Britain's pension disaster!

The UK pension gap is now reported as the worst in Europe, this comes on top of another detailed report on Briton's woes linked from the posting beneath this earlier this morning. This quote comes from The Herald of Scotland, linked here, fittingly from the country where the main culprit in causing this mess now furtively mainly lurks, namely former PM, Gordon Brown: The income shortfall facing many workers retiring this year has been exacerbated by plunging annuity rates. The rates paid on annuities, bought by the vast majority of workers at retirement, last month reached their lowest level on record, according to Investment Life & Pensions Moneyfacts. It said the average annuity rate paid to a man had fallen by nearly 46 per cent since 1995, while the rates paid to women were down by 42 per cent over that period. The real disaster is not just that annuity rates have almost halved since 1995, but that the pension funds accumulated for people soon to retire have shrunk by often similar percentages during the same period due to Brown's pension fund tax grab. Many pesioners have the clear evidence of this theft easily available in their annual pension statements and eventual annuity returns all of which make a mockery of the final pension estimates provided by the pension suppliers down the years. This has been state theft, yet the main criminal walks free to sit inWestminster Hall to fete the Pope in his celebration of the takeover of his hated neighbouring country to the south. The country, which with his predecessors he has now virtually brought to its knees. Justice demands his actions be made the subject of a criminal inquiry. One area of investigation being where exactly these billions of purloined public savings actually arrived, for it clearly was not for the public good, one look at the books of our PFI mortgaged public buildings such as hospitals and schools will prove that fact. Unless Cabinet Ministers of the previous administration are brought to account and serve time, such abuses will surely continue.

Treasures from the Threads - Number Thirty-three

A Comment to the article linked from my posting below on pensions: This was alway's going to be a problem but Brown made the situation ten times worse by robbing the pension funds of millions of people. Every day more people reach retirement age to discover what they long suspected that very little is left of their pension. When Brown preaches morals the roof should fall on his head. He has blood on his hands because like everything this cowardly man does he kills through stealth. People have committed suicide and many more have died through poverty and worry because of the actions of Brown. He like all the rest of his bunch of thieves have a golden retirement to look forward to while those people who simply worked to support themselves are left to rot!. Now these low interest rates are well below true inflation those who have tried to save have been kicked in the teeth leaving them living off their savings. These people in government are far too busy fiddling their expenses to worry about the state of private sector pensions. kenherts on April 10, 2009 at 11:27 AM

Printing money deals blow to pensions

The debasement of the country's currency is about to deal a blow to the pensions of those who have carefully put aside money for decades for their retirement. The Observer has a report this morning, linked here, from which comes this: Experts have told the Observer that those who use their pension funds now to buy annuities - which guarantee them a set income a year until they die - will receive much lower pensions than they could have just a few weeks ago. I reach retirement age this summer so I will be able to suffer and report on the impact as it takes shape and plan to do so on this blog. Already, in an aspect not considered in the article, the fund from which my annuity will be made available has shrunk due to the catastrophic collapse in the stock market. Theft seems not too strong a word given what Brown has already wrought, another quote: "What the government has done is effectively steal some of people's pensions on a policy that does not work," she said. "For the half a million people who are due to retire this year it is a disaster." In my view not just this year either, for waiting will not improve things therefore it is for all subsequent years as well, the Prudent are about to be crushed! Conservative Home blog are proposing MPs take a pay cut of 5 per cent BUT as this blog has proposed before, removal of pensions earned by our Maggot MPs since John Major's election will be the only just and logical course - that now seems only appropriate as a starter!