zoe68
09-18-2007, 11:38 AM
Given that the pension funds have been raped by the last three Chancellors of the Exchequor, this should not be a surprise. The Government have already known, or at least if their Education Degrees are to be accepted, that the pension pot after 2025 is going to be empty: Bankrupt.
Mathematically, the SERPS pension and National Insurance based pension cannot work beyond that date. The persons who are retired will be extremely wealthy by comparison to the people retiring after 2025. The original system created after 1945 relied on the fact that the average man lived until he was 73 Years, the average woman 75-77Years. Further more people were in work, and following the population explosion of late 1940's to the early 1970's there was a triangle of cashflow, with a lot of people paying in between 7-9% of their salaries. On the pay out side of the books there were fewer people drawinga State Pension than drawing on it.
Suddenly from the early 1980's the birth rate from 2.4 children per couple to roughly 1.8 per couple- a reduction of 30%; add back the longevity factor, you will be looking at over 50% of the population above the current, official retirement age. The Government increasing the retirement age is not going to make a difference. Whilst back in the 1970's the joke was being "over the hill at 50"; it has now become nearer to "over the hill at 40". Trying to find a job at 40 years plus is increasingly difficult as I have discovered following redundancy. The main excuses run are:
1. You are over-qualified (Read: "Help! -You may know more than I do")
2. You do not have the right experience (Read: "We would prefer to have a button pusher
as any one who can think causes a problem as they may make the senior
management levels look stupid).
3. We are only interested if you have experience of XYZ Software and/or a certain
sector of trade or industry (Read: We cannot be bothered to train you and have
no interest in your future, and in any case it is cheaper to employ somebody who
will not question the rate)
4. We are "out-sourcing the support work" (Read: well, it is far cheaper to pay someone
in India or other 3rd World Country £2.50 an hour, than pay a UK person who expects
a decent renumeration. And lets face it with the taxation on salaries and TRUE cost
of living in this Country- we need the higher rates)
Finally, to completely screw things up, it is likely that many of the mortgages which were designed to be paid off by either a Pension Plan or Endowment Policy have been raped by the last three Governments such that there is no way they will ever payout what they were projected before Messr Brown and Blair started chipping away at the tax reliefs and re-investment oppourtunities. Meanwhile our megalomaniac Prime Ministers will enjoy a nice little Inflation proofed pension for life- and at the average mans cost! Ironically the person that the last three Governments have claimed to be supporting, i.e. the so called working family".
It seems to me that it is time to put all your money off-shore, and whilst I'd love to jump the Country as well. Last one to leave Britain (we are no longer Great, nor indeed a United Kingdom- Tony has seen to that by selling us to Europe), PLEASE TURN THE LIGHTS OUT.
Mathematically, the SERPS pension and National Insurance based pension cannot work beyond that date. The persons who are retired will be extremely wealthy by comparison to the people retiring after 2025. The original system created after 1945 relied on the fact that the average man lived until he was 73 Years, the average woman 75-77Years. Further more people were in work, and following the population explosion of late 1940's to the early 1970's there was a triangle of cashflow, with a lot of people paying in between 7-9% of their salaries. On the pay out side of the books there were fewer people drawinga State Pension than drawing on it.
Suddenly from the early 1980's the birth rate from 2.4 children per couple to roughly 1.8 per couple- a reduction of 30%; add back the longevity factor, you will be looking at over 50% of the population above the current, official retirement age. The Government increasing the retirement age is not going to make a difference. Whilst back in the 1970's the joke was being "over the hill at 50"; it has now become nearer to "over the hill at 40". Trying to find a job at 40 years plus is increasingly difficult as I have discovered following redundancy. The main excuses run are:
1. You are over-qualified (Read: "Help! -You may know more than I do")
2. You do not have the right experience (Read: "We would prefer to have a button pusher
as any one who can think causes a problem as they may make the senior
management levels look stupid).
3. We are only interested if you have experience of XYZ Software and/or a certain
sector of trade or industry (Read: We cannot be bothered to train you and have
no interest in your future, and in any case it is cheaper to employ somebody who
will not question the rate)
4. We are "out-sourcing the support work" (Read: well, it is far cheaper to pay someone
in India or other 3rd World Country £2.50 an hour, than pay a UK person who expects
a decent renumeration. And lets face it with the taxation on salaries and TRUE cost
of living in this Country- we need the higher rates)
Finally, to completely screw things up, it is likely that many of the mortgages which were designed to be paid off by either a Pension Plan or Endowment Policy have been raped by the last three Governments such that there is no way they will ever payout what they were projected before Messr Brown and Blair started chipping away at the tax reliefs and re-investment oppourtunities. Meanwhile our megalomaniac Prime Ministers will enjoy a nice little Inflation proofed pension for life- and at the average mans cost! Ironically the person that the last three Governments have claimed to be supporting, i.e. the so called working family".
It seems to me that it is time to put all your money off-shore, and whilst I'd love to jump the Country as well. Last one to leave Britain (we are no longer Great, nor indeed a United Kingdom- Tony has seen to that by selling us to Europe), PLEASE TURN THE LIGHTS OUT.