State Pension Awareness.

[gra_farmer]

Worked mine out to be £81 per week, and falling. To be honest I really don't expect anything, even £81 or £50 would be more than I expect by the time I retire.

My private public servent pension is worthless, in fact base upon the last statement, I have paid more than it would be worth currently....a little shocked at that...

 

[TeeDee]

The problem with planning for the future is that it cannot be predicted. We planned and saved for all our working lives and expected that we would be able to live on the interest on the capital that we had saved though not living the high life.. Not a chance! The current rate of interest does not even keep pace with inflation, so our savings are reducing in value.

We would appear to have done well because of rising property prices, but were charged 14.5% interest on a mortgage for many years, so somebody did well out of us .We have spent the major part of our 59 years together being property rich and cash poor. Housing and associated costs swallowed up half our earnings. Our sons have no expectations of inheriting much as they expect care costs and taxes to swallow it up. Our current aim is to provide funding for our grandchildren's further education- something neither we, their other grandparents or their parents had to do.

I feel sorry for Oliver's generation and that of my grandchildren. At least our generation had expectations of some kind of future despite living with the ever-present prospect of nuclear annihilation. We haven't left much of an inheritance for you, have we? We seem to have used up our share of the earth's' resources and yours as well. Good luck with cleaning up the mess we are leaving you with. We had the party, you get the hangover and the bill!

I'm mid 40's ( but wearing well... ) and also feel very concerned not just for the Twenty somethings but also the 30 something , 40 somethings - its a terribly strange time and I'm blessed I managed to get on the Property ladder at a Young age.

Because I'm a bit of a serial worrier/planner i've made it a bit of a project to be aware of whats going on and as far as I can see there is a double whammy of Pension Bomb followed by a Rent Bomb on the very near horizon.

I have friends that I'm sure believe their State Pension will be more than enough to pay for their Rent. As youve mentioned Nursing Home costs can very very easily eat into any believed inheritance for off spring - £1000 per week for Nursing Care seems to be par for the course.....

Its a sad and depressing state of affairs to be in. I'm not sure if in this situation Ignorance actually IS bliss.

 

[TeeDee]

Worked mine out to be £81 per week, and falling. To be honest I really don't expect anything, even £81 or £50 would be more than I expect by the time I retire.

My private public servent pension is worthless, in fact base upon the last statement, I have paid more than it would be worth currently....a little shocked at that...

Sorry to be the possible messenger of bad news.

 

[santaman2000]

As an adjunct: how many on here are counting on the state pension for their sole retirement income?

 

[TeeDee]

Well we're late 40s and expect retirement age to go past 70 yo. Of course we don't think that retirement age will count for much with pensions from state provisions probably being worthless. By worthless I mean if it even exists it'll n probably only pay for one Costa coffee a week. Not that we'll be getting one then, but it's an easy to reckon item you might have purchased one time as a comparison.

It was once thought that every generation is better off and will be better off than the one before. However I read somewhere that researchers actually studied that theory and determined that if it was ever true it was only for the baby boomer generation. Possibly one before too. It'll certainly not true of my generation, whatever I am part of at late 40s age.

Its a sobering thought when you think about it that its basically a Ponzi scheme on a National scale - with increased health care and life mortality increased we need ever more people 'feeding' in from the bottom. Hence why the Population must increase and the associated issues that imposes on Housing stock , more so an issue on a relatively small Island nation like our own.

 

[santaman2000]

The problem with planning for the future is that it cannot be predicted. We planned and saved for all our working lives and expected that we would be able to live on the interest on the capital that we had saved though not living the high life.. Not a chance! The current rate of interest does not even keep pace with inflation, so our savings are reducing in value..........

Depends on where your savings are invested.

 

[TeeDee]

Depends on where your savings are invested.

Go on then. Elaborate please.

Can you give us some insight into the American Pension System? I assume their is a Federal based one.

 

[santaman2000]

Its a sobering thought when you think about it that its basically a Ponzi scheme on a National scale - with increased health care and life mortality increased we need ever more people 'feeding' in from the bottom. Hence why the Population must increase and the associated issues that imposes on Housing stock , more so an issue on a relatively small Island nation like our own.

What you describe would be normal and reasonably sustainable in most circumstances. However earlier Paul_B mentioned the Baby Boomers (that’s my generation) We were an unforeseen bubble in the system that was beneficial as we went through working age paying into the system, but now that bubble has passed into the the beneficiary stage. That said, as my generatidoes off the system should (in theory at least) restabalize.

 

[TeeDee]

What you describe would be normal and reasonably sustainable in most circumstances. However earlier Paul_B mentioned the Baby Boomers (that’s my generation) We were an unforeseen bubble in the system that was beneficial as we went through working age paying into the system, but now that bubble has passed into the the beneficiary stage. That said, as my generatidoes off the system should (in theory at least) restabalize.

If it doesn't bust the system as it recorrects.

What's the general theory on American Real Estate? I've read ( and tend to believe from my own experience ) that UK property prices tend to Double every Ten years. However the UK and USA markets are different in terms of many variables - Fixed Interest rates for terms , Available Land , Build Costs - etc.

