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UK 🇬🇧 PENSIONS ARE DISGUSTINGLY LOW

I get £822 every 4 weeks. I am tired of the young assuming we have it good,they also assume that we are getting our Pension for free. We all paid National Insurance to secure our State Pension many of us received letters encouraging us to pay a certain amount to pay for missing years. Which we did. I paid into a works Pension which paid out £25,000 which I used to clear my mortgage I did this to secure a roof over my head because I knew that I couldn’t afford to pay a mortgage on my State Pension. We need to keep the State Pension especially since we paid to get it. Bitching about we so called boomers is insulting and abusive I am deeply offended by the attitude of some who are against us. Stop spending Billions on War and look after our own.

Having a system that taxes the state pension is a bad joke!!🤬!

A state Pension is not a benefit as it has already been earned and even with a measley threshold of 12,500, anything over this is taxed too!

The UK can afford to raise pensions significantly. Cut out waste of PPE, Billions on donations to wars etc. it’s just a case of priorities. BTW it’s OUR pensions.

Just because people may live a few years longer, doesn’t mean they are fit to work. I know plenty of 70+ year olds that are physically and mentally broken.

I have my state Pension and if this or any future Government messes with it such that I am worse off then I will join the resistance and fight the Evil Empire.

Why has not one person questioned why uk are giving full state pension to Ukrainian and other non uk citizens coming to uk. We actually know 2 Ukrainian pensioners who came to uk 6 months ago and given full state pension. No one worried may I ask.

I haven’t forgotten how Brown raided the pensions pot when he was Chancellor. So I’m expecting this bunch of clowns to do the same thing.

Of course there's plenty of money for the state pension, they've just given 3 billion to Ukraine.

the personal tax allowance needs upping. those of us who also get a work pension are being taxed. disgusting that pensioners who slogged their guts out and now with one foot in the grave still have to pay tax. tax the rich not the penniless.

I worked for 50 yrs 48 yrs as a nurse i cant work in the care sector any longer physically and mentally drained years ago nurses retired early as the job was too physically demanding

The State Pension shouldnt be taxed at all.some of us only have that as our sole income.At our age we have paid into the tax system enough already !!!

9 million a day (set to rise under Labour) currently being spent on hotels for doctors and engineers would help pay us oldies a decent pension.....

Labour will only be in for four years, no one seriously thinks they’ll improve anything!

Leave our Pensions ALONE!

Everyone thinks pensioners are loaded!

UK paid lowest state pension in EU

I paid into the system for 50 years much of that as a farm worker hard physical work i certainly make no apology for getting some back. The money that should have been put aside by successive governments for pensions as intended has been squandered in many cases on unwise schemes and or given to other countries, immigrants often illegal ,wars we didn't have a say in and much more . Worse given unwisely to friends in the guise of ridiculous unfulfilled contracts. Why should anyone after a lifetimes work pay for that. Women have already been cheated in many cases out of six years ,men one year. When we started work it was paying into a system that promised to take our money to provide for retirement many years later ,so a contract.

Having worked unbroken for 43 years paying tax and national insurance I have paid for my state pension. It’s not my fault the governments through those years have squandered that money. If the government has money to give away to other countries and to these illegal economic migrants then there is enough money to pay the state pensions

