Pensions

[LeMarchand]

So no-one has invested enough money in their pension blah, blah, blah. Has anyone "at the top" ever taken these factors into account?

If the Tories hadn't conned so many people into giving up State pensions, and if successive governments hadn't squandered the remaining money the problem wouldn't be so acute.

If people weren't advised to buy "wonderful" pension schemes that then under-performed (or at least didn't pay the expected dividends despite various people in charge of the investments getting silly money) then people would have enough money invested.

If people felt they could trust the financial industry to invest their money and pay them the projected dividends instead of taking their money, paying directors and funds managers telephone number salaries and then saying "Dreadfully sorry, we've mis-managed yours funds, here's 20p", then people might be happier investing.

[FP]

Some of us have never had enough money to invest in a pension fund anyway! Those living on an average wage of �5.50 an hour, which is common where I live, can barely afford to live, let alone afford to invest in a Pension Fund. I feel physically sick with worry when anything comes on the televison on radio about pensions, knowing what sort of future I look forward to - and it's not that far off!

[IggyB]

pension protection fund is going to be implemented within the new pension bill this should offer some protection to members of employer sponsored pension plans that go bust... although this will only affect any future pension short falls and not affect the people who are already affected by "missing pensions". I think the answer is that you can no longer whole heartedly trust anyone to look after your pension investments, you must be involved in reviewing and monitoring its progress, if you are a member of a work sponsored employment scheme think about becoming a Trustee (they to some extent control the direction of the scheme) or at the very least read and discuss the reports that your pension trustees and investment group will publish

[saffstar]

18 months ago I was in the same situation as fakeplastic, then (hoorah!) I got a new job with a final salary company pension tied in (which meant me 'opting out' of the state second pension scheme). How happy was I? Very, until I started reading that company pensions are cr@p I'd be better off not paying into one at all and opting back into the state second pension. So I'm now well on my way back to the sick feeling. I just wish they'd get on with it and tell us what to do for the best? Is it really too much to ask for a straight answer on this?

[ludwig]

The statistics are pretty frightening. Apparently you now have to save 150% of everything you earn from the age of 5 in order to earn a pension of 10 quid a year when you retire at 90. It's not clear how you're supposed to make those kind of contributions in addition to paying off your 20 grand student loan and your 150 grand mortgage for a garden shed.

[BenDToy]

The trouble with state pensions is that they are unsustainable. This is why people were encouraged to fund their own retirement. Then Gordon Brown saw the amount of money in private schemes and came up with a way of ensuring that the government got their greedy mitts on yet another stealth tax, robbing them of billions of pounds. This was a significant contribution to the catastrophic failure of so many schemes. And Fakeplastic, these people are already paying money into their pensions through NI contributions, which GB has also increased as another stealth tax. There is no escape, and we have the government we deserve.

[FP]

Thanks Ludwig for making me LOL on a really dreary, rainy day.  Your comments are not so far from the truth!!!

[FP]

BenDToy.  I agree with you, please don't think I am getting at people who pay into private pensions.  I would have done so if I had any money to spare!! and if had been younger.  The truth is that a great deal of the population are in my position through no fault of there own.  I have worked hard, as has my partner, all my life and until relatively recently times thought I could retire at least with a reasonable pension.

We didn't invest in private pensions when we were young because at that time the world was far rosier and nobody thought there would be these problems.

People in the 45/60 age group would seem to be the ones that will suffer the most in all this.