About aging - savings & pensions

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About aging - savings & pensions
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Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 9:11 am Post subject:

jema wrote:

Treacodactyl wrote:

So, if the population stays about the same or decreases who pays for all the retired people?

I think there are two points there. This is actually a very rich Country. We have enough money for war in Iraq for example. There should really be no problem whatsoever in supporting a retired population. With the wonders of mass production and the cheap food we all love and adore on this site, it is quite bizzare that supporting an elderly generation should be seen as a problem at all.

I think all economists on all side of the political spectrum say there will not be enough money to fund the retired population. The basic retirement age is already being raised from 50 to 55. Something I would agree on is that people could manage on far less that the figures I see as a 'minimum' annuity people should aim for.

jema wrote:

The other question is, that given the need for pensions why are people being thrown at the mercy of the market, and schemes that will only pay them enough to let the government off the hook on benefits. People are I hope more and more seeing that this is a con they are better off avoiding.

That's something I agree on. If you are compelled to save then there has to be some government guarantee. I think this is one of the main problems that has prevented compulsion. However, with a little thought people can make reasonable choices, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. With profits funds have always seem too good to be true even when they were rising 20% a year for several years on the trot. It may take several weekends to look at savings details, but this is a decision that will hopefully effect many years of your retired life.

Perhaps financial planning is something that should be taught in schools?

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 9:13 am Post subject:

ele wrote:

So you decided against "ethical" funds?

A little. I can try and dig something up if you wish.

I may also break this thread into two parts if no one objects?

ele

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 9:21 am Post subject:
Oh no that's okay, I was just curious about your decision. Thread does need breaking !

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 4:34 pm Post subject: about aging

it's nice to hear i am not the only one who feels aggrieved about the pensions thing

i will admit i do not understand all the in's and out's of all the investment opportunities

any spare monies we have now go into premium bonds as at least we won't lose any of it like some who have invested elsewhere

our public service local gov't pensions have apparently been mostly affected by the bosses "taking a holiday" as regards our payments in the 80's, consequently there ain't now gonna be enough dosh to go round and we have to keep paying in more money for longer

to a certain extent, i suppose it hurts more because in my job we see the police officers of the same age group now all retiring at 50 or 55 with their nice pensions (thank you very much) and we all feel we've been had.

police officers have now been told they must work another 5 years for the full penison rights, however that is for newly recruited police officers. for us it's a blanket "tough luck, don'tmatter how long if you have gone past the cut off point you won't get the money till later," irrespective of the fact that some of us will have worked there over 40 years before we get the dosh. certainly one person i know went there straight from school at 16 . she has already done 20 years and is now faced with a lot more before she can retire with the money.

if i can go more back to the subject of the thread, when you work in our sort of place, the work and the speed of change can be so rapid that you do lose the ability to retain new IT and policies and procedures. what i can see in the future for our operations room is more people going out on medicals when they get to or close to 60. i can only think of maybe 3 people who have ever got a far as 65, one snuffed it 6 weeks later. he was desperate to get to 65 and a fat lot of good it did him in the end.

don't want that for myself, however it suits the pension people if yo snuff it just before or just after your retirement at 65 i suppose.

god this is getting depressing..............

ele

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 4:56 pm Post subject: Re: about aging

Nanny wrote:

i can only think of maybe 3 people who have ever got a far as 65, one snuffed it 6 weeks later. he was desperate to get to 65 and a fat lot of good it did him in the end.

don't want that for myself, however it suits the pension people if yo snuff it just before or just after your retirement at 65 i suppose.

god this is getting depressing..............

you sound like you need a bit of cheering up, how about this...

From a downsizery perspective things shouldn't be so bleak, because people know how to live really well on only a little cash so they're less likely to be slaves to their pension policies. They've been eating plenty of healthy vegetables for years not to mention all those foraged berries which means far more chance of a healthy old age.

Add to that they probably will have a more gradual retirement phasing, than simply stopping full time work and going to nothing, which I don't think is ever too healthy. They can earn little bits of income or barter for many years after traditional retirement age, if they choose to and most importantly of all they've got back control of their own lives.

Anyone following me here

footprints

Joined: 26 May 2005
Posts: 234
Location: North Wales

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 5:00 pm Post subject: Re: about aging

ele wrote:

Nanny wrote:

Absolutely.

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 5:32 pm Post subject: aging

sorry didn't mean to be so heavy

its a bit of a pet hate with me

i do realise that because of the lifestyle i live outside work i eat healthier and am more active than most 52 year olds and that if needs be i can live on less than the average person i work with etc

the issue with me is not being able to make the best of that life style earlier i suppose

i do apologise if i have gone on about it

will retire to find a happier topic to support................

ele

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 5:42 pm Post subject: Re: aging

Nanny wrote:

sorry didn't mean to be so heavy
its a bit of a pet hate with me

i do realise that because of the lifestyle i live outside work i eat healthier and am more active than most 52 year olds and that if needs be i can live on less than the average person i work with etc

the issue with me is not being able to make the best of that life style earlier i suppose

i do apologise if i have gone on about it
will retire to find a happier topic to support................

oh no don't apologise, I was just trying to make you smile that's all

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 5:45 pm Post subject: aging
oh thank you that's a nice tought i'm not actually unhappy, just p---ed off with the pension thing and it makes me riled it's enough to make a basset's ears flap

ele

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 7:01 pm Post subject: Re: aging

Nanny wrote:

it's enough to make a basset's ears flap

absolutely!

and we all need a good rant sometimes

Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 7:11 pm Post subject:
I adore bassett hounds.

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 8:11 pm Post subject: aging
there you go we all feel better have a drink..................

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 8:52 pm Post subject:
I've split this from the aging thread, I hope all the posts are in the correct place.

Helen_A

Joined: 26 Jan 2005
Posts: 1548
Location: MK, Bucks.

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 9:08 pm Post subject:

Eeekk!!

Well I've reached the grand old (ha!) age of 33 and have absolutely no pension provision for myself.

However, I have a DP who works for an NGO for a lower salary than is 'ideal' as a huge draw to the job was the final salary pension scheme

I did look at the stakeholder quite seriously. but I strongly object that the money is *only* available to you at 65, that to access it you have no choice but to buy an annuity, and that the annuities are returning a very small proportion of the fund each year. Oh - and there is no way to leave the value of the stakeholder fund to your relatives/whoever if you die before you can make use of it yourself.

I'd rather keep what money I can 'save' in the property in which I live. Apart from anything else - if I have desperate need to access it then I can. I see absolutely no point in being stuck living in a way that could well shorten my lifespan when the means to prevent that are locked away in a government scheme.....

Sorry - just my small rant. It isn't as if I have any income to 'save' anyway atm....

Helen_A

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 9:21 pm Post subject:
You can currently retire at 50, rising to 55, even with a stakeholder pension. However, being 33 by the time you reach 55 I bet the retirement age will be around 65-70. There are also ways of leaving money from a pension but I don't know that much about them.

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