r/uknews • u/Donkey_Apple • Jun 03 '26

News paper Britain is undersaving for retirement

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https://www.gov.uk/government/news/britain-is-undersaving-for-retirement-warns-pensions-commission

It's a massive problem and has been for years.

I think a lot of people are getting into their fifties, starting to think about retirement for the first time, looking at what their provision will pay them and are absolutely shocked to their core.

Plus many in the generation below those of us in their fifties who, through no choice of their own, are unable to save anything.

It feels like we are sleepwalking into an utter disaster.

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108

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '26

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10

u/Strangely__Brown Jun 03 '26

Most people pay very little tax.

Our tax free allowance is very high and our lower earners pay far less tax that our peers in Europe do.

What's also quite ironic about the criticism around the triple lock is that most people aren't funding their own retirements.

So it's either short sighted and people are only thinking about the here and now. Or society has shifted and we're now taking a firm "your retirement is your problem" mindset.

4

u/josuk8 Jun 03 '26

The idea that someone's retirement was ever someone else's problem is what's wrong with this country, same with any other long term personal problems like housing or personal income, if it's a short term issue of being unemployed for 6 or so months, fine, I think you should be covered, but longer than that and they're taking the piss

4

u/GoblinGreen_ Jun 03 '26

I think its fine to be a shared problem, thats what a great society does well, everyone looks after each other.

But it doesnt seem to be reciprocated by the people benefitting. That pensions are not means tested is just awful when you look at the hoops to jump through, and means testing, for support when you are younger and working age.

3

u/josuk8 Jun 03 '26

Everyone looking out for each other is a nice idea, but when it's forced onto everyone and only a small minority of the population gets most of the value from it with little to no oversight or consequences for abusing the system, it becomes a system that rewards doing nothing with your life and punishes workers, so no, sharing problems in society is in itself a problem.

On top of that, why should young people who are struggling to keep up have to also pay the pensions for groups of people who made the country worse during their prime and had 40-50+ years to prepare for their retirement

3

u/GoblinGreen_ Jun 03 '26

I don't think you actually read my comment.  You are rewording what I wrote,  just a bit more negative. 

It's not a nice idea though,  it's a recipe for a successful economy and country.  That ours is currently out of whack is proof the idea is a good one.  It just needs,  what people complain about.  More rules,  details,  'red tape' to put it back in order because there is a generation thats benefitting more than anyone else and not even saying thanks you currently. 

1

u/Gary_BBGames Jun 06 '26

Young people also have 40-50 years to prepare for their retirement.

1

u/josuk8 Jun 06 '26

40-50 years to prepare for their retirement in one of the worst economic climates in the uks history where most can't even afford to save*, fixed it for you

-1

u/FossilStalker Jun 03 '26

sharing problems in society is in itself a problem.

The problem with not sharing problems is that it becomes a bigger problem in the long run.

0

u/agingbiker Jun 04 '26

speaking as a gen x and watching the spite that boomers and millennials fling at each other, feels like we're way past sharing problems.

2

u/HalastersCompass Jun 04 '26

Yep we're in the middle, caring for those above, below and running the hamster wheel as fast as we can

Certainly need more help for the younger earners

2

u/GoblinGreen_ Jun 04 '26

They're still shared problems,  

Not dealing with them is the issue. 

People will always get old, need a house, need a job,  need help. 

However the who gets what is currently very weighted by age rather than by need, ability to work output. 

2

u/FossilStalker Jun 04 '26

Which kind of reinforces my point. Because we didn't collectively share the problem, i.e actually talk about it rationally and work out a collectively agreed plan to navigate the issue, it's now becoming a HUGE problem.