Are you a Baby Boomer retiring this year

[Judgemental]

An astonishing number of people do not know exactly what a true Baby Boomer is; it is a child conceived shortly after the end of WWII, probably around Christmas 1947 and is 65 this year.

There are over 750,000 people retiring this year - seven hundred and fifty thousand!

The highest number since whenever....

All with handsome pensions and are a major voting force if treated properly.

If you are a Baby Boomer bearing in mind all the changes in pension date eligibility after 2013, you will find all manner of folk beating a path to your door and being extremely co-operative over discounts.

I think all hunts, saddlers and feed merchants should give Baby Boomers and OAPS generally a discount?

 

[Double_choc_lab]

Wish I was. I'm one who was due to retire at 60 but now have to carry on until I'm 66.

 

[undergroundoli]

I think all hunts, saddlers and feed merchants should give Baby Boomers and OAPS generally a discount?

Why?

 

[Lolo]

Why?

Because with the free uni education they could have had, the lower debt, the shorter working life and considerably easier time getting a house and things, they really need the discounts so they can complain even louder about the youth of today

 

[nix123]

Hhhmm theres many ways at looking at this, I'm not a baby boomer yet i have spent over 30 years paying my tax and national insurance. When it comes to me getting my pension i'll doubt they'll be much if anything left in the pot. Why should the baby boomers and oaps feel the need to have a discount on things? They are in the best position financially with regards to their pensions both private and state. If we are in a privileged position to own horses and be able to spend £50 a day hunting then i think your asking a bit much considering the majority of pensioners are having problems paying their electric bill.

 

[undergroundoli]

Because with the free uni education they could have had, the lower debt, the shorter working life and considerably easier time getting a house and things, they really need the discounts so they can complain even louder about the youth of today

Youth of today spend too much time on the internet and not enough time hunting, buying horse feed and getting out saddle fitters so these profesionals can subsidise the baby boomers.

 

[nix123]

You already get a free bus pass, 1/2 price cinema tickets, cheap oap lunches at certain pubs and garden centres even free bingo evenings ... what more do you want?

 

[JillA]

I'm one - and we didn't need a free uni education, employers didn't look first and foremost at whether you had a degree but whether you had the skills they needed. If you had a degree you were part of the top 10% (and it was usually a vocational degree such as law or medicine) whereas today if you don't you are part of the bottom 10%. That's what making universities a business does for you - sells you something you never realised you needed!

 

[MissChaos]

All with handsome pensions and are a major voting force if treated properly.

If you are a Baby Boomer bearing in mind all the changes in pension date eligibility after 2013, you will find all manner of folk beating a path to your door and being extremely co-operative over discounts.

I think all hunts, saddlers and feed merchants should give Baby Boomers and OAPS generally a discount?

Is that a discount to go with the 'handsome pension'? Seriously?

I'm sure all hunts, saddlers and feed merchants would be only to happy to hack off yet more of their funds or profit margins. They've never had it more financially easy than current times, of course.

 

[Lolo]

I'm one - and we didn't need a free uni education, employers didn't look first and foremost at whether you had a degree but whether you had the skills they needed. If you had a degree you were part of the top 10% (and it was usually a vocational degree such as law or medicine) whereas today if you don't you are part of the bottom 10%. That's what making universities a business does for you - sells you something you never realised you needed!

I need it And almost always would have needed it...

 

[Penny Less]

I get royally fed up with the general view that baby boomers are to blame for various ills as portrayed in the media.
I am one, I have worked hard all my life, paid my taxes etc, have a small pension from the NHS. I will not benefit from the new bigger pension , a lot of us wont. I get fed up with having to work all my life and then end up having to support a lot of scroungers etc! I was brought up to pay my way and only have what you can afford.

 

[Vinney]

I have just taken my pension and still work. I have worked almost all of my adult life with just a few months break in between having two children. The only time I have had with any benefits was for a month between jobs 10years ago. I got a few pounds job seekers allowance. I then found my current job through an agency. I do feel for the young of today, but they have the chance now to start pension schemes for when they retire that will ensure they have an income for retirement, its up to them to make the choice. I didnt get the chance to go to university when I was 18 as my parents told me to get a job when I was 16. They wanted a contribution to my keep so that was what I had to do. I have a degree now, self funded at the Open University. This is a degree in biology, but as I am now too old to start afresh it is just a bit of paper(something I regret not doing sooner). I spent the years when my children were growing up working in a sports centre and did long and hard hours to make ends meet so that they could have all the things they needed. I'm sure there are many more like me out there who have had to work for everything and it was just as hard for us as some of the other generations.

