The Pensions Saga

[DaveEllen]

Any of you question where our NI contributions go? I ask as it appears we will not be able to retire at 65 as there is not enough dosh in the pot........the Govt have cunningly blamed us for not saving enough.......Any of you remember what NI contributions are supposed to pay for........"from the cradle to the grave" was Mr Beveridges slogan........I though it was to pay for NHS,unemployment pay & pensions.............clearly its being diverted elswhere......like the tax we pay on petrol

[Mitch]

ok i dnt know much bout pensions but i rate its a big con jus like the government altogether.

but i gotta agree wit my dad, if you are gonna wait for the government to pay you decent cash in a pension your gonna wait for nothing.

best bet is to invest in properties and rent them out then when you do retire you got a solid income every month and can always sell the houses.

thats what my dad is doing

[TonyGoose]

Now let's see ... the problem is a 28 billion quid hole in pension funds right ??

Think back ... Labour come to power and as one of their very first things ....

Change the law to make pension funds liable to tax - netting treasury about 5billion a year.

5 years later, they've stolen 25 billion out of our pension funds.

Makes Robert Maxwell (who they call a crook) positively saintly doesn't it !!

Meantime, employees continue to pay 5% or so of their earnings into company pension funds.

With stocks booming companies take 'payment holiday'. ie. choose not to pay their bit.

Now the markets slump and pension funds suffer .....

No wonder when they've been shortchanged by employers and swindled by ukgov plc.

And who's at fault - oh of course, the employee ... Not saving enough are we.

Scuze me ?? Who exactly are the ONLY ones who continued to pay in throughout ??

This so called 'pension crisis' is ENTIRELY the work of this swindling govt and unscrupulous employers.

All of whom vote themselves guaranteed retirement benefits at the expense of joe public.

Damn this kind of thing makes me mad ...

'Politics' ... 'Poli' meaning many, 'tics' meaning blood sucking parasites

[dark_is200]

don't invest in property at the moment!

[Claire G]

Someone my husband works with got a letter to say he's paid enough NI contributions to retire now should he choose to (he's 61). He rang them up and asked if that meant he wanted to continue to work, he would now be exempt from paying NI. Bet you can't guess what the answer was!!!

Anyone under the age of about 30 will probably not get a state pension when they get to retirement age. Now we'll soon be able to work until we're 70, it shouldn't be an issue <humpf>.

Is this what Mr Beveridge meant by 'from the cradle to the grave' ?

[javadude]

If remember right I think it was rules put in place by the government meant that the employers had to take a contribution holiday as their funds were rated as being over-full. Cheers - another one down to the government

It should at least be easier to find out what you're likely to get. At the moment you have to contact the provider for the pension for each past employer and get them to send a projection of benefits at retirement. They provide various cases depending on inflation, interest rates, growth of funds and then you add them all up to get the final vague finger in the air. Mine comes out as a quarter of my current salary in todays money. :o :(

[Loz]

pension shmeshion!

If you are not smart enough to figure out that if you don;'t make your own provisions for old age then the government will continue to wind you out on the rack then you probly don't even drive a Lexus or read these forums. Infact I pity you.

I work my nadds off sio that I can live free from my forties to the grave. if that means more property then bring it! if it means a huge stack of reddies under a matress then c'mon! if it means putting ur granny on a street corner then I guess I better not cancel that appointment with my pensions advisor...

Seriously, I worked in central Government for 6 years. I know that pension that cost me nothing will be worth nothing. I worked with £30k a year civil servants that now pump gas to still be able to afford the odd pint in their local where they collect glasses on a thursday and friday night!

If you don't get something in the bag that is your own then you are living for a poor retirement. Personally I want to have at least £2k a month beer money with no debts and capital assets to the value of mid to high six figures by the time I am ready for a move to Sand Keys, Florida.

And I will need my parking sensors by then to conceal my cararacts!

Loz

[GCHQAgent]

I'm a bit cynical and I happen to think the government have managed to pull of a well planned excercise into netting the treasury billions today and billions tomorrow.

While they have tried to sort out the pensions problem some might say they haven't as done as much as they should have, but then there are always people who'll say that... just look at one of the opposition ;)

However, the government are taking more money in the way of taxes and their latest advice is that everyone should work longer... how convenient for them that they get to collect income tax for a few extra years.

If they were serious about getting people to save they would reduce taxation on pensions and offer real incentives to save.

I'm only 19 and run my own company and I don't plan on saving putting a penny into a pension scheme ever. It isn't that I don't think I'll get old, it is just that I have absolutely no confidence in the government. I will however be saving, I'll be saving my way and on my terms and I shall continue to do so until the government wise up and get real.

A different issue, but I really don't see why there is no public lobby against IHT or Inheritance Tax. The government think they own 40% on every asset in your name above £242,000... how can they justify this? People are born, they pay to be educated, they pay taxes during their lifetime, they work to support themselves and their country yet on death the government cream a nice 40%... before anyone suggests it only hits the rich, consider this:

a ) The value of Mr Average is often above £242,000... which is the price for a small house in some parts of the country.

B ) People who are 'rich' can very easily avoid IHT almost entirely, it doesn't take a lot of money, just a bit of planning.

Playas is on to something with property instead of pensions, but I would never put all my investment into the property market 'cos that would be really risky... and don't let IHT hit ya dude...

<my monthly rant is over... please continue with your normal business>

[Mitch]

no i dnt mean invest all u have in propety. i mean if u got 3 houses for example and u rent them out to UNI students, if each house has 3 decent sized rooms say you could get 4 students in each house charging £50 per week for each student thats £200 per week making £800per month if u got 3 houses thats £2400 per month..... bargain in my oppinion.

[tdiplc]

Sadly I only woke up recently to the fact that I had paid in significantly more into my pension that it was worth, and that I was paying more into my pension than my mortage

I made my pension paid up recently to get rid of the millstone. I am fed up with being mugged by the Govt.

[MAC_600]

The insurance industry want to shake up the pensions market too as people are not bothering with them. Norwich Union and Prudential both put forward plans for an annuity (pension) where the balance of the money passed to the next of kin, rather than dying with the deceased - the Government turned it down flat! :duh:

As has been mentioned before Mr Brown raided pension funds as soon as he could netting the Governement about 5 billion a year, they then also changed the way company pension schemes do their accounts so that any drop in the markets had to be covered there and then - so the final salary schemes at BT, British Airways and a host of other big names have all put a hold on any new members - Big thanks to the Government NOT

[Claire G]

I'm seriously thinking about scrapping my pension payments - currently paid monthly at 10% of my salary - and finding something else to invest in, to provide for me and my family in old age.

I'm seeing an IFA next week...

[tdiplc]

I'm seriously thinking about scrapping my pension payments - currently paid monthly at 10% of my salary - and finding something else to invest in, to provide for me and my family in old age.

I'm seeing an IFA next week...

My 2p is that you are better off in property but not in the UK which is all over now. Try Spain or even Cyprus whose land and property prices are ramping up now in expectation of full EC membership in 18 months time -better make a move quickly! You should see at least 15% growth per year (cyprus about 50% until the end of 2004), plus you can have rental income when you are not there, a nice holiday when you feel like it and a haven when you want to leave this stinking, corrupt, battered country.

I'll send you my IFA bill :D