Do the Millennials moan too much?

Meant nhs not bhs!

This myth about Civil Service pensions needs to be challenged. I was a Civil Servant. I do not get enough from my Civil Servant pension and my Old Age pension combined to have to pay tax. Not all Civil Servants get high pensions! Where did that idea come from? Was it the newspapers? Only Senior Civil Servants or say someone working in High Office will get a large pension....not the workers! I WISH!

Me too Yorkshire gel..! I worked for local government for 32 years (almost all of it full-time) and this has earned me a pension of just over £5000 a year. I'm very glad of this, but even added to my state pension I'm below the tax threshold, so it's hardly gold-plated...

ex public sector friends,those who worked as teachers,civil service,police,the bhs
Well some civil service pensions may be quite good in comparison but they will be for the top echelons.
My civil service pension is piddling (excuse the expression) as are those of many women I know.
But every little helps.

My DH has a public sector pension too - and I remember years ago a friend's DH retiring from the bank at 55 and getting a pension nearly four times what DH got!

Don't forget the civil service had a nasty trick of paying women back their contributions when they married as a 'marriage gratuity' - how kind, so years previous to marriage were therefore lost and many did stay at home to bring up a family.

And, sadly, BHS employees lost their pensions and are waiting for Green to cough up.

Oh sorry, Carole I see you corrected it to NHS!

Read all the posts as advised on another thread!

Just commenting on the thread question. No, I don't think Millennials moan to much. Just like each generation they have different difficulties to contend with and moan appropriately. I find the most moaning generation the "Silent" generation born between 1925 and 1942 (they seem to be anything but silent as far as I can see). Described by Strauss & Howe, (1991) as withdrawn, cautious, unimaginative, indifferent, unadventurous I can see this reflected in whinging but ... they are not my generation either so I may not be appreciating their perspective any more than some do not appreciate how millennials or others relate to the problems they face.

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I find the most moaning generation the "Silent" generation born between 1925 and 1942 (they seem to be anything but silent as far as I can see). Described by Strauss & Howe, (1991) as withdrawn, cautious, unimaginative, indifferent, unadventurous I can see this reflected in whinging but ... they are not my generation either

Ha ha, DH must buck the trend then, as he is not withdrawn (very outgoing), cautious (no, he's a risk-taker) unimaginative (well perhaps sometimes!!), indifferent, unadventurous.
But he does whinge sometimes and is certainly not Silent

Friend s who have retired recently from public sector jobs have got two thirds of their final annual wage as pensions presuming they've worked a fair number of years which
Would be a pipe dream to those of us with only personal pensions but yes I do appreciate many are on less than this for various reasons.

I live on a monthly £600 basic state pension and, if I want more, then I do a bit of part time casual work at basic wage and maybe the odd win of £25 on the premium bonds and small bits of interest on some shares. No young family would want to survive on that. No SKY tv or smart phone. Yes, I own my own home which I hope to pass on to my children. That's been paid for by hard work. Should I be penalised by that? The high cost of housing both in the rental and owner sections has been caused by too many people being allowed to come into the UK, not lack of housing. The UK was never set up for a 70 million population.

I have retired recently from the public sector on ill health. My pension is less than a third of what I earned. I will not receive my state pension until I reach 67. If it wasn't for my husband's contribution to the household budget, I would be really struggling.
On the other hand, I have friends just a few years older than me, who just made it before the rules changed. They are receiving both a public sector pension and a state pension. They say they have never had it so good!

The civil service changed the pension scheme a few years ago too, to a money purchase not final salary scheme; you could opt into the new one which was not so safe, or stay in the old one which was 40/80ths, so you had to work for 40 years to get half the average of your last 3 years salary.
So - if you started at 18 or 21, worked 10 years before having a family, they refunded that, brought up a family you would be lucky to get 20 years in because retirement was compulsory at 60 (not the case now I believe).

Message deleted by Gransnet at the request of poster.

There are moaners in every generation, it's just that the subject of the moans changes!

Quizqueen, even if you actually mean 4 weekly and certainly if you mean monthly, if your only income is £600 state pension, and you have less than £10,000 savings you could be claiming Pension Credit. Even if you have over £10,000 you may still be eligible unless it is vastly over.

On my own I would not receive enough income to pay tax !

Most of these constant 'drip feeds' from the Government via letters in the press. tv items, documentaries etc etc are designed deliberately to set the young against the elderly ...nothing new so far !

The government has to cover up its total lack of interest in pensioners by some means ...and the politics of envy is the way it does so

No mention is made of the problems being stored up in years to come .....so many millions on benefits, zero hours contracts, etc etc all of whom will never contribute to the coffers ...and yet the NHS, pensions, more and more benefits are still going to have to be found....therefore the problems being stored up are going to be far worse than now...meanwhile politicians procrastinate about the amounts the elderly are costing .......so far have heard no criticism about their own policies being the cause and effect of the current and future problems,

As for freeing up large properties for families ....ha ha ! how are those families going to afford to buy them with insufficient income to obtain a mortgage, and no elderly relatives being able to financially help > another problem is the total lack of affordable accommodation for pensioners who would like to downsize ..there are some wonderful developments advertised I for one would love to live in ..however, the cheapest flat in one of those complexes advertised in a article I read in a newspaper at the weekend was 299,000 ...sorry, but even a mobile park home would be beyond my reach at over 100,000 !

