I think the only people who will end up with a retirement are farmers…

Farmers? Not many retire. That or they look 40 years older than they are.

It almost as though everybody under 45 will pretty soon be in the historically unprecedented position of supporting TWO generations of retirees, and that nobody in power has actually planned for that eventuality.

I think you should have the choice when you start work – do you want to be able to retire, or do you want to work 4 days a week for life…

Farmers never fully retire, but, around here at least, they stop doing most of the s**t jobs as they get older, like lambing, calving, the manual stuff on the whole, get a nice car/truck instead of a battered pickup and spend the winter shooting or horse racing……

Hill farmers are different I suppose, but these arable and mixed farmers do generally have an easier time towards the end, the odd spot of tractor driving isn’t that bad, and farm work is seasonal obviously, so 2 months lambing has the pay off of a relatively quiet summer, and bar feeding stock a very quiet winter.

work 4 days a week for life

Hmm not sure about that…but then I worked as much as I could in my 20s and a few years beyond, do rather regret that in some respects but it set me up well financially. I guess I’m stuck working until my son leaves school – or leaves uni – so into my 60 at earliest. Beyond that depends on how much I am tolerating my job and how much I think I need to live off.

Too many long posts here so I’m invoking I struggle with long sentences and saying Stoner +1

“Save for retirement. Don’t rely on the state.”

It’d would’ve been nice had old Golden Brown not shagged pensions; that’s not something that’ll ever be reversed now 😉

24 years in looking at least 20 years left but maybe 28.

Yeah I might make it but don’t think I’ll be doing my current role the workload is just increasing year on year. So I’m alreay thinking about alternatives but I don’t want to be doing anything non clinical so I’m knackered really.

this is interesting re: proportion of government social spending on pensions;

My dad is one of theses thieving oldies you are all referring to.

Mine too. Can’t say I’m jealous or resentful of his pension or benefits. He worked bloody hard for them. Instead of pointing the finger of blame at those like him, why not ask why there isn’t enough money in the public purse to pay for pensions, free education etc? Could it have anything to do with the fact that over the past 30 years the tax burden for those at the top of society has been massively reduced through reductions and a blind eye turned to tax avoidance?

In 1970 life expectancy was 68.7 years and for women it was 75 years; 40 years on, these figures have shifted substantially. Male life expectancy is now (2010) 77.8 years, and for women it is 81.9 years.

this is why we’re struggling to get enough revenue to pay pensions now – people are receiving them for 10 years longer.

When men only had to fund a pension for 4 years it wasn’t so much of an issue?

I’m more concerned about anyone employing me / being able to find work when I’m 68 than whether I can retire!

I haven’t read it all but I think the generation thing is a bit of a red herring. 20 or so years ago we managed to buy a nice Sw London flat for about £6k deposit and decent but not huge joint income around £35 – £40k

Nowadays I’m guessing you’d need something like £40 / £50 k deposit and 6 figure combined income. Net result – sod it I’ll have the iPhone and mountain bike, as it is unattainable

The big issue is what do all those people do when they get too old to function in their current roles? If you become too old to work in a physical job, yet that is all you’ve ever done, there will be an awful lot of people suddenly ending up on DLA or the equivalent. As noted in reports, the politicians can slope off to the House of Lords for a nice snooze after hammering the free bar…

Just because people are living longer it doesn’t follow that they will be able to work for longer.

“Save for retirement. Don’t rely on the State”

Another +1.

Bodies who are genuinely interested in the welfare of their members should be reminded of this as well. Striking wont help, preparing just might.

this is why we’re struggling to get enough revenue to pay pensions now – people are receiving them for 10 years longer.

Yep – and all of the pain is being lumped onto the young while the people actually receiving these unafforable pensions continue to do just fine. Sounds fair to me.

Going early………………in 47 weeks!

teamhurtmore – Member

Bodies companies who are genuinely interested in the welfare of their members employees should be reminded of this as well. Striking crushing the unions, destroying pensions and taking shareholder friendly pension holidays wont help, preparing just might.

6 months on/off? think I’d rather do 12 months and stop working x number of years earlier.

Why? The closer to retirement we get the more the payments in equal those you hope to get out as theres less compound interest. So given the opportunity I’d rather take time off in my 40s and work part time in my 60s.