I am 73 this year and have the State Pension, and I can not for the life of me see how the " Triple Lock" can be paid for. State Pension was a " right" paid out of Earnings Related Pension SERPS scheme. But the constant need to use the National Insurance Contributions and merely another tax revenue stream means that there is nothing in the pensions "pot", and the pensions burden fell squarely in the lap of the Treasury the all the " jiggery pokery " that it entails. Governments are made up of political Party Members, who in order ro get elected will promise all kinds of " sweeties"! But when they get into power have to deal with the costs of the " sweeties" that the previous administration " kicked down the road" for someone else to deal with. So that leave a problem. Austerity, higher taxes and or borrowing are the only options. The wealthy do not wish to pay higher taxes, the workers who are taxed up to the eyeballs, and coupled with minimum, low wages along with large scale unemployment, means that the tax ation route is highly problematical, so the solution? Borrowing which " kicks the can down the road" once again, or " robbing Peter to pay Paul" by cutting Services. This can only last for so long. You can borrow more which increases the indebtedness, or cut Services and decide which ones are politically safer to cut! Defence was cut to the bone from the 1060s onwards, but the Falklands war and later Gulf Wars displayed just how too far defence cuts went. North Sea oil revenues were squandered on destroying Industries creating mass unemployment and paying for the subsequent welfare bi;;, this coupled with huge tax cuts for the wealthy left nothing in that particular pot. Now to the present crisis. The recents crashes mainly created by the Investment Banks fraudulent trading schemes with had to be bailed out with massive " Quantitative Easing" borrowing has left an insurmountable hole in the global economy, couple this with the recent " lockdowns" has left the economy in depression, you only have to walk around your local high street to see this in front of your eyes. Si the government, all governments are in a pickle. War is all but inevitable so defence spending will need to be increased substantially, The welfare population is increasing, made even more problematical with the out of control migrant crisis. The NHS is a " Sacred Cow" electorially and if they cut welfare that could lead to civil unrest, that leaves pensioners who are the most vulnerable to cuts and least able to form a significant " lobby" why? Because we boomers are living longer than anticipated, and because we are becoming resented by the younger population can be easily "marginalised", and in the longer term will die off and no longer be a problem. We have had the " Triple Lock" sweetener, but that will problab#y cease soon and with any further pension rises, and inflation will erode it away to nothing. In the future any " pension", if any, will probably become " means Tested" by a panel and only given in extreme cases. Sorry this is so long, but I felt that this should be clearly understood. Not just by us the pensioners, but everyone that hope to have any form of pension security in the future.

Labour will make things worse for the uk

I was shocked by my son in law he called pension a benefit it's not we paid.in for years for it

Not only is the pension barely adequate the government gets a large portion of it back in stealth taxes VAT, Fuel alcohol and the fact that the threshold for paying income tax is now too low at £12,570. People on minimum wage should not be paying income tax.

With means testing there is also the issue that many simply won't bother saving into a private pension, they would rather spend their money now and let the state look after them in old age. There is no incentive to work hard and save into a private pension if those who are less financially responsible get handouts from the state. We are already seeing evidence of this in the welfare system where people are preferring to claim sickness benefits rather than work for a living.

I have work all my life so I have paid taxes on it l don't wishes to pay again so mr stamer please don't

Firstly we need to look at MP'S & Civil Services Pensions also Local Council Pensions. Once these have been reduced we can look at the ordinary elderly people. The next step that this Government will take will be to Deport Pensioners to make room for ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

What about people with Forces Pension. The government already takes out tax from my forces pension because my government pension + my forces pension exceeds the lower threshold so I am losing money to Tax which is rather unpopular for a Forces Veteran!

Anybody who works all their life should get a fair and decent state pension .

You suggest that 10 years notice of a change in the pension age would be required, but this wasn’t offered to 60 year old women.

Think you hit the nail on the head Ian. I believe they will increase the number of years from 35 to 40 for the full amount. As you say, it may be easier to move to a flat rate tax relief for all.

I live in Australia where the aged pension is means tested. Yes it’s more work but it does mean that those need it get it! It seems ludicrous to me that people with very healthy pension and wealth also get the state pensions too. For those that say they paid into it , well, it’s really just another form of tax! It’s well known that the uk state pension in its current form is unsustainable. While some countries such as Germany and Australia started planning for an ageing population following WW2 successive uk governments have preferred to kick the can down the road, but now the chickens are coming home to roost! They knew his was coming.

