Why do pensioners not acknowledge that they may be better off than their parents and childrens generations?

Question

Here is what I mean - the money the current generation of pensioners paid in NI has long since been spent (since the formula has always been that the workers of the day pay for the pensioners of the day) - however, often pensioners seem to give the impression that since they paid NI there is a pot of money rightfully theirs sitting there.. there isn't - a pot I mean!

Rarely however do pensioners express any sympathy with this generation of workers who will also pay NI their whole working lives yet be lucky to see that money returned due to the demographic crisis..

Plus with the unprecended and I believe unsustainable growth in property prices, this generation of pensioners also benefited from a windfall that neither there parent's/children's generation will..

So although it is not easy being retired - at least as I see it - this generation of pensioners are arguably better off than any other.

Answer 1

I'm 72 been retired 7 years. I'm not complaining it's great. Mind youi we only managed to go to Egypt and Spain this year.Ah well!

Answer 2

Any pensioner who is comfortable financially these days is so because they had the sense to pay into a private pension. The state pension is about £. 72.00. per week for a couple. This is for everything, rent, fuel, food,clothes. car/bus,council tax etc.etc. Yes some people get benefits, but more than 92% of pensioners do not. They get only a basic pension and for that they paid into the system for 50years. When your O.A.P. time comes, I hope someone will remind you of what you have just written on this web site. Some of these pensioners fought a war to give us a better life than they had.

Answer 3

Not all pensioners will agree with you, some that I know have had to save for the life they want to live. Like the young generation you will always get one who complains about life, It's just the way people are

Answer 4

Middle class and professional retired people might not argue too vehemently with your basic premise that some of today's pensioners are better off then their predecessors - though I'm not convinced about the lot of the future pensioners. However, the majority of pensioners in the UK are not in the fortunate position of having one or more occupational pensions - plus a State pension. Also, you make the rather simplistic assertion that all State pensioners think that there is an unlimited 'pot of money' on which they have a right to draw. Of course they don't - anymore than teachers and nurses think there is a special 'pot ' from which their pensions are paid. Such schemes have always been notional, and although individuals make a contribution every month, their pensions are actually paid out of the government's general taxation income.
Many retired people receive only the basic pension of around 86 UKP per week (single person) and are forced to consider supplementary benefits. However, a lot of them are too proud to claim (which they see as a form of begging) , or are simply ignorant of the benefits available, or are completely baffled by the complicated and intrusive procedures involved. You also assume that most old/elderly people own their own homes. This is far from the truth. The tradition in this country (until around the late sixties) was to rent a home, either privately, or via the local council, rather than to buy one. It was only the advent of freely available mortgages that enabled a number to think in terms of buying their own properties.
Don't forget, too, that there are still many pensioners alive who served in, or lived though the Second World War, where not only was life in the balance, but not exactly full of joy, either. Rationing and restrictions affected almost every aspect of life, from what one could buy to where one could travel. These pensioners are often widows whose husbands were killed in action, or men who came back home to a devastated country with few opportunities to advance themselves.
It is a heartless government (or populace) that would begrudge a decent pension to such people who sacrificed so much and who never had the opportunities (like those that exist today), to do much about improving their lot. But, as I am sure you are aware, the UK government does _not_ give a decent pension. Indeed, the UK's State pension is one of the lowest in Europe (which means in the western world).
You should also remember that people of your generation (I am assuming that you are relatively young - if I'm wrong, then please accept my apologies), have opportunities undreamed of by earlier generations. University eduction is now available to any one who wants it, provided they have half a brain - hence ambitious young people have better employment prospects leading to decent and ever increasing salaries. And with the new '5 times salary' and 'shared' morgages on offer, many mid/late twenty-year-olds can get on the property ladder. To some pensioners, especially the elderly, present day young people seem to lead quite a luxurious lifestyle. They own decent cars, buy their own flat/house, go night clubbing and drinking, take vacations abroad, enjoy gap year travel, can live with bf/gf without censure, etc.. All things to which the majority of them could never have aspired when they were young.
So it is a bit unfair of you to criticise them for not being overly appreciative of the sum of money given to them from the always parsimonious UK government!
I recall an ancient aunt of mine who, on reaching something like her 80th birthday, was awarded a 25 pence increase on her already pathetically low pension She remarked at the time that it wasn't even enough to buy a first class stamp to write and tell the Chancellor where to place this miserly amount. She's dead now, so that's one fewer person modern youth needs to worry about subsidising.
And that brings me to one final but important point, namely, that pensioners who have managed to buy their own property (and who have not had to sell up in order to pay for their care in old age), will leave that property to people from your generation. Hence you will benefit greatly through no effort of your own. So, in effect, a large number of young people already have a decent pension awaiting them in the form of an inheritance. It's certainly a point worth remembering when you feel that today's pensioners are having such an easy time compared with past and future generations.

Sorry to have gone on at length, but occasionally it is a good idea to sit back and realise just how lucky you are to be young today, and to have so many opportunties available to you which were not available when today's pensioners were your age.

Answer 5

I suppose for the same reason that we whinge and moan all the time about how tough and hard it is being a parent.
We've all got it easier. It's called progress.

Answer 6

My nan saves up her winter heating payment and sits in the cold for a few months so she can put it towards her annual trip to Australia!!!

Answer 7

thank you social science lady.