True kimbers and good job my “company” does that, (though less generously than in the past). Unlike the government which relies on a ponzi scheme instead. In the interim, the advice still stands IMO.

The key thing now is to ensure you’ve lots of little ‘pots’, as a fair number will go tits-up.

So many private and state pensions plus a public sector one too; property (preferably one you can down-size from), no debts beyond a mortgage etc etc.

Moon-on-a-stick for many though, as many folk will struggle just to live, nevermind save for retirement.

I retired 3 years ago, it’s great 🙂

43 now, by the way.

100!

That’s

I’ll be 100 when I retire 🙂

Some of my friends don’t have pensions. The ones that do don’t understand what it will give them in retirement. They feel, I’ve got a pension I’m ok. I think a lot of people don’t really understand.

I think a lot of people don’t really understand.

it depends how old you are but as a twenty-something my genuine feeling is how can i know – it’s likely that the deal i have now will get worse – it’s likely that what it will be worth will fall short of whats predicted.

There are in my eyes two options pay in and hope. or sort yourself out in some other way – property perhaps.

It seems like too many people my age though have gone the other route – sort it out in 40 years time! this concerns me as i don’t see why i should have to prop up those who have done nothing to support themselves; when they could have.

I’ve got some savings. I’ve got a pension. By the time I retire I will own a house.

Some, all or none of those might help to support me when and if I retire. I really have no way of knowing how well at this point.

But its better than relying on the state, and when the state is likely to come up with little gems like that ‘tard Brown’s fiscal acuity, then can only rely on yourself.

Best of luck everyone!

Incidentally, my dad retired 14 years ago.

For vast proportion of his working life, which was 6 day weeks for his entire life, he was on a final salary deal. About 5 years before retirement the company figured out that scheme was going to make it broke, and very soon, so they flung the entire pot into a normal pension.

He was extraordinarily lucky and got a near 10% fix on that pot. So at this point he’s most definitely quids in.

His best mate at the company retired 6 months later and got a slightly less pleasant 5%. And is sadly not likely to live to even see his break even point.

Not sure what the moral is, but one thing for sure, you never know exactly what will happen.

Could it have anything to do with the fact that over the past 30 years the tax burden for those at the top of society has been massively reduced through reductions and a blind eye turned to tax avoidance?

No-one’s been paying enough NI – Gov’ts fault but then who’d want to ask for more? Tories have decided to deal with it finally by getting us to contribute for longer/retire for less.

They feel, I’ve got a pension I’m ok. I think a lot of people don’t really understand.

£500k pot required I’m thinking.

“It seems like too many people my age though have gone the other route – sort it out in 40 years time! this concerns me as i don’t see why i should have to prop up those who have done nothing to support themselves; when they could have.”

Don’t be so ungrateful, when the true socialist state finally arrives this sort of attitude will be reeducated away like your savings. Don’t you realise that you should be spending any savings so that we can get out of recessionary periods. It’s you saver that are holding back the growth of the economy. 🙂

I left school in 1976 (era of Anarchy In The UK, not a good time) and none of us went to a university, not even in our comprehension. That was for a few posh kids where I came from.

When I started work I was on £29 a week and paying 33% tax plus NI. I was also paying 10.56% pension. By the time I finished I was paying much, much more in pension, about 13% of salary plus AVC’s. I have a nice enough personal pension but I saved for it over many years.

The problems are many. My first mortgage I needed a 10% deposit and no more than 3 x salary as a loan. This multiplier being eased over the decades (and deposit being reduced or eliminated) with people greedily wanting more and more to keep-up-with-the -Jones’s caused the housing boom that could never continue for ever.

My daughters generation (she is 28) are finding it hard what with student debts (spent it in fags and booze I think)and she can’t afford to buy a house and I doubt she is saving for a pension. I started my pension plan at 17.

I was struggling at 51 with stress and was happy to get out with enough money to bumble along. But I live on my own with no debt so can manage.
Would not like to work until I am 70 but we are living longer.

I see my generation (those who were in work and able to save) as a lucky one. Those of us born in 50/60’s have had an opportunity, over history it is a very small minority, maybe a bit of re-leveling is going on.

