Reply to: Solution to pension crisis

[The Spartan]

They sure are and the majority of them are useless, when I worked as a civil serpent years ago I found that there were people there who had joined straight from school and had never had another job than the one they were doing.

[vetran]

personally they can keep their free bus passes, anything that keeps half blind 80 year olds out of their cars has to be seen as a good thing. Must pay for itself.

Winter fuel was a political bribe it should go, add it to the enhanced pension

but overall I fear unless I have a pot of money at 68 I'll blow it all on champagne & hookers and throw myself on the mercy of the state. Saving for your old age is becoming a mugs game.

[alreadypacked]

Oh dear, it's starting already, not a day after my prediction:

Rich elderly should lose benefits, says David Cameron ally

The civil service are for anything that will keep them in jobs, who will be doing the means testing

[OwlHoot]

Oh dear, it's starting already, not a day after my prediction:

Rich elderly should lose benefits, says David Cameron ally

[OwlHoot]

There are several problems that have led to the pension crisis, many of which have not been solved.

• Current contributions are used to pay current pension. Very little is invested for the future.
• Future pensions will have to be paid from contributions from a smaller number of workers, ageing population.
• Pensioners are living longer, more people are collecting pensions and require pension for longer.

None of these issues could be fixed by privatise pensions, they will require changes by government.

What changes would you make?

If things go on as they are, i.e. getting steadily worse, I think within a few years the Government (of whatever party) will be forced to start requisitioning suitable property privately owned by pensioners and selling it at knock down prices to young couples with children.

Or at the very least, those pensioners will be compelled to start an equity release scheme and live off that instead of their pensions.

I'm sorry to say, anyone who thinks owning property will give them security in their old age in years to come, as it has traditionally done in the past, is sadly deluded and in for some nasty shocks.

Even if these steps aren't explicitly taken, punitive council taxes on singles and childless couples combined with rebates for young families will have much the same effect.

[lukemg]

IF you have to have a pension/or have filled up ISA allowance (11k !!) or company will chip in - Find lowest possible cost tracker (all share as good as any to slightly dilute bigger holdings), invest regular amount without your involvement each month. Rinse and repeat for 25 years and you will be fine.
Alternatively - ask IFA for advice on how to pay 3-4% in costs for the rest of your life in expensive funds unlikely to beat passive low-cost tracker (~80% do worse long term). Act surprised when performance is piss-poor.
Not hard is it.

[vetran]

Their problem is that people live longer and inflation gets higher

Control pension fees, if nothing else - FT.com

Pick the wrong pension and watch charges strip £40,000 off your nest egg | This is Money


If you invested in Gilts 25 years ago much of the true value invested would have remained.
Pension funds are gambling (badly) with our money and taking outrageous fees.

Buying Gilts, Property and stable share portfolios with 80% of invested money and then gambling with the rest, may not be as sexy as getting coked up, walking into the casino then putting the whole fund on Red, but it is what pension companies should be forced to do.

Bruin dipping his hands in to take the cash was a mistake as well.

[Robinho]

How about printing more money?

Actually its already happening.....

Which causes inflation, and we're back to square one.

[minestrone]

Any pensions debate in this country requires some idiot from the public sector screaming...

"HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO THIS JOB AT 67?"

[BrilloPad]

We have overspent, and now we will have to underspend

How about printing more money?

Actually its already happening.....

[Robinho]

Of course we could privatise new pensions, but keep the tax rate the same for these people so they pay off the old lot.

Indeed it will meant young people will have to pay twice. But there's not really any solution to the problem. We have overspent, and now we will have to underspend. It's the conservation of energy laws.

[Robinho]

It doesn't solve the current crisis but it should prevent future ones.

To solve the current crisis we could simply murder anyone over the age of 60.

[alreadypacked]

The solution is to privatise pensions.

It's incredibly simple.

There are several problems that have led to the pension crisis, many of which have not been solved.

• Current contributions are used to pay current pension. Very little is invested for the future.
• Future pensions will have to be paid from contributions from a smaller number of workers, ageing population.
• Pensioners are living longer, more people are collecting pensions and require pension for longer.

None of these issues could be fixed by privatise pensions, they will require changes by government.

What changes would you make?

[Robinho]

If it's so stupid it should be easy for you to explain why.

[AtW]

What?

When you get banned it will be for your utter stupidity.