tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34128264.post3633308511159688802..comments2024-03-25T12:55:40.911+00:00Comments on Caron's Musings: Jenny Willott lives on State Pension for a weekAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04988201531739344840noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34128264.post-55750518858721297562009-11-10T15:24:49.974+00:002009-11-10T15:24:49.974+00:00Ah, but where does all this money come from? This ...Ah, but where does all this money come from? This is the problem. More and more people are retiring and fewer and fewer people are left to pay for them. Social insurance in the USA and UK are practically bankrupt. The only way to give retirees the money they deserve is to raise taxes (and it's a bottomless pit.)<br /><br />I wrote about the situation in America (which is similar to the UK) here.<br /><br />http://rolandhulme.blogspot.com/2009/10/on-retirement-wherein-militant-ginger.html<br /><br />And Caron, you ain't seen nothing yet. I read a terrifying article in Time magazine called 'Is it time to retire the 401k' and it revealed that an entire generation is about to get gypped out of their retirement because they got 'sold' on investing in a 401k and it's just a bad, bad, unsafe investment. <br /><br />A retirement savings account that would be worth $3,000 a month will only pay out $1,200 for a similarly funded 401k. It's a HUGE swindle and what's worse, given governments in the UK and USA an excuse to step back from funding social insurance for retirees because they're under the illusion that 401ks will support them.<br /><br />It's smoke and mirrors and a small number of people have got very rich screwing the majority of us out of our retirement. <br /><br />Okay, conspiracy theory rant over.Roland Hulmehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08979437320446956987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34128264.post-3164328819054941942009-11-07T13:42:21.003+00:002009-11-07T13:42:21.003+00:00I'm perhaps more fortunate than most women bec...I'm perhaps more fortunate than most women because I worked all my life (with the exception of a couple of 1 year breaks) and I paid the 'full stamp'.<br /><br />My sympathy goes to women who paid what was commonly known in those days as the 'married woman's stamp' because it's these women who have lost out.<br /><br />My state pension is a pittance really and I would be completely unable to have any quality of life if it was all the income I had. Then that horrendous process of begging from the taxpayer for money would have to kick in. What a humiliating ordeal that is.<br /><br />A wee question - do you think Jenny Willott only buys a poppy when her old one looks tatty? Most people buy a new one each year. I get her point though. The elderly usually give more than they can afford in support of Remembrance Day. It was very evident to me when I used to shake a can for the RBL.subrosahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00151702590329788260noreply@blogger.com