[PVpost] Pensions

[aliwood]

I attended one of these national consultation events in Middlesbrough on Friday, where we were graced with the presence of Stephen Timms, Minister for Pension Reform (I suspect he has that title to make him sound like he's doing something really useful).

The basic synopsis of government thinking so far is a combination of raising the retirement age, putting up taxes and forcing people to have some kind of pension - when I enquired the words 'child trust fund' were mentioned. The Minister seemed very concerned that there weren't enough worker drones to keep the economy moving past 2050. He was also very concerned that there should be cross party concensus so that no-one could blame him personally.

[johnhemming]

The point about pensions really is that people concentrate on the money when they should first think about the resources aspect.

Within the context of peak oil we should be focussing on reducing the energy needs of senior citizens. (insulation etc)

[fishertrop]

The Minister seemed very concerned that there weren't enough worker drones to keep the economy moving past 2050.

That's the problem with the system we have - everything needs unlimted growth for it to work.

The UK needs more people to keep things going, to keep things GROWING, but even without PO we're starting to see the limits to.

It's why the concept of population decline (as has started gently in some countries already, for various non-PO reasons) is such a feared thing - Japan and Germany has recently moved just below replacement rates and this has triggered huge schemes to encourge people to have more kids.

It makes for a great rock-and-hard-place scenario - really most western countries would be better off with slightly decline populations (I'm not talking about anything extreme, just natural shifts in birthrates) but this is akin to saying "there is no god" to the system we have.

The "baby boomers" were seeing as bee a great thing, that helped the UK (and others) grow after WW2, alas no one thought about what would happen when they all wanted a decent quality retirement - something that might push the whole work/pensions system over the edge.

[DamianB]

The pensions controversy continues to rage worldwide. The latest from Britain is that public sector pensions look secure despite the possible pessimistic tones from the forthcoming government report on pension solvency.

The British slant is that government employees can retire earlier at 60 and on more generous terms than people in the private sector who are more reliant on their investments tracking the general trend of the economy. If you want to see private versus public comments on the BBC website, go here.

So, the big question is will pensions deliver in the next 10 to 20 years? We are glad to cut through the fiscal fog and give you a decisive and unambiguous answer to this pressing question.

New Era Investor