We spend our younger life through middle age paying for OUR pension over those years. Expecting it to be well organised so we would have the benefit. But it wasn't it was fucked up by MPs and those working below them. We worked all those years paying paying only for them to say it was the young paying your pension. Bull shit i paid for my pension over 50 years if it had been better looked after. So don't give me any of your lies you do not have a leg to stand on and if we have to do something about it i will be on your doorstep and like the rest of the working class we aren't very nice we call a crook a crook.

I'm 54 with 35 years of contribution and I don't expect to get a penny in state pension ever. The goalposts keep moving so often, by the time I get to 67 it will be means tested and the age raised to 75. By the time I get to 75 they will raise it to 80. If you're relying on the 10 year notice, it's not worth the paper it's written on.

I fear that if employee NI contributions are scrapped by the government then state pensions would cease to be an entitlement that we earn. That could open the door to means testing. Jeremy Hunt wants to scrap NI.

You’ve got five years of this labour party you be lucky if you get a pension at the end of it.

The Tories don't give a toss for pensioners, tax the wealthy companies and rich.

Can we means test the goverment?

I have always paid tax, now a pensioner I am still paying tax because I have a private pension from working. My wife paid little tax due to low wages or looking after our children, now she is also a pensioner and receive £150 per month in her private pension, this has pushed her into the lower tax bracket so her private pension goes down to £118. All because we saved and joined a pension scheme, we also receive no benefits despite health issues

Some defeatists on here there are 630 MPs there are 60m people.There needs to be a change in mindset you vote to take my pension your out of a job. This country is so passive these changes could have been stopped but no the people let them away with it then voted the robbers back in....there are no words

Nobody is 65 anymore in the UK. The minimum SPA is now 66 and will increase in less than 2 years time to 67.

What happened with the 35 years work to qualify for the pension .

Bosnia and Bulgaria crush us on pension amounts, something to be truly ashamed about. WTF. My council tax is £400 a month - that's nearly half the entire pension!

Everybody seems to have forgotten that if you were born before 1953 the state pension is £169 per week not £220

Interesting video Ian, if not very cheery… the best pension system I know of is CPF, run in Singapore. It’s a shame the system here can’t be adapted to something similar. And NI is a bit of a swizz, since it doesn’t contribute directly to yours or anyone’s state pension…

So the pensions need to rise so they are the same rate as other countrys because of the cost of living great news

Under labour, mark my words they will introduce a mandatory pension for every PAYE earner across the country under an auto enrolment scheme with HRMC regardless of your age, then they will tax it when you start drawing it down if you live long enough to see your pension, pension fund managers will get more money to invest in empty office blocks, the government will take there cut Probably twice over the next twenty years, and we will get little or no return …. On top of our state pension.

Remember work pensions and SIPP will also increase the age limit as well. They always do when the state pension age increases. S&S ISA, Cash ISA are the way forward.

65 should be retirement age for state pensions if you've already paid in 40 years

Wendy I receive a very small private pension and i now have 13 pounds per month taken from it to pay the income tax.I am 84 years old to start paying income tax at my age is ridiculous now going to lose winter fuel allowance as well.If you get pension credit free tv licence and fuel allowance paid to you , all pensioners should be treated the same.

Private pension is taxed as well.

Australia is real crap when it comes to means testing pensioners. There are people talking about means testing pensioner’s own homes so they are effectively forced to move out of their own homes! Very sad as pensioners aren’t treated with the respect they deserve. On the bright side the Australian pension is better than UK’s low pension. I didn’t think this was the case as I thought UK’s pension was higher! Very sad indeed for UK pensioners.

If you grow old depending on a state pension you’ve wasted your working life .

Many thanks for posting this, it was really helpful. Your thoughts of what is likely sound very pragmatic and you doubt more extreme changes e.g. means testing for the same reasons that it sounds a crazy idea to me. There is a lot of scare mongering around pensions, and who knows, but I think people are using it as a political football so it was great to see you keeping things in perspective.

