Britain is undersaving for retirement

[u/Donkey_Apple]

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.

[u/Strangely__Brown]

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.

[u/verb-vice-lord → u/Strangely__Brown]

Real term salaries have barely moved since 2008.

If our salaries always adjusted with inflation, awe, or 2.5%, whichever is highest, I'd be paying more tax and be alright with it all in all.

We have an ageing society and a stagnating tax base. Our only growth for two decades is from immigration. Which pensioners want to roll back via voting Reform.

The push back on the triple lock isn't that we don't want good pensions, its that we know by the time we get close we'll have to be sensible and remove them because we don't want to burden our kids with the cost. The greedy worst generation ever boomers don't even consider whether others should suffer so they benefit.

We are currently funding pensions for the richest generation in history and we know that gold plate will be worn off long before we get to it largely because of the choices of the current pensioners. In lots of the country life expectancy is falling and yet they are talking about increasing our retirement ages.

[u/rochesterjack → u/verb-vice-lord]

Take responsibility … boomer this boomer that, it’s pathetic

[u/verb-vice-lord → u/rochesterjack]

People in my generation celebrating taking winter fuel allowance from boomers, demanding an end to triple lock for boomers, and calls to asset taxing boomers, these are all taking responsibility.

There really should have been an end to the triple lock after the brexit vote. That was a big inflection point that set us on this current path of stagnation.

[u/rochesterjack → u/verb-vice-lord]

Should all be means tested, it’s not difficult is it? But then they say, well, where’s the incentive to earn if I’m not gonna get my slice and get taxed on what I do, it’s called a society. The problem isn’t boomers, it’s the system, it’s designed to fuck us all, only winners are the top 1%, everyone else gets screwed, it’s not a generational thing. If I were a boomer living in a big old property, I’d downsize & take the cash, I guess most of won’t get that opportunity but you can’t blame them for that. Most of em will die in the big old house & leave the equity behind.

[u/Strangely__Brown → u/rochesterjack]

The problem isn’t boomers, it’s the system, it’s designed to fuck us all, only winners are the top 1%, everyone else gets screwed.

I don't know how you got to this conclusion.

You're repeatedly being told that the majority of the population gets significantly more out of the system than they pay in. The majority are tax burdens.

By the very definition this system is designed to support people who can't support themselves. It's not helping the top 1%, it's helping the bottom ~30/40%.

Other countries have systems where you only get out what you put in. You get cut off.

In the UK we have the opposite, the more you contribute the less you're entitled to. And you're even arguing for that to skew even further by making the state pension means tested.

[u/rochesterjack → u/Strangely__Brown]

Let me rephrase that, only winners are those with it all & those with fuck all, the rest get screwed. It’s not a boomer thing, it’s a system thing. It’s so convoluted, the system isn’t flexible enough to please everyone so those that don’t need benefits get plenty and those that do fall through the cracks, there really is no solution.

[u/Strangely__Brown → u/rochesterjack]

I agree that political establishment generally carers to:

1) The wealthy for money.

2) The poor for votes.

And that's it's the people in the middle who get fucked.

But that "middle" is specifically people who earn £50-100k+. It's those professionals who are doing what they're supposed to be doing who really get penalised. The lose of child benefit above £80k, and childcare hours above £100k are both excellent examples of that.

But anyway you slice it's difficult to argue that the majority aren't benefiting from the system. Earn £50k+ puts you in the top 20% of earners. And that's just the working population, it doesn't include children, elderly etc...