Excellent reasons to hate the wealthy

[Hermit]

But we need to work right up until we die. Otherwise, SOCIALISTM!!!1

The great irony is that people can only retire if they have pensions, and people can only have pensions if they invest money in the sort of private enterprises that a pure socialist state would abolish. People worked to death in the USSR, here they retire at 55.

Self-funded pension requires you to put aside 20% of your wages if you start doing so when you're 20 years old. Between buying or renting a home, raising children and so on the average wage earner in Australia would struggle to put aside half that amount, and most would not even manage a quarter, if anything at all. Starting with the Keating government employees have been legally required to make those fund contributions on each of their employees' behalf. This was not an extra cost to employers, even though they make out that it were. The superannuation contributions were offset in wages agreements. Currently they are set at 9% of ordinary rates.

As for the government retirement pension, nobody is entitled to it before they turn 65, and only those who are born before 01. 06. 1952 qualify then. People born after that date qualify at 65½, unless they are born after January 1954, in which case they qualify when they are 66. Those born after July 1955 qualify at 66½ and those who are born after 1 Jan 1957 at 67.

Must be great retiring in the UK. Or the USA.

[laklak]

You wouldn't want to retire on only Social Security here. The average payout is around $1400 a month. Max is currently about $2700, but for that you'd need to earn the maximum taxable amount for 35 years. This year that max is 128,000. Not a lot of people make that.

[pErvinalia]

Our state pension is the same amount regardless of what you earnt in your career. The only qualifier on it is wealth (I think) and current earnings. So if you've got private superannuation fund paying out, and or shares or other investments, then you get your state pension squeezed out. My dole is just under $1400 a month and the max pension is something like $2000 a month. Considering that cost of living in most of Australia is considerably higher than most of the US, it's pretty low. But I could live on $2000 a month, what with our free medical. It wouldn't be a very luxurious living, but I like a more simple lifestyle. The only thing that I miss now (and will in the future) is travel. I kind of don't see the point of life if you can't get around and see and discover more places on the planet.

[Scot Dutchy]

You can live on the state old age pension here. You would have a reasonable life but must working people would have a company pension. So together life is fine. The company pension in the past was not portable which meant you received pensions from all your previous employers. People in those days tended to work by one employer but now of course flexibility is the name of the game so the company pension is portable.
Our state pension is purely based on residential time in the country. It counts from when you are 15 up to 65 or 67 for a full pension or any percentage of that. My wife has been here for 14 years so she gets about a third of the pension even though she has not worked here.

[Svartalf]

not if you happen to have precious metals... the rate for precious stones is totally artificial, though.

[Scot Dutchy]

[laklak]

Can you still earn money and collect your pension? Here if you take your pension early, like I did, you cannot earn more than about $17K, after that they reduce your benefit by 50 cents for each dollar you earn. Plus they reduce your benefit amount. But once you reach full retirement age (65 for me) you can earn any amount.

I decided to take my pension early despite the 20% reduction. I worked it out, I'd be 79 before I made up the difference so it was a no brainer. I only make about a grand a month on it, because I worked overseas for so long and didn't contribute.

[JimC]

Can you still earn money and collect your pension? Here if you take your pension early, like I did, you cannot earn more than about $17K, after that they reduce your benefit by 50 cents for each dollar you earn. Plus they reduce your benefit amount. But once you reach full retirement age (65 for me) you can earn any amount.

I decided to take my pension early despite the 20% reduction. I worked it out, I'd be 79 before I made up the difference so it was a no brainer. I only make about a grand a month on it, because I worked overseas for so long and didn't contribute.

Here, it's true of the government pension, but not for your own superannuation. When you retire, you can take it as a lump sum, or, as I did, as a pension from that fund. Totally tax free, and if you do other work, it doesn't count towards your tax. Any other work many retired people do is cash in hand, anyway...

[Strontium Dog]

But we need to work right up until we die. Otherwise, SOCIALISTM!!!1

The great irony is that people can only retire if they have pensions, and people can only have pensions if they invest money in the sort of private enterprises that a pure socialist state would abolish. People worked to death in the USSR, here they retire at 55.

Impressive. Every single bit of that is wrong.

I don't view "magic money out of thin air" as a serious argument, sorry.

No, you prefer to follow a string of bullshit with a complete non sequitur in the form of an anti left trope. You're about as coherent as Trump.

Yes, you're very good at telling people they're wrong, not so good at explaining why.

[Hermit]

But we need to work right up until we die. Otherwise, SOCIALISTM!!!1

The great irony is that people can only retire if they have pensions, and people can only have pensions if they invest money in the sort of private enterprises that a pure socialist state would abolish. People worked to death in the USSR, here they retire at 55.

That may have been the case during pre-Blair Labour governments. Things have changed under the more efficient capitalist mode.

Data published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) reveals the average retirement age has risen to 65.1 for men and 63.6 for women.

From: Retiring later: average Brit now working beyond state pension age

[Brian Peacock]

And the move is to regularized the retirement age for men and women at 67, which means it'll be probably be 70+ in the end. But people are living longer and living into their dotage with better health expectations - unlike those not too far back who were broken by a combination of relentless physical labour in pretty grim conditions, along with poor diets and housing and patchy access to healthcare.

[JimC]

I recently re-tyred my car...

[pErvinalia]

And the move is to regularized the retirement age for men and women at 67, which means it'll be probably be 70+ in the end. But people are living longer and living into their dotage with better health expectations - unlike those not too far back who were broken by a combination of relentless physical labour in pretty grim conditions, along with poor diets and housing and patchy access to healthcare.

A lot of people still labour hard. They are pushing for 70 here. As Bill Shorten (the Labor opposition leader) said: "Only a former investment banker would think everyone should work until they're 70."

[laklak]

No one should work past 35, or when the kids get old enough to work in the match factory. Whichever comes first. Let 'em earn their keep, that's my position.