Everyone should be allowed to retire at 60 if they want to. If successive governments have not invested NI contributions wisely for people to be able to do that, it is tantamount to fraud. Squandering and spending people's pensions would be a crime if it was done by a private company. Those responsible should face consequences, not the old folk who paid contributions in good faith. Young people are smart enough to know that this affects everyone, because everyone gets old (if they are fortunate to do so). Time passes quickly, and those birthdays keep coming around.

What slot of people don't realise how many people make it to 70 and over %wise it drops off a lot

Pensioners are miles below the basic hourly rate for a person working in the uk.

I would be in favour of the tax relief on pensions being fixed at the basic rate of 20%.

Really simple solution to this problem……. Because pensioners are old and weak, put them on planes to the places where all illegal immigrants come from, you know the Doctors and engineers, I am sure these countries will look after our citizens just as we look after theirs! This country has gone mad ….. we have paid lifetime contributions for our pensions it is not a FREE Benefit so F O. and leave us alone.

The ongoing issue of unchecked immigration, particularly from boat arrivals, has persisted for decades without adequate solutions. Initially, the government placed blame on European policies. However, post-Brexit, the situation remains unchanged, raising serious concerns among citizens. The government needs to address the problem of large numbers of failed asylum seekers living at the expense of taxpayers, while simultaneously reducing support for pensions and elderly allowances. This disparity creates frustration and tension within communities. It is essential that the police enforce laws equally across all communities to maintain public trust and order. Furthermore, political leaders must focus on comprehensive solutions rather than scapegoating or making ineffective gestures, such as the proposal of housing immigrants in Africa, which fails to address the scale of the problem. Ignoring the issue or labeling concerned citizens as "far right" will not lead to constructive outcomes. Additionally, overcrowded prisons and the release of offenders only exacerbate public anxiety. If these challenges are not addressed, there is a risk of increasing social unrest and community conflicts. Political leaders like Keir Starmer must prioritize these urgent issues over political infighting and backdoor deals. The country is in need of effective, transparent solutions to ensure safety, social cohesion, and fair treatment for all residents. Addressing the root causes and implementing equitable policies is essential for restoring public confidence and preventing further discord.

In my view, the state pension age will need to rise to 71 by 2040. I'm 51 with 32 full years of NI contribs, so I'm making adjustments to my private pension contribs with the target retirement age of 71 in mind. I do not believe means testing for the state pension will happen in the UK because it's deeply unfair and a massive betrayal of trust. Having said that, the UK Government does seem to excel at that.

To say pension is a benefit is a con and pure lies

A portion of some peoples pensions are already means tested. Pension Credit is a top up benefit for those who do not have enough credits for a full pension, this is means tested.

Yes your taxes and national insurance payments working hard to pay illegal immigrants and line the pockets of ministers, but dont worry when you retire you get to be poor and homeless like a good little patriot,

If they make big changes to the pension system I wonder whether the next change of government (whenever that may be) will reverse it?

It’s interesting that you mention possibly increasing the number of years of NI required to earn full pension from 35 to 40 years. Of course, those of us over the age of 30 at the moment benefited from the school ‘starting credits’ scheme that effectively gave us 3 free years of credit for staying in school at the age of 16. This ran from 1975 to 2010. Effectively I’ve only had to earn 32 years through work, those in the next generation already suffer this extra penalty.

I can see Labour freezing it to the minimum 2.5% and means testing bus pass,and raising the free prescriptions age to the state pension age.I hope i can see Labour getting voted out in 4 years.

That is a lot more than I was paid at work.

I think it will probably move to 70 eventually but I suspect in the short-term the will start adding to the qualifying years so maybe add a year on every 5 years to get to 40 years contributions. It wont really affect the well off that want to retire early as they will yust buy up the missing years.

Raid the pensioners. But not remove the £100k all ex PMs get annually. Including Truss who only worked three weeks.

Once you draw your pension you are nothing to any government.

