State Pension

[WBA123]

Hi, I'm a pensioner and my wife will be in September.
I paid over £4k tax last year and it's gone up again this year, plus full council tax and dental treatment .
Before I retired i was a 40% tax payer and declared every penny, alot of my mates who also paid in never reached pension age .
We seem to be an easy target, we gafted for our money with no handouts .

Pensioners are treated quite well I think, Governments (particularly the Tories) like to keep them sweet because they typically vote whereas younger people don't. You've been able to get on the property market relatively easily in comparison to today's young people, and you've seen huge increases in the price of that property.

If you paid £4k in tax last year as a pensioner, who has (presumably) paid off their mortgage and owns their house - you are doing a lot better than most.

[baggieal]

Pensioners are treated quite well I think, Governments (particularly the Tories) like to keep them sweet because they typically vote whereas younger people don't. You've been able to get on the property market relatively easily in comparison to today's young people, and you've seen huge increases in the price of that property.

If you paid £4k in tax last year as a pensioner, who has (presumably) paid off their mortgage and owns their house - you are doing a lot better than most.

You are right about properties 123. The younger generation have got it so much harder getting on the property ladder and funding education. It was easy for me in the 80’s as was many things.

I do agree though the elderly should be looked after better - free tv licences - priority for operations - discounted heating and council tax all means tested. Many elderly only have one person per property but pay the same council
tax as a family of four!

[mickd1961]

Heard someone make an interesting point...


We have 2m more pensioners than we had 30 years ago. We are now living longer than ever, which is obviously great, but it does present a problem.

Each pensioner apparently costs the tax payer around £25k per year. When you take into account Pensions / NHS usage / Winter fuel allowances etc.

The average person in this country pays £5k in tax per year. Which means roughly speaking, we need 5 working people to pay for each pensioner.

Now the issue is...our indigenous population isn't growing - its levelled out. Younger people are putting off having children / having fewer children etc. because of the cost of living probably.

So in the last 30 years, we needed an extra 10m workers to pay tax, just to pay for the increasing number of pensioners there are today compared to 30 years ago.

The biggest issue we face is not immigration, but an ageing population and an increasing number of pensioners to pay for.

We really need public services to be improved to cope with the additional workforce we require. And the responsibility of not improving/investing in public services does not lie with immigrants, it is with governments.

I’ve been paying NI for 46 years now, it’ll be many years until I even get close to recouping what I’ve paid into the system.

I’ve still got well over 4 years to go before I even qualify for my pension, that’s if I get that far!

Our generation deserve their pension, I’m fed up of younger people hammering pensioners with idiotic comments.

We’ve already had the goalposts moved on us if you’re from my generation.

I’ve recently lost two friends at 59 and 63 who paid in for 43 and 47 years, they didn’t see a penny of their pension.

More to the point, governments waste sh it loads of money, absolute billions.

If they were more careful with all of OUR money these conversations wouldn’t need to be had.

It’s time that government spending was put under far more scrutiny by some sort of independent body and I don’t mean the OBR who basically check the maths, I mean a body that scrutinises the cost of ever widget.

[WBA123]

I’ve been paying NI for 46 years now, it’ll be many years until I even get close to recouping what I’ve paid into the system.

I’ve still got well over 4 years to go before I even qualify for my pension, that’s if I get that far!

Our generation deserve their pension, I’m fed up of younger people hammering pensioners with idiotic comments.

We’ve already had the goalposts moved on us if you’re from my generation.

I’ve recently lost two friends at 59 and 63 who paid in for 43 and 47 years, they didn’t see a penny of their pension.

More to the point, governments waste sh it loads of money, absolute billions.

If they were more careful with all of OUR money these conversations wouldn’t need to be had.

It’s time that government spending was put under far more scrutiny by some sort of independent body and I don’t mean the OBR who basically check the maths, I mean a body that scrutinises the cost of ever widget.

Do you think it will be any easier for my generation? Or the next generation below me?

I have also paid into the system since I was 21 and I pay a lot of tax and NI, the current retirement age for me is 67. There's no doubt that age will increase at some point for me in the next 25 years. There will be even more strain and squeezing of pensions by the time I get there than there is now. So, I made this decision some time ago, I'm not budgeting to receive a govt pension of any kind - and if I do then it's a bonus.

Feel free to point out any idiotic comments I've made. I fully agree with you about Govt waste, but again a lot of (current) pensioners voted for that Govt who are responsible for the waste.

[mickd1961]

Do you think it will be any easier for my generation? Or the next generation below me?

I have also paid into the system since I was 21 and I pay a lot of tax and NI, the current retirement age for me is 67. There's no doubt that age will increase at some point for me in the next 25 years. There will be even more strain and squeezing of pensions by the time I get there than there is now. So, I made this decision some time ago, I'm not budgeting to receive a govt pension of any kind - and if I do then it's a bonus.

Feel free to point out any idiotic comments I've made. I fully agree with you about Govt waste, but again a lot of (current) pensioners voted for that Govt who are responsible for the waste.

Gordon Brown sold off our gold reserves for peanuts and presided over a sh it show economically so let’s not go down that route.

I want my pension and I want it in full, I distribute my wealth around my own family to help them, I trust me more than I trust any government.

I will use my pension to help fund university for my grandchildren should they decide to go.

[boingy]

I’ve paid in, was told it wasn’t enough when it was way too late and was told I’d have to put away £500 a month to be £12 better off a week with the pension. We were shafted. I don’t own property so this is literally all I will have. As long as I can pay my way, that’s all I care about. Because my wife and myself have budgeted on a different level to most others we can always take a hit. It would just be nice as we get older and more decrepit that we’re not glueing our teeth in or getting the weeks shop in with £20.

[baggieal]

Do you think it will be any easier for my generation? Or the next generation below me?

I have also paid into the system since I was 21 and I pay a lot of tax and NI, the current retirement age for me is 67. There's no doubt that age will increase at some point for me in the next 25 years. There will be even more strain and squeezing of pensions by the time I get there than there is now. So, I made this decision some time ago, I'm not budgeting to receive a govt pension of any kind - and if I do then it's a bonus.

Feel free to point out any idiotic comments I've made. I fully agree with you about Govt waste, but again a lot of (current) pensioners voted for that Govt who are responsible for the waste.

Totally agree 123. I am over 60 but feel for your generation and the one below with everything including getting on the housing ladder and education plus costly bills. My mother in law who is getting on even agrees on this one.

Rishi has paid into his state pension - does he need it? I have never had a day off in my life and paid into my pension - do I need it? No!

Do the elderly and less well off need help? Yes!

[DaveP67 is back!]

Gordon Brown sold off our gold reserves for peanuts and presided over a sh it show economically so let’s not go down that route.

I want my pension and I want it in full, I distribute my wealth around my own family to help them, I trust me more than I trust any government.

I will use my pension to help fund university for my grandchildren should they decide to go.

You can go onto the government website and check your status, I have been paying stamps since I was 16 and even when I went to university I still worked, I had paid enough to get my full pension a couple of years ago and I’m just coming up 57.

[soulman101]

I would have loved the chances this generation have with all the knowledge of the internet .
I knew how to earn money through hard graft ,I knew how to budget and to save .
But wished I known how to use money to make money,stock and shares,buying more property and use my time better .

[mickd1961]

You can go onto the government website and check your status, I have been paying stamps since I was 16 and even when I went to university I still worked, I had paid enough to get my full pension a couple of years ago and I’m just coming up 57.

Interesting Dave, I didn’t know this.

I started work on July 3rd 1978, I’ve never had a single day of unemployment.