I only read Martin Lewis, I can't bear to watch him. Read his forum for 20 years but it went downhill when he sold out to Moneysupermarket.
It was a golden age because the average blue collar worker contributed 5% of his wages and got depending on how long he worked for the company up to 66 % of his wage as a pension without as you say thinking about it. that began to change with chancellors like Brown tinkering and pension schemes quickly found themselves in arrears with companies having to increase contributions along with employees. That heralded the defined contribution scheme which was universally more expensive for all with companies defaulting to minimum contributions that will ultimately result in at least two generations having worthless pensions because they can't afford to make meaningful contributions.
So true, so sad. But it’s ignorance as well as economics at the root cause. When running my business I was adamant that my employees would “get it” so I asked our 3rd party pension administrator to visit and talk pensions. He was incomprehensible to the staff. He talked of Gilts, Bonds, Equities, I watched as their eyes glazed over. They were bright people, ours was a software business, but they simply didn’t understand the lingo he was using. I sent him home and expressed it in layman’s language to them, things like the impact of compoundng, what tax relief means, inflation, what is an equity investment. They got it and maxed out their DC contributions and now, twenty years later, I’m delighted that they’re sitting pretty. It just takes a little bit of education, I believe that the financial services industry and the Regulators are failing in that regard.
Yes for those that can do something about it correctly delivered information is great but sadly there are millions that no matter how good or well the information is presented they can't do anything about it. Paying the mortgage or in many (most ) cases comes first along with weekly shopping bills and sadly the annual holiday.
I found that surprising in that it was only 20% I would have expected and believe it to be higher.
Probably much too far a general assumption, but my parents were from a generation where they didn't buy it until they could afford it with cash, my generation learned to use credit wisely, the younger generation have borrowed their way into apparent wealth (leased cars, £1,500 phones, long haul holidays etc).
According to the BBC news it is 1 in 10 have no savings, I am afraid I have no sympathy for the ones who refuse to work but hold out their paw for benefits, it has become easier to find some sort of mental illness online, and mimic the symptoms, to most folks of an age this would have been unthinkable and they would have felt shame in doing this, but not anymore, it seems to be a badge of honour, yet they have the latest phones and a few quids worth of tattoos, some chose to live this way and think the country owes them a living.
Crime pays. Especially dealing.
Yet where I live you see more and more 22/23/24/25 registered top spec cars driving round and on the driveways of little houses. There are more cars on the road than there ever have been. Something doesn't add up right about poverty.
You've got a point there. There's parts of Croydon with poky little terrace houses with litter-strewn front yards on which are parked exotic cars. Makes you wonder about people's priorities.
Any form of deferred payment goes right across the grain for me, though I was forced to make an exception for my mortgage, paid off many years ago. A nephew had something of a reputation in my family for seeming to live a comfortable live by buying things on hire purchase, as it was called. He must have managed alright because one of his wives took revenge on him by torching a dozen of his Saville Row suits.
Isn't there the fear that a recession will get everyone handing these new cars back?
UK very expensive to holiday in I hear.
Yes, I find hotels and Airbnb places much cheaper in France.
Yes, you may be right.