 

[Vinney]

Oh by the way, I dont ask for any discounts due to my age and fully expect to pay the going price for everything. Shopkeepers etc have to make a living too. As for discounted tack etc, why should anyone expect discounts on it we choose to have horses so we should be expected to pay the same as everyone else.

 

[Penny Less]

I never use the senior citizens discounts when going to various Nat Trust places, Horsey events etc. However, I do welcome the heating allowance !

 

[fatpiggy]

Because with the free uni education they could have had, the lower debt, the shorter working life and considerably easier time getting a house and things, they really need the discounts so they can complain even louder about the youth of today

Well for one thing, elders have been complaining about the youth of today since the Ancient Greeks were around.

People can't HELP being born when they were, nor how wealthy their parents were. I don't get jealous of people who had fancy foreign holidays when we had a week in a tent, nice horses and ponies when I couldn't even have riding lessons, the fact that 99% of my school uniform was either very second hand or home-made - in fact almost ALL my clothes were my sister's cast-offs, that my parents didn't automatically give me a car for my 18th birthday (they didn't even pay for any of my driving lessons). I could go on and on. Yes, I had a "free" education at University but it wasn't exactly a soft subject just so that I could say I'd got an ology and we had lectures from 9-5 every day bar one when I didn't start until 11am, we couldn't bunk off lectures and tutorials because we were logged in to every single one and absence would have been notified to the Local Authority and our grants could have been removed. I work at a well regarded redbrick University and I sometimes wonder why the students bothered to apply because they really aren't interested. Getting a mortgage was easier? No it wasn't actually - applicants were GRILLED about their income, you could only get a mortgage from the bank you were with and if they said no, that was it, and only the husband's salary was really taken into account. Plus the deposit required was way higher proportionally. The reason prices are so high now is because both parties can contribute 3x their salary which makes it bl++dy hard for single people like me and divorced folk to get a foot on the ladder PLUS run the house, the car, whatever with only one income stream. My parents used every penny of their savings to buy our house. It had no mains water supply, no mains drainage and no indoor bathroom. Dad did all the work himself as well as working full time - they simply couldn't afford to borrow the money or have someone do it for them. Most of the furniture etc was second hand. We actually had the same carpet downstairs for 25 years. I can't imagine anyone doing that these days! They taught me the value of money and how to budget and most importantly, how to save. My grandparents were very working class but Grandad actually had two mortgaged properties (and in those days they had to be paid back over only 10 years) - his own house and one for his widowed mother who he didn't want living in rented property in her old age. As for retirement ages well I will be working to at least 66, probably nearer 70. My parents retired at 59 and 64 respectively on an early retirement package each. Good thing too really as it turned out my Dad was terminally ill and only lived another 5 years so he didn't exactly get much benefit from his "huge" pension, did he? He had worked since he was 15. People were much older at 60 in past years than they are today, working conditions were much poorer and work for many was hard physical labour. I don't think it is right that we are having to work to a greater age but the answer is to save even more and given that fewer and fewer people are working at all and contributing to the pot, end of, what choice is there? Someone has to pay for all the lazy liars who claim bad backs etc and stay at home all day at our expense. I bet there is hardly anyone here who doesn't know someone who works the system, but I don't want to sound like a Daily Fail reader.

 

[undergroundoli]

Getting a mortgage was easier? No it wasn't actually - applicants were GRILLED about their income, you could only get a mortgage from the bank you were with and if they said no, that was it, and only the husband's salary was really taken into account. Plus the deposit required was way higher proportionally. The reason prices are so high now is because both parties can contribute 3x their salary which makes it bl++dy hard for single people like me and divorced folk to get a foot on the ladder PLUS run the house, the car, whatever with only one income stream.

The three times income rule was dropped years ago. Thats how the average cost of a house sold between April and June in Greater London was £475,940. Dont see myself saving ten percent of that any time soon (not that I'm sure 95% morgages are doing homeowners a favour. Bet most people who've had theire thiere homes repossesed wish they'd been grilled and turned down).

Yes it is hard for everyone to save for a morgage, run a car and pay theire bills, but for people just entering the workforce it is particually hard as they're out compeated and many of us are trailing thousands of pounds of student debt acummulating compond intrest.

I think your lazy students are probably at university because the options for people who havn't got degrees are becoming more limited. Did you do an internship after you graduated?

One of my uni mates had a meeting with a pensions advisor the other day, he told her that if she is erning 80k a year by the age of 55 she'll be able to retire at 70.

Oh, I can honestly say I dont know a single person claiming benifits they are not entiteled to, although i do know someone whom ATOS suggested could 'get over' her autisam.

