[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by jfman

They paid in, yes, and the Government (broadly) consistently spent more than it took in year on year. There's no side pot to pay for their pensions or social care. It's a fallacy.

The average person retiring at 66, and living to 81 (UK life expectancy), will take £166,000 back out in state pension. Or about 5 times the average salary.

The average earner pays £2,000 a year in national insurance. Or through their working life to "pay in" £90,000-100k even if we pretended that such a side pot did exist.

The whole thing is a ponzi scheme - only without more people to pay in (by having kids, or migration) it's inevitably going to collapse. The only question is which generations that burden falls to. And we haven't even touched social care.

No doubt you are right.

But it was away from the point of addressing Ian's spitefulness towards older people. They should not be slagged off like that.