Morning all. "Brown to seek 1 bln from the Banks"!! - The Times - Didn't he get enough when he took 5 bln, by stealth, from the pension funds affecting every single person in this country who has a pension fund.!! That will be YOU & ME.

Morning all,

Druid2,
Before going to sleep last night, I was listing for about 10min to a discussion program with Germaine Greer, an ex cons. mp (can't remember his name!) and Diane Abbott and they were discussing Pensions.

Diane Abbott (Labour MP) made a comment - something to the effect of that "Brown was scared that if he tried to help poorer people, he could make rich people richer!"

lw - agreed - He has helped richer people by bringing out the Stakeholder Pension - It was meant for poorer people but it apears that they have not taken it up. The richer people have opened stakeholder pensions for their children, grandchildren and, if they could, would have taken out stakeholder pensions for their pets!!. I think that the general population themselves are to blame for some of the problems because many don't bother to start pension policies when they are young and many don't bother at all - when they retire they expect the state to help them out then and that means YOU & ME. The 5 bln he has taken is from all pension savers, rich and poor, and again that is YOU & ME.

Yes I agree.

Although I started a my first pension when I was 21, I was extremely disappointed with the returns (hence why I'm really pro Sipps). And of course, like you say Brown has not helped.

What worries me, is how "we" are going to made to pay for the shortfall on the public sector pensions!

Agreed.

SHOOT ALL THE MP.S AND D1 CIVILSERVANTS////equal NO SHORTFALL IN PUDLIC SECTOR PENSIONS//as i told my son how he could improve his pension for later life I SAID ONLY ONE WAY BECOME A MP///

Well said bristlelad!

You'd think we'd all realise what was going on. The trouble is very few of the general public really understand any of it - and rather than learn and do something, they bury thier heads in the sand.

So the few can't make the difference and end up doing the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"!

Usual short-termism in this country has contributed considerably to the problem, but it is not just a governmental phenomenon. The pension industry, I seem to recall, in the good times, allowed 'pension holidays', reducing fund pots for the leaner years in the cycle and now causing misery for the many.

Funny that you never hear of any entity or individual contacting the FS Ombudsman or trawling through the High Court when their pension fund has outperformed or their endowment has issued an extra large terminal bonus for them.

The system has failed to cover the troughs in the cycle during the peaks and government has failed to monitor,adjust and tweak the system to reduce the amplitude of the peaks and troughs, which would have afforded greater certainty for all parties concerned, especially 'Honest Joe' (and Josie) in society. (IMHO)

Nam

Thanks to all the contributors today. Very interesting.