Well I have 40 Years NI and hope to get it on schedule in 2030 (or should I say 2 years late for 75% of the oringinal 65 implied). Hard to build any planning alternative now, if they change it again. For younger folks, I think they see the raised ages proposed, as It cannot be thought in the context as many nearing potentially getting it. It will likely the under 40's will think it is not relavant at all....

I have a small private pension .... very small ..... and receive the state pension. For this year my private pension company have reduced my payment each month by £1.60 stating it is due to coding received from HMRC. That's another bottle of milk I'll miss!!

Can you please do more videos on UK smaller company investment trusts? Or even international small co investment trusts?

I think if government are going to change pensions age. People who pay national insurance. Should like company ask for it to be placed in a private pension fund.

Why is there an 'old' pension rate & a 'new' pension rate. The differece is getting wider & wider. Do the government think it's okay to make people beg for top ups in order to live a basic life? We pay the same for goods & services as everyone else, & have to pay to get things done. At keast kevel jp the 'old' to the 'new'.

The wages are mostly too low to save in any shape or form....

My wife pays 865.00 a week for her nursing care and still pays tax even though her pension is less than 865.00 a week

What is quite a good idea? It’s to invest in gold bullion

As someone approaching that time of life, the state pension will make up a considerable part of my retirement income. I do believe however that the state pension has to evolve and I would like to see an expansion of the workplace pension with the state pension becoming more of a safety net or smaller portion of retirees income.

I got my pension at 61 as i had to wait as they change the date in the year before i was 60 & they changed in the april of the of year, my birthday was in September, my you, I was pleased as i got some money & i didn't have to go work to have it.

2044/2046, are you having a laugh. I am one of those that lost out to an age change, and change again. Its currently 66 for me and my husband (im now 63) and by the time i get to 66 the age for payment will be 68. Its just not fair, ive worked hard all my life as a nurse and midwife, im tired out, worn out and burned out, so for the goal posts to be constantly changing and retirement being constantly just out of reach is demoralising and depressing. And i can tell you, i never earned enough to pay into the nhs pension scheme, as the only wage earner in the household.

I am hoping the new government doesn't move the goal posts because I'll not be able to adjust my plans with only 5 years to go.

Maybe cut money for wars , undeweloped countries which are developed. Should be enough for pensions

I've not read all the comments so apologies, but I'm not sure where he gets his initial figures from. State pension is paid every 4 weeks giving 13 payments not every month giving 12?

When will UK start giving overseas UK pensioners living in other Countries, our pensions are a lot less than people get in UK.

Industry should be then make sure they are employed

DWP owe me circa £60,000 for a pension promised when I was 16 and not delivered

If you retire to the Philippines the Uk pension is increased in line. If you retire to Thailand it’s frozen.

Means testing, better to piss everything up the wall.

Living of the state pension alone will be a struggle for most i would imagine lots of things working people take for granted will be well out of reach for pensioners life can be mundane at times and we all enjoy having something to look forward to in life pensioners should be no different but sadly they are more of an existence for them to be honest

I speak 8 languages including Japanese, I have sat through 3 separate pension “help”chats from 3 of the biggest pension providers, I don’t speak Chinese but I understand it far better than how the tax system works 🤷🏻‍♀️

With mass illegal immigration the whole system is going to crash so I wouldn’t worry about getting a pension or any other state benefit/entitlement.

Load of rubbish. There's no way you can compare all these places because all the circumstances are so different. A lump of cheese can't be compared to a loaf of bread in any realistic way, so it is with pensions in different countries. Switzerland has never fought a war and its up in a mountainous area and largely dependent on insurance and banking for its income. UK is totally different. The moon's not a balloon!

It's better government Should only take N.I from people on benefits because its Always about them not about working class

never worth relying on Gov, go your own way and if you get a state pension its a bonus

The age at which pensioners receive their state pension is, at the time of writing, 67 and there is talk of it rising to 70!

Labour came to power because TORY LET THEM, Labour is going pensioners life hell and stressful and life becomes short .

Eh? Basing the pension on what one has put in seems VERY fair! The more you put in, the more you should get out.