So do they tend to double every Ten years?

 

[MartinK9]

As an adjunct: how many on here are counting on the state pension for their sole retirement income?

Nope, I have a Military Pension also. The State Pension I always looked at as a long term savings account.

 

[TeeDee]

As an adjunct: how many on here are counting on the state pension for their sole retirement income?

I'm afraid one of my enduring memories of growing up was the TV footage of countless large Pension pots being raided or misused by nefarious individuals.
I think I took away that it was ALWAYS better to be the individual keeping an eye upon your own money and investments than to entrust others. Because from the Press coverage that didnt seem to end well.

So . no , I never did consider the state pension to be a feasible & viable panacea for the purposes of retirement.

 

[santaman2000]

Go on then. Elaborate please.

Can you give us some insight into the American Pension System? I assume their is a Federal based one.

Yes our “state pension” (in the context you’re meaning) is a federal one likely similar to yours: a portion of your wages are deducted from your pay and matched by your employer and go Into the Social Security system. At full retirement age you can begin drawing it back out as a pension. How much you draw is based an a formula taking into consideration how much you paid in and on an actuarial table. As I said I began drawing mine earlier than my full age somI get a reduced amount (which is still more than the highest rate I’ve seen referenced here so for)

All that said, my reply to Old Timer wasn’t in reference to the state pension. Rather it was in reply to his comment that his private savings aren’t earning interest enough to keep up with inflation. THAT was where my comment was directed that it depends on where you imbest your private retirement savings. I began putting a my personal retirement into a mutual fund a few decades ago. It’s had it’s ups and downs (and actually lost money a few times but always recovered) but on average it’s earned around 25% per year for those ensuing decades.

Nor is the “state” pension my sole retirement income. I also have two other retirement pensions from two separate employers:
1) 21 years of military service = a full retirement
and-
2) 13 years of civil service (the time as a cop and corrections officer that described to you in another thread) earned me a retirement pension from the State of Florida

^^^^^This^^^^^ is what most Americans depend on for their retirement—-employer based pensions Social Security (your old age pension) is usually just a supplemental retirement income.

edited for typos.

 

[santaman2000]

If it doesn't bust the system as it recorrects.

What's the general theory on American Real Estate? I've read ( and tend to believe from my own experience ) that UK property prices tend to Double every Ten years. However the UK and USA markets are different in terms of many variables - Fixed Interest rates for terms , Available Land , Build Costs - etc.

So do they tend to double every Ten years?

Our property values fluctuate differently in different areas. They may even lose value in areas experiencing “blight.” But using my own house as a basis (1007 square feet / 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom / no garage on a 60’ x 100’ lot—--—-a smallish house in a basic 1st time buyers’ neighborhood) it was worth $45,125 when I bought the lot and had it built in 1989: now its sale value is estimated around $180,000 to $200,000.

 

[gra_farmer]

Sorry to be the possible messenger of bad news.

I am not worried, quite expected

 

[dwardo]

I am just waiting for the trapdoor to open under my desk and suck my lifeless corpse into a vortex which will the in turn feed others. Retirement will be the time it takes for that tube journey from one end to tother

 

[gra_farmer]

If it doesn't bust the system as it recorrects.

What's the general theory on American Real Estate? I've read ( and tend to believe from my own experience ) that UK property prices tend to Double every Ten years. However the UK and USA markets are different in terms of many variables - Fixed Interest rates for terms , Available Land , Build Costs - etc.

So do they tend to double every Ten years?

A house near my parents has increased in value to the sum of £140,000 every year for the last 3 years. Prices are crazy in the UK.

I looked at a 2 bed run down ex council house 3 years ago before my first born came into the world. At the time it was up at £220,000, that same house has just sold for £400,000, that is 180k in 3 years

 

[TeeDee]

A house near my parents has increased in value to the sum of £140,000 every year for the last 3 years. Prices are crazy in the UK.

I looked at a 2 bed run down ex council house 3 years ago before my first born came into the world. At the time it was up at £220,000, that same house has just sold for £400,000, that is 180k in 3 years

What is you're area ? That is crazy!!

 

[gra_farmer]

What is you're area ? That is crazy!!

Kent, easy London commute.

Huge developments around, here with affordable housing 'flats' starting at around £280k

 

[Paul_B]

The American pension system always seemed good compared to the UK one. My Grandad was American but mostly paid into the UK system. He had full UK contributions but the few years he worked in USA before leaving and his army years meant that both my granddad and Grandma got more pension from the USA system than the UK one. My gran had to jump through a lot of hoops to get or keep what she was entitled to when my granddad died though.

 

[Robbi]

A house near my parents has increased in value to the sum of £140,000 every year for the last 3 years. Prices are crazy in the UK.

I looked at a 2 bed run down ex council house 3 years ago before my first born came into the world. At the time it was up at £220,000, that same house has just sold for £400,000, that is 180k in 3 years

KIN HELL !!

we bought a 4 bed detached bungalow that needed some work, within walking distance of parks, sea front, train and bus station, all pubs and clubs in the high street and the marina, on the main road to Belfast and 20 minutes from City Airport .... 4 years ago for 130K