Baht Simpson

Guys, it's April 1st. 😀

Rather pedantic. By frozen I mean they stopped the Final Salary scheme, obviously with accruals. But you're right to pull me up on the 40 years. It was actually 32 thinking about it. 😀

Yes. At most do's I've been to there's been a toilet roll hanging from string or a wire.

Yes, and when they reduce our State Pensions we'll not only have been contributing to the pensions of those before us, we'll also be subsidizing those behind us. Who'd be a boomer eh? 😀 The only thing I would say is that eroding the State Pension is a cast-iron vote loser, so both parties will be mindful of that.

Absolutely true. We were urged to buy shares in the company to compensate for lower pension contributions. On top of that they moved from yearly salary increases to a bonus system that benefitted the higher earners and punished middle management.

I'm in the same position, as the tax due on my State Pension is deducted from my private pension. Tax is of course collected on earned income and State Pension is treated as such.

As I understand it you don't pay NI even if you go back to employment after 67. I stand to be corrected on this though. I worked in the private sector and it was much the same regarding final salary pensions, except that the final salary was calculated on an average pay over the last five years of employment. The pension formed part of your salary and for a better pension you got paid rather less. I can assure you that banks do not give away money for nothing. I think that an equivalent pay of 4 x salary in the public sector is a bit fanciful, but I can only speak for banking. The assumption that final salaries were gold-plated was exploded when they did away with them. Like, "banking is a job for life" which disappeared with the enormous redundancies in the late 80s. The contention that State Pensioners have had it too good for too long is just absurd. It just locks into the false narrative that they are getting something for nothing which is clearly untrue.

I'm not reading all that. I'm happy for you though or sorry that it happened.

I wonder how many on State Pension have 50T per annum in earned income. Probably very few. A lot more sitting on large equity in their homes and in shares. It's basically a wealth tax and I think you have to be very careful there, targeting those that are genuinely wealthy rather than those that are just comfortable or just surviving. I agree on the triple lock.

I understand how the State Pension is funded TF, and I realize that reform is needed going forward. My gripe is about means testing State Pensions. Apart from the moral issue of arbitrarily taking away or reducing a pension that someone may have contributed to in full, which we can discuss, how do you means test 12m people? This will necessitate obtaining financial information on these people on a yearly basis. The administration cost will be phenomenal and will be ongoing. Also State Pensions are taxed if you are above the nominal tax allowance. A reduction would mean less tax from pensioners into the exchequer.

O.k. No need to be sarcastic. I'm not financially illiterate; I worked in finance for 40 years. The bank I worked for did close their final salary pensions but froze them and honored their commitment at maturity, substituting them with a shared private pension system. So all contributions up to the pension date were honored, which is what I think should happen with State Pensions.

Poor devil. ☹️

It's bizarre that a pension that is based on contributions by individuals and companies over the course of a working lifetime is seen by you as an extreme sense of entitlement. It's actually a real entitlement. It's not charity. I don't know of anyone that feels they are entitled to anything more than the years they have contributed.

I don't think most people believe he's a fascist, just an egotistical idiot.

You can always tell a good presidential candidate. He's the one fleecing his supporters by flogging bibles at $59.99 a pop to fund his legal bills on corruption charges. 😀 It's his favourite book. Lol

Like the Young Gay Conservatives (sic) in the U.K. On their website there was precious little about gay rights when I looked. These groups are just an attempt to attract the gay vote.

He's becoming more and more dangerous as he becomes more and more desperate. But he's a known quantity. If there are substantial Americans who cannot see what he represents now then they have a bleak future. And there have always been self-loathing gays who act as useful idiots for the right.

The original article is very poor and at the end provides a link to a paid advert for financial advice, which I guess is the point. A following article probably hints at the real problem. And this boomer thing is getting annoying now.

The Mainland Vintage cheddar is actually not that bad but you're probably right on Australian cheeses in general.

U.K. social benefits. https://www.gov.uk/browse/benefits

Probably not a good idea to detail your security arrangements online.

That'll be the next fraud to be investigated. The government has started referring to state pension as a benefit not an entitlement. It's easy to stop benefits.

As I understand it the DWP can look at your bank account now but only with a specific request if they suspect fraud. This new regulation will put the onus on the banks to monitor accounts for customers receiving benefits to ascertain there is no money coming in not declared to DWP, rather like KYC regulations. I imagine if the banks do see monthly income they will inform them and a request for details will be issued to investigate the matter. The banks should be informed who is receiving benefit so other accounts shouldn't be monitored but the worry is that of eventual overreach. Another worry is that banks will see this as substantial extra work and will levy a charge on all customers.

Sounds like one has brained you. Quit the drugs.

Could be a Thai Guava tree. We have a huge one in the garden and it usually starts to shed its fruit this time of year. The fruit is green and hard and could easily brain you.