‘The goalposts keep moving’: Readers debate why saving for a pension feels impossible

heynone of the five of us know state pension age In the UK, according to a new studyhighlighting the widespread confusion and alienation around retirement Plan.

Independent Readers share experiences of leaving university with the burden loanLow wages and high living costs leave little opportunity for savings, while older generations consider the benefits of defined benefit plans now largely unavailable.

Our community emphasized the unpredictability of retirement, noting that it is a constant state of change. state pension The age – rising to 67 by 2028 and possibly 68 by 2046 – makes planning difficult.

Many described continuing to work into their late 60s or 70s despite personal savings, with some forced to rely on the workplace pension Those have been “hacked back” over time.

Some readers also noted that for many younger generations the chances of retiring seem slim, with the target becoming increasingly distant due to changing pension ages and financial pressures.

Here’s what you had to say:

just survive

I think most young people are just engaged in survival and wondering if they can get a job when they come out of university, or follow their chosen career path as AI is used by more and more employers to replace people.

Even people approaching retirement age are highly likely to continue working, as very few of us will have final salary pension schemes or indeed any private pension.

Research also shows that stopping working is one of the biggest causes of early death or old age, so sensible people view the point at which they can access their state pension as a useful income boost, not a reason to get on their feet.

Can people really be this stupid?

It’s a bad deal for youth

I am currently 65 years old, I get my state pension when I turn exactly 66 years and 6 months. I’m very lucky – during a total of 18 years of service I was in two defined benefit schemes which paid me, index-linked, a total of £15K per year. Unfortunately, one of those schemes is gone for new joiners, and the other scheme has been discontinued. Due to additional savings, I was able to retire comfortably at the age of 62. Youth have been given a very bad deal indeed.

bloodwort

I have to work until at least 70

I’m Gen Anyway, to afford to live in my East London ex-council flat, I’d have to work at least until 70, which by the way has also had my academic pension slashed (on the orders of a sector’s senior management class, on six-figure salaries; even if they were subject to the cuts they expect the rest of us to take, I’d still have a higher pension than I would have earned while working).

Currently, the State Plus Employment Pension will now give me 50% of my take home. Sixty percent of my take home now goes into the bill before I even eat. I have never felt so relieved that I never wanted to reproduce.

Padraig Mahone

the goalposts keep moving

I wouldn’t necessarily expect Gen Z to be thinking much about pensions yet. When you get to that age, retirement seems so far away that it’s not even on your radar, and that’s always been the case.

The second factor is that the pension age, which for a very long time was fixed at 65 (60 for women), is now variable. As far as my occupational pension is concerned, I am 66 years old, but as part of a phased move towards retirement at 67 I will have to wait an extra four months for my state pension. It’s hard to keep track of retirement if the goalposts keep moving, and it’s not just a Gen Z problem.

tanaquil2

my pension plan

Or a variant: give a triple lock to people who have not been unemployed for more than two years in their working life.

he had to

people can’t plan

When the government is changing targets, people cannot be sure about anything, hence cannot plan. A triple lock should have been imposed to maintain the retirement age at 65 years for all. The state pension should be a fixed percentage of GDP, paid to those over the age of 65 to keep it affordable for the country, while also giving younger generations more confidence that they will get anything they need.

northern chimp

mountain of debt

The reality is that young people leave university with a mountain of debt. Plus, wages are low and rents or mortgages are high. How will they be able to make a living and start saving for pension? I’m not sure if there are any final salary schemes open to new joiners, and for most, they are dependent on private pension schemes.

speculator

a much more challenging world now

Part of the general confusion of life that is now going on in Britain. When I was younger, I was lucky enough to receive a student grant, not a loan. I was able to join a defined benefit pension scheme at work and it was possible to buy property in my 20s.

We are now in a sort of reverse situation of Monty Python’s ‘Four Yorkshiremen’ sketch: “We had it good”. It is a much more challenging world now for young people.

rich tea

Some comments in this article have been edited for brevity and clarity.

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