So at work they are changing all of our pension schemes to yet another acronym that is pretty much the same deal but slightly worse (I assume, I fall asleep the second I start reading this crap) so I have been thinking about what I want to do.
The more I thought about it, the more I realised that my pension is quite likely to be a waste of money for me. In the last 10 years loads of people have seen their pensions destroyed and seemingly all the money the younger generation is putting in about to be hovered up by the baby boomers. Therefore I am not convinced that there will be anybody to pay me back what I put in if I retire (and it is an 'if' really isn't it?) This whole thing is just another giant ponzi scheme and I just can't for the life of me see how it’s ever going to work out. The other thing is that my projected pension is really pitiful and wouldn't even be enough to live on now, not counting the fact that inflation is going to take a massive chunk out of it (especially when the BoE is printing money).
In light of all that, I decided id try and get my money back, only to find out that there is legislation that says I can't!
It’s my money, in a private scheme and the bloody government says I can't have it!
I understand that if everybody decided to take their money the whole thing would crumble but it’s still my money, and they don't seem to have given banks any such similar restrictive legislation about who they lend money to even in light of the financial collapse we have seen. Is the difference between us individuals and banks that we can't give Alistair Darling a directorship do you think..?
So anyway, now I am in a situation where I have a relatively paltry amount of cash (in pension terms) that I could really do with right now but it's just going to sit there for 30 years and do nothing. Seems to me that the whole thing is heavily reliant on growth in the economy which is obviously unsustainable long term due to the whole 'finite resources' issue. Really I dunno what im ranting about here, think I am just annoyed that they can just decree I can't touch that money and I know that assuming I live to claim a pension I will be no better off for having it because it won't be enough to live on in any case and either I will get state benefit or I won't and il be poor either way and so bottom line is unless I do something myself its a barren retirement ahead.
I know im hitting a whole load of different issues there, just wanted to get it off my chest and see what you all think.


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) into a pension scheme, watching it grow and not seeing any benefit until you retire, or paying up to $41 in income taxes leaving only $59 to pay into an ISA or similar equity plan. The ISA is accessible at at any time but you've rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishrubbished up to 41% on tax at the outset, that money is gone forever and you get no benefit (except for the NHS, 2012 Olympics and Arts Council grants etc). Horses for courses. Most people would do best by investing in a combination of both, I suppose.

