Born at the wrong time.

[ratter71]

Leah? and my sis Babs?

 

dunno i never get names ( terrible memory for em), but as far as i know there arent many female first responders of that age in Sheffield

[*_ash_*]

And also men.

 

Labour had effectively reduced the male retirement age to 60 (as men could claim the free bus pass, pension credit etc. at the age women retired).

 

In the past 2 years, my retirement age has increased by 8 years, although there are proposals for the retirement age to be pushed even higher for my generation... (Some say to up it to 72)

 

Given that the 'goalposts' have moved so much in a few years shows me that the retirement age isn't static, and can never be, now. Hence I have no reason to believe the current figures will not change in time; based on future government; economical; or medicinal changes.

 

Who knows what medicine concoction might be invented in the coming years - something that could effectively change our life expectancy to huge new levels.

 

Taking this into account I shall never pay into a pension. I will put money aside privately instead.

 

I think the only thing that is consistent with increases, and the least likely to backfire, is property.

[Depends]

I think that people retired already should bear some of the burden, perhaps by taking away their free bus passes and making them pay for prescriptions.

In this way they will get a nice cosy feeling inside knowing that they too have helped the economy and it is not just the people retiring after them who will suffer greatly.

[Snook]

If everyone agrees to be euthanized at the age of 75 there would be no problem with everyone retiring at 60.

[harvey19]

I think that people retired already should bear some of the burden, perhaps by taking away their free bus passes and making them pay for prescriptions.

In this way they will get a nice cosy feeling inside knowing that they too have helped the economy and it is not just the people retiring after them who will suffer greatly.

I don't think this would make a massive difference except to devalue older peoples quality of life.

What I think would make a big difference would be to cap pensions in the public sector at say £15K and instead of having the same percentage salary increases for all staff which only widens the gap between the lowest and highest paid and subsequently affect pensions share up the amount of money available so the lowest paid receive a larger percentage increase than the highest earners.

As an aside my grandfather was working at 80 years old in a manual job until he died in 1965

[Suffragette1]

Exactly. 5 years is a big gap.

 

People fail to realise that the state pension system was setup decades ago when life expectancy was a lot lower than it is today. Couple that with the post-war baby boom which means we have a lot more elderly people, living longer than the system was designed to cope with.

 

In 1950 average life expectancy was:

 

Men - 65

Women - 71

 

In 2010 those figures were:

 

Men - 76

Women - 81

 

The system just cannot be left to operate on the 1950 figures, there just isn't the money available.

 

My mother was born in 55 and she even appreciates this fact.

 

At a guess the OP was also and should be grown up enough to understand rather than stomping her feet like a child in a tantrum.

 

I agree, whoever, it still frustrates me that I will lose out in terms of retirement age, the amount of pension and comfortable living that my agents' generation have enjoyed will not be afforded to my generation and that I got onto the property ladder after the the over-inflation of property boom.

[harvey19]

Another factor to be taken into consideration is that public sector jobs were always considered secure and offered a pensions at retirement age. To balance this salaries were lower than the private sector.

As years passed public sector salaries increased and so did the pension bill.

Public sector salaries equalled the private sector but still offered the same benefits as before.

[HarmOKnee]

I think that people retired already should bear some of the burden, perhaps by taking away their free bus passes and making them pay for prescriptions.

In this way they will get a nice cosy feeling inside knowing that they too have helped the economy and it is not just the people retiring after them who will suffer greatly.

 

My parents are retired and paid into a pension. They don't get free anything and don't have a nice cosy feeling

[Anna B]

2 things regarding life expectancy;

 

Some people are living longer, but not all. People in the south live up to 14 years longer than those in the north.

 

People might live longer but not necessarily healthier, ie. They simply spend longer in frail old age.

 

Statistics can prove anything you want to support or disprove an argument, depends on how you calculate the average and how you interpret the results.

[md00071]

Exactly. 5 years is a big gap.

 

People fail to realise that the state pension system was setup decades ago when life expectancy was a lot lower than it is today. Couple that with the post-war baby boom which means we have a lot more elderly people, living longer than the system was designed to cope with.

 

In 1950 average life expectancy was:

 

Men - 65

Women - 71

 

In 2010 those figures were:

 

Men - 76

Women - 81

 

The system just cannot be left to operate on the 1950 figures, there just isn't the money available.

 

My mother was born in 55 and she even appreciates this fact.

 

At a guess the OP was also and should be grown up enough to understand rather than stomping her feet like a child in a tantrum.

 

 

Surely in 1950 the country was virtually bankrupt as a result of the war. So if we could offer the welfare state then AND pay for it, it is an appalling comment on the state of our country that we can't do it now.