General Politics Thread

[Guest]

4 hours ago, MixuFixit said:

Daft thing is it's not hard now to invest a small amount in low cost passive funds and this'll help massively over 40 years. Not to suggest for one second that young people's precarious situation is of their own making but in the absence of independence or the mass death of all tories, even putting 20 quid a month away into investments on top of whatever occupational pension you've got is worthwhile.

I don't disagree with you, however some of the money purchase schemes currently kicking around are worse than useless with many of them actually losing money p/a and let's face it, there's not many decent company pensions still on the go.

It's some difference when you see how your final salary or defined benefits policy performed and then compare it with a defined contributions debacle.

Not nice............

[EH75]

48 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

It's some difference when you see how your final salary or defined benefits policy performed and then compare it with a defined contributions debacle

It's absolutely mental the deal some old boys are on. My line manager was telling me about his pension. The company contribute something like £2.5k to his pension every month. Then whatever he is putting in on top of that. His pot will be well over a million quid by the time he retires. Obviously us youngsters get a miniscule amount in comparison. 

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, EH75 said:

It's absolutely mental the deal some old boys are on. My line manager was telling me about his pension. The company contribute something like £2.5k to his pension every month. Then whatever he is putting in on top of that. His pot will be well over a million quid by the time he retires. Obviously us youngsters get a miniscule amount in comparison. 

Nothing like the above, but when I compare my work pensions, my DB scheme basically worked out at the business putting in 30% along with my own 4% and it was also a guaranteed no risk payout. However the scheme was closed and our replacement DC scheme has a maximum of 7.5% employee contributions being matched by the business, however this is not risk free and basically you can easily end up with less than you're putting in.

The party line that everyone sells you is that these are just "unaffordable" nowadays, however it doesn't appear to be a problem to continue to pay the company executives through these schemes, in tandem with their multi million pound salaries and bonuses irrespective of performance and of course the company can also afford to pay large dividends to the shareholders along with share buybacks etc.

We're really just the daft barstewards who accept it all and as such get royally shafted, meanwhile the rest of the developed worlds workforces just laugh at us for having no backbone or solidarity and accepting all the crap that our employers hit us with !!!

[EH75]

37 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

Nothing like the above, but when I compare my work pensions, my DB scheme basically worked out at the business putting in 30% along with my own 4% and it was also a guaranteed no risk payout. However the scheme was closed and our replacement DC scheme has a maximum of 7.5% employee contributions being matched by the business, however this is not risk free and basically you can easily end up with less than you're putting in. 

I reckon it's probably pretty similar actually. I don't know exactly what the manager is on but the 2.5k probably works out somewhere around 30%. We get it matched up to 6%. 

[Bairnardo]

Nothing like the above, but when I compare my work pensions, my DB scheme basically worked out at the business putting in 30% along with my own 4% and it was also a guaranteed no risk payout. However the scheme was closed and our replacement DC scheme has a maximum of 7.5% employee contributions being matched by the business, however this is not risk free and basically you can easily end up with less than you're putting in.
The party line that everyone sells you is that these are just "unaffordable" nowadays, however it doesn't appear to be a problem to continue to pay the company executives through these schemes, in tandem with their multi million pound salaries and bonuses irrespective of performance and of course the company can also afford to pay large dividends to the shareholders along with share buybacks etc.
We're really just the daft barstewards who accept it all and as such get royally shafted, meanwhile the rest of the developed worlds workforces just laugh at us for having no backbone or solidarity and accepting all the crap that our employers hit us with !!!

We dont just passively accept it though. That would be an improvement. What we have is working people all over the UK spouting anti trade union rhetoric that they read in the Sun.

My current line manager is a perfect example having benefitted financially recently exclusively because of the work of the union, and still slates them whilst he plans how to spend the money. A worstcunt of the highest order. I was truly hoping airport strikes fucked his family family holiday as I would have laughed right in his face.

[Granny Danger]

It’s not surprising that companies have ditched defined benefit schemes, it’s more surprising that it took them so long to do so.

 

[Granny Danger]

20 minutes ago, MixuFixit said:

Yeah I have money going into one of those and not that convinced it's great value, as the money is going into all active funds and I really think over the long term for the most part, passive funds are the way to go as the cumulative effect of fees of e.g. an active fund at 1% instead of a passive one at 0.1% is ridiculous. I was more meaning to go down the route of independently investing into your own choices. Of course you'll not get the money tax free if it's not a salary sacrifice thing but still worth it in my view.

Some/many active funds outperform passive funds by significantly more than the management charge.  Also Dow based passive funds have been a far better bet than FTSE ones for some time.

 

[Thistle_do_nicely]

afaik Now:Pensions are absolutely useless - last statement I had from them had something like a -1% growth rate for my meagre fund to date, not including their monthly admin fee.

Thankfully switched from them to the actual company pension once I got my permanent contract that's not quite so mismanaged (at least I think so...)

edit: hoooo boy. yeah, sounds about right:

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/nowpensions.co.uk

Edited August 19, 2019 by Thistle_do_nicely

[mizfit]

I think my pension works out at £250,000 when I retire. The company puts in the basic amount and I put in 5% of my salary on top and they match it.

I have a private one with £3000 in it from my old job, it’s expected to grow slowly but it won’t give me much when I get around to retirement.