I hope to retire when I am 60, maybe a little bit earlier. I have a reasonably good defined benefits pension, and plan to complement that with savings. Long given up on ever receiving a state pension, from a purely narrow minded perspective I would rather they just scrapped it, and I pay less tax/NI. Yes I know it would not quite work like that.

Plan to retire no later than 60. Am in a fortunate position financially, but it’s all self earnt. Crucially my wife and I just don’t spend that much cash. Holidays yes, car (singular) mediocre, phones who cares, grow own veg, eat healthy and carefully etc. Fully expect this early retirement to be self funded. If I spent like many people in my generation, then I’d be working until I die.

PS – the motivation for this? My baby boomer parents, who actually happened to work damn hard, stretch to meet a mortgage on a big house and scrimp and save where they could. Dad retired at 58 and now they holiday seven-eight times a year when they are not in their million pound house. Fair play to them, they are not spending my cash, they’re spending theirs.

So people born after 1990 will have to work until they’re at least 70. Who the **** is going to be happy employing a 70 year old to work in either a physical job, or say as a teacher. Is your average teenager really going to listen/be inspired by a 70 year old?!

I’m 27….doubt state pension will exist when I’m of ‘retirement’ age. I’m not paying into a pension and don’t plan on doing so. The answer. …who knows. I’m making zero plans at the moment for something that’s half a century away from being reality. I’d rather enjoy my 20s and 30s than my 70s and 80s.

My Dad is 65 he worked since he left school for the NHS or linked to it. He took ill just over 3 years ago now he recovered but has a limited life, he can’t really walk much further than around the High St. Most days he never leaves the house especially in extreme weathers as it makes him unwell.

I’d rather that didn’t happen to me so was hoping to be out at 58 that changed but I may still get out at 60 however the way it’s going it may be older. Really not sure how I’m supposed to look after the seriously ill and deal with aggressive patients at that age, in recent years I’ve seen many staff retire in there 60s most haven’t made 5 years. Those that have gone before 60 are all pretty much going strong.

im gonna rob a bank when im 60. then retire if i get away with it or get the rest of my life paid for by the state.
if things aren’t going well.

Another thing that Gorgeous George seems to have forgotten is that people working longer in their jobs will mean fewer jobs for those who are young enough to work.

A plague of dimness appears to have enveloped the land…

Those that are in retirement, or soon will retire, must keep every penny they have been promised. Only by the young seeing the benefit that they are accruing can you hope to persuade them to save now for their future. if you means test, rob those that saved for a future, then no-one would expect any promises made to them to be kept, no one would save, and the state would be forced to step in and run the lot.

Me, I’m saving…but strongly suspect I won’t be retiring at my current ‘pension age’….my current scheme will close, new one will have a higher pension age, I’ll be forced to work longer and get less benefit in retirement. I accept this as statistically I’ll live longer…there are only 3 options, save more, work for longer, take less n retirement.

just because I accept it doesn’t make me feel happy about it though.

Another thing that Gorgeous George seems to have forgotten is that people working longer in their jobs will mean fewer jobs for those who are young enough to work.

of course he is getting quite a lot of people to go to university for quite a long time, paid for out of their own pocket to help mitigate that – Blairite masterstroke.

What we need is a good plague, one that hits 50+ yr olds.

About half the forum I’d guess.

university for everyone?

don’t start that one.

I really wish there was just something clear and obvious about what we should do – I’m concerned that pensions are a massive rip off, but as a higher tax payer it makes sense to pay into something pre-tax. I’m actually not at the moment but it is on my list of crap to sort out soon as I need to merge some older pension payments into a new account and get it all kicked off again.

I work hard and earn well but I’m more inclined to overpay my mortgage and then save harder later as at the moment I’ll pay for more in interest than pension savings will ever make for me. My wife on the other hand works and doesn’t earn as much so a lot of the saving and investment we do is through me. I also have an employer that offers nothing in the way of contributions, although they are about to have to whether they like it or not.

Essentially to me, pension money is money that lines the offices around the banking areas of London and pays for nice suits, then results in very little for me after 25 years! Ideally it’d go into a tax free pot I could manage then at least I am responsible for the outcome!

If the current trend in annuity rates continues, you’ll need a pot of several million to retire comfortably at 60 in 20 years time or so. I think the concept of retirement, as our parents knew it, is rapidly vanishing.