The government needs to stop this blame culture from escalating and address the fundamental underlying problems ......immediately stop zero hours contracts ....build more affordable housing for both the young and the old ....and a really hated suggestion ,,,,in view of the lack of jobs and the size of the benefit culture all those that are able to should be required to work in areas where workers are needed, such as care of the elderly, children, etc (with suitable police checks) without the ability to say, as I saw on one of those benefit programmes .'I don't want that job, I would have to get up at 6,00a.m.' ..oh don't you feel for them ! When I was left as a single parent I did whatever I could to earn my living ...typing, cleaning , dinner lady, and that was every day ! worked in a legal office 9.30 until 11,30 ...rushed to school to work for three hours at lunch time ...met small daughter out of school went home, spent a couple of hours with her and got her dinner, etc put her to bed with a story, and then went out cleaning for two hours whilst the neighbour's teenager looked after her ...It was hard but had to be done ! all the while another neighbour who was also divorced spent all her time at home and even got a charity to decorate her four bedroom house whilst I was balancing on a ladder and a board to paint my hall and stairs ! Did I get any thanks for not claiming benefits > what do you think .....I know now that if I had my time again I would sit on my backside and get as much in benefits as I could ! Then I wouldn't have to eventually pay for care, would get pension top up, winter fuel allowance ,,,gee I would be better off ...and not as, ..at the moment on my own my income would be so low I would have no tax to pay !

Who is daft ?

There are moaners in every generation, it's just that the subject of the moans changes!

I agree Jalima but I do find the research into the different generations fascinating. Generations views are made by the times they grow up in and therefore will find different things difficult. I was being a bit facitious really and pointing out that the different generations have different things they moan about and it has been moulded by the times in which they grew up. Any one who is interested (especially anyone with Millennials ) might like to read this

I retired at a fairly senior level from a local government job 6 years ago at age 60 (I have a degree and two post- grad qualifications).I paid in for 28 years and my pension is less than half my final salary (by about £3000)I got my state pension of £5,500 or thereabouts at 60 and 7months. I also paid AVCs for years which brings me in an £1800 extra a year.I would say I would be comfortable, but not rich ,if I lived alone. . DH also retired at 60 but deferred his pensions until age 65 and his is about £10,000 pa more than mine(on which we have lived -well-for five years , dipping into savings for holidays etc )
So I would say we are now at the top end of comfortable and can fund most outgoings from income. We have substantial savings from lump sums and years of prudent
living,including paying off our mortgage as soon as we could.Any inherited wealth has gone to our Millenial children towards house purchase. .Without it they would never have got a deposit together .We also paid for their university education .
Our children rarely moan and certainly dont resent us.They know we have worked hard to get where we are and have had some tough times along the way-DH was unemployed for 8 years when they were young. I am from a very humble background though I did get to university-fully grant and no fees .So no parental financial help.
.I do feel that the worst things facing todays's generation are being stuck with high rents/inability to raise a deposit and the prospect of working until they are 70.We encourage our children to put as much as possible into pension but neither is a high earner . We are just thankful we have been able to get them onto the property ladder .

I wish I got the average £257 pw!

Yes boomers had it easier....Im just not sure that there is any point in comparing generations in this way .... I mean so what? That was then, this is now ...things change, every generation has positives in their time and negatives in their time, according to the political drivers of the time etc etc. Yes I think things are harder these days ....just look at house prices compared to salaries compared to 40 years ago but moaning about how easy it was then is pointless. It didn't feel easier at the time!

People do not realise that Civil Servants have to contribute to their husband/wife's pension as well as their own! If one partner dies the remaining partner will only get a portion of their partner's pension the rest goes to the Government....another thing, these contributions are compulsory NOT voluntary contributions!

I used to work with a girl who was a lesbian. She tried to challenge that rule because obviously she would never marry. I know at the time she still had to contribute, which they said she would get back when she left the service. That was in 1985 so things have changed now I expect.

Every thing is relative! Things were cheaper in our day but then we weren't paid more than £10 a WEEK either were we.

I agree quizqueen. Immigration has a lot to do with all the house building that we are forced to accept. If you allow uncontrolled immigration you are just asking for trouble.

I just had a pension rise....I might go mad and spend it on an extra loaf.

Neversaydie Well Done! You worked hard and you managed to pay off your house. These days unfortunately ENGLISH parents have to fork out an average price for a house if their child goes to university. Sometimes they might have two or more children, does that mean that the others cannot go or what should they do? No-one has that sort of money to throw around unless you are in a super rich bracket.

Note I said ENGLISH parents, not Welsh, Scottish or Irish parents. This is blatant discrimination by this Government against ENGLISH students, which while we are still in the EU is contrary to EU law as well because they say 'No citizen of any EU country is to be discriminated against'! So how are this Government getting away with that?

you voted for them ,its up to you to get it dealt with .We didn't vote for the tories and sadly we are still on the receiving end of their austerity policy ...its NOT a necessity its a political ideology ,yet England voted them in not once but twice!!!Why? Their record on the debt is appalling ,over DOUBLE since the coalition took power from by800 odd billion to 1 .6 TRILLION ,thats more than ALL labour governments have borrowed EVER .I'm not a supporter of the Labour party or the red tories as we call them but maybe Gordon Brown had a better answer to the crisis when it happened ,he didn't get the chance to prove that though .