Apart from that, I’ve nothing. No mortgage as of yet. I’ll be fucked when I’m old, my family has a history of heart and cancer problems, am I meant to sit at my desk during chemotherapy if I end up with cancer?

[Suspect Device]

17 hours ago, Thistle_do_nicely said:

afaik Now:Pensions are absolutely useless - last statement I had from them had something like a -1% growth rate for my meagre fund to date, not including their monthly admin fee.

Thankfully switched from them to the actual company pension once I got my permanent contract that's not quite so mismanaged (at least I think so...)

edit: hoooo boy. yeah, sounds about right:

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/nowpensions.co.uk

Over what timescale? If it's just a year, then that's understandable because it's not been a good year but if it's been over the last 5 years, then I'd change your provider if you can. 

Since I moved my pension from Aegon to a SIPP 5 years ago, I've averaged 17.81% return per year. 

[NotThePars]

*Shakes DWP magic 8 ball*

Fit to work.

“Why are all the decisions being made by Harvey Dent?”

[Granny Danger]

1 hour ago, Suspect Device said:

Over what timescale? If it's just a year, then that's understandable because it's not been a good year but if it's been over the last 5 years, then I'd change your provider if you can. 

Since I moved my pension from Aegon to a SIPP 5 years ago, I've averaged 17.81% return per year. 

Do you manage your own SIPP?  If so you should become a professional investor with returns like that.

[Suspect Device]

3 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

Do you manage your own SIPP?  If so you should become a professional investor with returns like that.

Yes but the majority of my portfolio are investment trusts so I think I was just lucky picking the right ones with good managers. Not Neil Woodford!!

IMO politicians have made it easy to make money on the stock market for the top end by fiscal stimulus and cheap credit for a long time while simultaneously screwing folk at the other end with austerity. I'm sure it's always been the way but it just seems more pronounced.

As for pensions, I'd advise folk to get them as early as they can and put as much as they can afford into them because the state pension will not be around for long. I was told that 30 odd years ago when I first started pension and it's even more true today.

[BawWatchin]

[BawWatchin]

7 hours ago, mizfit said:

I think my pension works out at £250,000 when I retire. The company puts in the basic amount and I put in 5% of my salary on top and they match it.

I have a private one with £3000 in it from my old job, it’s expected to grow slowly but it won’t give me much when I get around to retirement.

Apart from that, I’ve nothing. No mortgage as of yet. I’ll be fucked when I’m old, my family has a history of heart and cancer problems, am I meant to sit at my desk during chemotherapy if I end up with cancer?

When will you be allowed to retire though?

[Suspect Device]

You can retire at 55.

For now. That's already been upped from 50. They might change that at any time. They've already changed the women's retirement age with very little warning.

Pretty sure they'll mess up my planning by taking away the 25% tax free allowance before I reach 55 as well. Only 3.5 years to go.

[Granny Danger]

1 hour ago, Suspect Device said:

Yes but the majority of my portfolio are investment trusts so I think I was just lucky picking the right ones with good managers. Not Neil Woodford!!

IMO politicians have made it easy to make money on the stock market for the top end by fiscal stimulus and cheap credit for a long time while simultaneously screwing folk at the other end with austerity. I'm sure it's always been the way but it just seems more pronounced.

As for pensions, I'd advise folk to get them as early as they can and put as much as they can afford into them because the state pension will not be around for long. I was told that 30 odd years ago when I first started pension and it's even more true today.

Still an incredible return.  I’m averaging about 9% per annum (about 7% real return factoring in inflation) over four years, though I made some poor choices in year one.

A long-term real return of anything over 4% is pretty good for someone planning their retirement IMO.

 

[Suspect Device]

16 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

Still an incredible return.  I’m averaging about 9% per annum (about 7% real return factoring in inflation) over four years, though I made some poor choices in year one.

A long-term real return of anything over 4% is pretty good for someone planning their retirement IMO.

 

Edinburgh Worldwide IT 155%

Monks IT 145%

Unilever 110% (Inc dividends)

Diageo 106% (Inc dividends)

Jupiter European IT 74%

I just hope to beat the FTSE over the long term and it is generally about 9% on average. My worry now is a crash before my retirement date or the government changing something to screw me over.

 

 

[Guest]

There are a few stories around today about two lobby groups - the Investment Association and the Association for Financial Markets in Europe - planning to to consult members on cutting trading hours in London.

One idea might be to reduce the trading day from 8.5 to 6.5 hours. Current trading hours are from 08:00 to 16:30 but in practice this requires starting an hour later and finishing an hour later.

The idea was first reported by Financial News which quotes April Day, head of equities at Afme, saying: “There are lots of industries trying to make the working day more flexible. Why shouldn’t we be talking about it here in financial services and particularly in trading?”

“As someone who worked in equity sales, when I had my son, I found it very difficult to return afterwards,” she said. Ms Day was a former equity sales director at Dresdner Kleinwort and Panmure Gordon".

UNBELIEVABLE, their sense of entitlement is truly staggering, back in the real world people are having to work 12 hour shifts in factories on the minimum wage just to make ends meet.
We then have those on zero hours who travel daily to their place of work only to be told "they aren't needed today" and then they have to return home with no pay and nobody subsidising their transport costs or their wasted day.
Maybe these sort of things are the reason why many voted Brexit, irrespective of how misguided that may turn out to be..............

[BawWatchin]