 

[windand rain]

I am getting there but I wont get my pension until 2019 I worked all my life and paid taxes etc and now dont get anything as OH has a very small pension which just gets us out of every benefit available He cant find work and is trying very hard not to get too despondent but at 62 it is highly unlikely he will work again. My university degree cost me many thousands of pound nothing was free it was all paid for either by me or my parents I worked the holidays to pay for the next bit Dad was a Doctor from a travellling family he had to work for years to get enough money to put himself and his brother through university
I dont expect discounts but am fed up of the goal posts moving I should be getting my OAP status in January but not to be
I have worked myself to a standstill and cannot physically do anymore due to ill health but not sufficiently disabled to get any help that way either so I dont complain and dont ask for anything just a little consideration and respect for all people young and old alike. We older folk have always worked for what we have and saved to buy things I cant honestly understand the I must have it now mentality and the I am entitled to a 60 inch tv and expensive designer clothes and shoes Yes I have a laptop and a tv but they are both either gifts or saved for.

 

[MerrySherryRider]

I'm one - and we didn't need a free uni education, employers didn't look first and foremost at whether you had a degree but whether you had the skills they needed. If you had a degree you were part of the top 10% (and it was usually a vocational degree such as law or medicine) whereas today if you don't you are part of the bottom 10%. That's what making universities a business does for you - sells you something you never realised you needed!

Spot on. Universities used to offer real degrees before it became big business for anyone willing to pay the fees.
My OH is having a problem recruiting candidates of the right calibre. HR keeps sending over graduates with no idea how to apply the theory they learnt at uni to actually doing the job. Finally, he asked for someone without a degree and interviewed a young man with a real can-do attitude.
Sadly he was snapped up by a competitor before OH got the job offer letter out to him.


As for Judgemental wanting a discount for his hunt subs.. erm. No.

Give the discounts to pensioners who can't afford to heat their homes and not horse owners who can afford hunting livery.

 

[fatpiggy]

The three times income rule was dropped years ago. Thats how the average cost of a house sold between April and June in Greater London was £475,940. Dont see myself saving ten percent of that any time soon (not that I'm sure 95% morgages are doing homeowners a favour. Bet most people who've had theire thiere homes repossesed wish they'd been grilled and turned down).

Yes it is hard for everyone to save for a morgage, run a car and pay theire bills, but for people just entering the workforce it is particually hard as they're out compeated and many of us are trailing thousands of pounds of student debt acummulating compond intrest.

I think your lazy students are probably at university because the options for people who havn't got degrees are becoming more limited. Did you do an internship after you graduated?

One of my uni mates had a meeting with a pensions advisor the other day, he told her that if she is erning 80k a year by the age of 55 she'll be able to retire at 70.

Oh, I can honestly say I dont know a single person claiming benifits they are not entiteled to, although i do know someone whom ATOS suggested could 'get over' her autisam.

An internship? No, they didn't exist when I graduated. I scrubbed toilets for several weeks though! You are lucky not knowing any benefits claimers who shouldn't be. I know of one chap who claims invalidity ("bad back") who walks his dog around the hills in the Peak District every day. A girl I used to know worked cash in hand and claimed unemployment (that is really common according to a colleague who used to work in the dole office) and every associated benefit going with it. Then there is the very strange woman with 2 horses, estate car and trailer who has a rent-free house (she gets moved regularly because of the state she gets them in to), enough benefit for two holidays in Spain a year all on the pretext of being a carer for a person with learning disabilities who isn't related to her. She hasn't worked a single day in years! She's very canny though and knows exactly how to work the system. Not so long ago she was trying to pull a scam and told the local paper a total fairy story about how her mother's antique jewellery had been knicked. I rather doubt she actually had any insurance mind you!

Interestingly, a young colleague of mine at work is complaining about not being able to save up for a deposit and that to save £5000 would take her and her fiance 5 years. They both have reasonably well paid jobs, don't have a car and are good at budgeting for food etc. However they like living in a very nice house in a very expensive area and pay high rent as a result. They don't want to downgrade to something a bit cheaper in order to save the difference, and want to buy in a nice area too. Oh and they like their holidays too. I think therein lies the problem. I don't earn anything like the minimum wage and boy is living alone expensive, but I saved £5000 in 6 months in order to have a load of building work done on my kitchen. How did I do it? Well for 17 years I lived on peanuts in order to keep my horse so am well used to going without just about everything ( I lived on £10 a week for food and household stuff for many years). Now my horse is gone and I am the best part of £1000 a month better off. So I just carried on living like a pauper and transferred the money every month as soon as I got paid. I haven't had a holiday since 2001 and I still buy almost all my clothes from charity shops. It can be done, but you must really really want something. As soon as I get through all the jobs I need to do on the house and garden I will be splitting my spare cash between paying off the mortgage as soon as possible and saving for my dotage - just as my parents did.