new Merc every year, but at least maintaining a good quality lifestyle that they enjoyed whilst working. 

It's all about planning and starting to contribute as much as possible as young as possible. Of course those with children and expensive mortgages etc will find it more difficult. 

As a single person in my 50s (never married and no kids), I realise (and am grateful) that I am more fortunate than most on a purely financial level - maybe not personal but that's for another forum - but have always lived within my means and never had debt apart from my mortgage. I regret not putting more into my pension earlier. I always looked at my annual paper statement and saw the bottom line ANNUITY numbers and it made for depressing reading...."in today's terms you will get £300 a year". As soon as I saw that, I just thought that it wasn't worth putting any more in. Now I've been enlightened and have taken full control of where my pension is invested and what the options are on retirement (I never knew about flexi drawdown or HMRC tax topups on contributions), I was completely shocked to discover about a year ago that I could actually retire much earlier than I ever dreamed possible!

Had I known then what I know now, I would have put so much more into my pension years ago rather than wasting(?) it on shiny tech and cars. 

We really should be teaching kids about all this at school. Maybe we can make future generations more finance savvy and this surely will help the economy in coming years.

NannaH

A lifetime without wars ? 

Not for our ex-forces and their families.  

The Falklands, N. Ireland, The Gulf, Afghanistan etc. 

jamesd

Diplodicus said:

 
It is a uniquely privileged generation: a lifetime without wars, plague or famine was largely unknown to previous generations. 

When I was young during a visit to a navy base I asked an officer how long it'd take his ship to get out of port if notification of a nuclear attack on Britain was received, wondering if it could be done in less than around ten minutes that'd be necessary to save the ship and whether it might get far enough away to avoid critical damage.

May 1963 is when the last man conscripted left conscripted military service. Alll have now reached their state pension age.

A generation had to live with the prospect of mass death with a few minutes to no practical notice and forced forced military servitude. There were also a not inconsiderable number of wars involving Britain and substantial numbers died in them.

grocerjack

Workerdrone said:

For me and probably quite a few on here pension saving is almost a hobby. I set a target date and amount and I get a kick out of finding ways to put extra away or when I see my pot grow.

But I realise this is not for everyone. When reading the news/other forums/Facebook editorials I tend to jump on articles which mention pensions. Having read the article, I then scroll down to the comments.

Theres a shocking amount of negativity around pensions in general, ranging from "I can't afford to save anything", "Who on earth has a million pound pension:", "It's the governments fault we have the lowest state pension in Europe" to "Pensions are a con".

Interspersed in this is the very occasional voice of reason pointing out the tax breaks and even the odd brave soul staring the uncomfortable truth "If you don't save, you have no-one to blame but yourself". Still it all seems to fall on deaf ears.

It seems the majority of Britains are still content to bury their heads regarding retirement savings whilst at the same time splurging on the latest phones, subscriptions, frothy coffees, foreign holidays and eating out.

Right now, the negativity is constrained to the comments section, but I also realise these people are our peer group and in 15-25 years time they are facing a bleak retirement whilst those like us who save are not.

Given the tendency for people to blame others/circumstances for their own misfortunes alongside suggesting others success was somehow a matter of luck or even immorality as opposed to hard work and fiscal prudence, are we facing a retirement where out hard saved for nice cars, holidays, meals and general lifestyle attract negativity (Or in the case of nice cars even vandalism)

Interesting point, but in essence I agree, although I think we're heading to  society where retirement is seen as anti-social, and basically people being lazy.  I am due to retire at the end of next week, aged 60. The reaction from most is positive, with lots of 'lucky you' or 'you won't regret it' messages....but also the odd 'so we'll work to keep you going' swipes. I don't even bother to explain that my pension is private, paid into by me and my 3 different employers throughout my life and that I'm 6 or 7 years from drawing the SP. However I see a society where 'hard work' is seen as the mark of a person and where people are currently being 'freed' to work on as long as they like. As that 'freedom' becomes normalised I can foresee a time when it becomes an expectation or duty to work later, if you don't want to be ostracised by society.  There are already murmurings , maybe unwitting ones, from mainstream media outlets and social media influencers describing pensioners as being on benefits, rather than the SP being an entitlement and a symbol of a civilised society looking after those who have worked for 40 plus years. In many other societies they respect their older memebers and look after them, whereas in 'blighty' we seem to be heading down a reverse Victorian ethos whereby instead of sending kids down mines or up chimneys, we expect older people to pick up the slack and work in jobs that others don't want. I do realise how lucky I am, having paid into pension from aged 18, which was mandatory in the old nationalised electricity supply industry. I resented it massively at the time as it was 6% of my salary and I'd rather have spent it down the pub, but now...42 years later I realise how sensible it was, and how lucky I was to be 'forced' into it. I am really looking forward to retirement, albeit with what I assume is normal trepidation after 43 unbroken years of working, and I will vociferously defend my right to retire and see out the rest of my life doing stuff I want to. I genuinely feel for younger people today (I have 2 daugters in their 20s) and whether retirement will be something they can ever do, but if they can't, it won't be the fault of my generation. It will be the fault of a society governed to know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

