Thread: Pension Age may move to 70

It is all very well to say that the pension should be available, people have earned it, etc, etc.

But

It has to be funded.

You can't seriously think that there would be a discussion about raising the pension age if it wasn't warranted.

Pensions are expensive. Government income will tend to go down due to the aging population.

If we keep going like this in the future old people are going to do light duties and clerical jobs in the nursing homes
I can see that people are going to retire and move to a country were they can live with less money than here like the Europeans and Americans are doing it in Uruguay, Brasil, Chile, Costa Rica, etc.

I have 30 years to go to the proposed pension age but am not in the least bit surprised. The only thing that surprises me is the number of Boomers complaining! Sorry but have you been living in a bubble? To pay the pension as well as maintain all the other medical, health, infrastructure and police services the govt needs money and you don't get that with more retired people. We have known and discussed for decades the decreasing ratio of workers to welfare recipients. I have basically accepted the fact that when it comes time for me to retire there will only be a pension for the destitute or disabled. Your super will be required to be part set up as a pension to last to at least 85 or 90.
If you look at the number of people working to those eligible for the pension back when it was introduced to today and the projected figures in 15-20 years and you see where the cuts must be made.
As to the I paid 45 years of tax, how happy will your kids be to pay 40-50% more tax so yoit freebie gen can sit around freeloading some more?

Im 42 and work for myself, times have been tuff since the last federal government and i put $25 a week into my super to keep the tax office at bay[i dont want another audit], ive accepted the fact that i will have to work till i die and thats that, but what happens to all the lazy welfare dependents that have never worked? im sure there will be a continuation hand out for them....

im 27

i dont expect the pension to be around in 43 years time.

I have 30 years to go to the proposed pension age but am not in the least bit surprised. The only thing that surprises me is the number of Boomers complaining! Sorry but have you been living in a bubble? To pay the pension as well as maintain all the other medical, health, infrastructure and police services the govt needs money and you don't get that with more retired people. We have known and discussed for decades the decreasing ratio of workers to welfare recipients. I have basically accepted the fact that when it comes time for me to retire there will only be a pension for the destitute or disabled. Your super will be required to be part set up as a pension to last to at least 85 or 90.
If you look at the number of people working to those eligible for the pension back when it was introduced to today and the projected figures in 15-20 years and you see where the cuts must be made.
As to the I paid 45 years of tax, how happy will your kids be to pay 40-50% more tax so your freebie gen can sit around freeloading some more?
Free education, cheap housing, plentiful jobs, lower crime, easy dole, etc.

Originally Posted by frantic

I have 30 years to go to the proposed pension age but am not in the least bit surprised. The only thing that surprises me is the number of Boomers complaining! Sorry but have you been living in a bubble? To pay the pension as well as maintain all the other medical, health, infrastructure and police services the govt needs money and you don't get that with more retired people. We have known and discussed for decades the decreasing ratio of workers to welfare recipients. I have basically accepted the fact that when it comes time for me to retire there will only be a pension for the destitute or disabled. Your super will be required to be part set up as a pension to last to at least 85 or 90.
If you look at the number of people working to those eligible for the pension back when it was introduced to today and the projected figures in 15-20 years and you see where the cuts must be made.
As to the I paid 45 years of tax, how happy will your kids be to pay 40-50% more tax so yoit freebie gen can sit around freeloading some more?

Agree.
Raising the pension age to 70 would no doubt be an unpopular move by any Govt, so I don't see it happening any time soon.
But, I do say that present Pension levels will eventually prove to be unsustainable, so younger people should start thinking about that....NOW.
Geez, people want to pay less & less tax,...well fair enough, but if benefits are to continue, then maybe taxes will have to go up?
Cheers, Pickles.

The pension is a pittance right now. If you're strategy is to retire and live on the pension then that's an interesting sort of hell.

We need to be responsible for our own welfare, not think we are entitled to being 'kept' in our retirement. Besides, working keeps you mentally healthy.

Why retire when you are at the peak of your development, when you are fully experienced and know more than you've ever known? In my mind (provided you aren't an inflexible anti-social sod who thinks the world owes you) you are a serious asset to your field of expertise. Businesses in Australia will catch on, especially when this older workforce makes itself available as consultants or on a flexible, part-time basis. When your major personal assets are paid off, isnt a part time income going to crap all over the pension?

Another alternative is to seek new skills, training and education, perhaps in your 40s and 50s and have a second career.

Businesses will get tired of the young folk who flit from job to job and they will embrace an older more reliable workforce if its there for them to embrace. Given time of course...Australia still has a bit of developing to do in this regard.

The idea of retiring to sit in a jason recliner and slowly die is very last century. There is a lot more to life and there are more and more opportunities for people who are self motivated.