Silvertabby

jamesd said:

Diplodicus said:

 
It is a uniquely privileged generation: a lifetime without wars, plague or famine was largely unknown to previous generations. 

When I was young during a visit to a navy base I asked an officer how long it'd take his ship to get out of port if notification of a nuclear attack on Britain was received, wondering if it could be done in less than around ten minutes that'd be necessary to save the ship and whether it might get far enough away to avoid critical damage.

May 1963 is when the last man conscripted left conscripted military service. Alll have now reached their state pension age.

A generation had to live with the prospect of mass death with a few minutes to no practical notice and forced forced military servitude. There were also a not inconsiderable number of wars involving Britain and substantial numbers died in them.

As recently as the 1980s, my 'war role' when stationed with the RAF in Germany was a nuclear plotter.  Given the location of ground zero, the approximate size of the bomb, weather conditions, etc, I would plot the area likely to be affected by blast/radiation.  Scary times.

MX5huggy

Significantly easier calculations than which option is better under McCloud. 

drummersdale

MX5huggy said:

Significantly easier calculations than which option is better under McCloud. 

Absolutely agree @MX5huggy - I have been on a couple of My CSP virtual sessions and every time the subject comes up on the dates they expect to have details available (such as an updated retirement calculator) it would seem to be at least another 12 months or longer.  I fully understand the delay as there is no one size fits all solution but there is an element of the unknown as to which may or may not be the better option - in my case do I plump to have all of my Civil Service pension to be in Classic - so move the few years of Alpha up to March 2022 back - or leave as is?  I imagine the differential won't be that great but who knows - i expect by the time I will know I shall already have partially retired.   Exciting times 

hugheskevi

drummersdale said:

MX5huggy said:

Significantly easier calculations than which option is better under McCloud. 

Absolutely agree @MX5huggy - I have been on a couple of My CSP virtual sessions and every time the subject comes up on the dates they expect to have details available (such as an updated retirement calculator) it would seem to be at least another 12 months or longer.  I fully understand the delay as there is no one size fits all solution but there is an element of the unknown as to which may or may not be the better option - in my case do I plump to have all of my Civil Service pension to be in Classic - so move the few years of Alpha up to March 2022 back - or leave as is?  I imagine the differential won't be that great but who knows - i expect by the time I will know I shall already have partially retired.   Exciting times 

That sounds like you are a tapered protection member, and moved into alpha around 2018?

If so, you do not have the option of leaving things as they are, you have to choose legacy scheme for 2015-22 or alpha for 2015-22.

drummersdale

hugheskevi said:

drummersdale said:

MX5huggy said:

Significantly easier calculations than which option is better under McCloud. 

Absolutely agree @MX5huggy - I have been on a couple of My CSP virtual sessions and every time the subject comes up on the dates they expect to have details available (such as an updated retirement calculator) it would seem to be at least another 12 months or longer.  I fully understand the delay as there is no one size fits all solution but there is an element of the unknown as to which may or may not be the better option - in my case do I plump to have all of my Civil Service pension to be in Classic - so move the few years of Alpha up to March 2022 back - or leave as is?  I imagine the differential won't be that great but who knows - i expect by the time I will know I shall already have partially retired.   Exciting times 

That sounds like you are a tapered protection member, and moved into alpha around 2018?

If so, you do not have the option of leaving things as they are, you have to choose legacy scheme for 2015-22 or alpha for 2015-22.

Sorry @hugheskevi my note was poorly worded - I realise I will need to make a choice I just won't necessarily have the relevant details around the impact of choice A or choice B until after I have already made that choice as I will be looking to take my pension some time next year.  And yes I had tapered protection - I moved into Alpha in 2019.