First written 31 May 2012
What is a pension?
The dictionary says it’s ‘a regular payment made during a person’s retirement from an investment fund to which that person or their employer has contributed during their working life’.
You could say it’s a payment later in life for work done today. Maybe a promise given for work completed. Or simply financial security. All these and more, I’m sure.
What it isn’t is a promise to continue the promise into the future at the same rate as in the past. Times are hard. Companies have cut back on pensions. Government and local authorities have to do the same. So when council workers and doctors go on strike (or threaten to) on the basis of a reduction to pension, it’s the wrong argument to pick. They still have protected pensions to this point in time and the changes in the future are still far more generous than the average private sector pension plan.
My friend in India has a pension plan. It’s called the goodwill of his children to look after him. We really don’t know how lucky we are.
What is a pension?
The dictionary says it’s ‘a regular payment made during a person’s retirement from an investment fund to which that person or their employer has contributed during their working life’.
You could say it’s a payment later in life for work done today. Maybe a promise given for work completed. Or simply financial security. All these and more, I’m sure.
What it isn’t is a promise to continue the promise into the future at the same rate as in the past. Times are hard. Companies have cut back on pensions. Government and local authorities have to do the same. So when council workers and doctors go on strike (or threaten to) on the basis of a reduction to pension, it’s the wrong argument to pick. They still have protected pensions to this point in time and the changes in the future are still far more generous than the average private sector pension plan.
My friend in India has a pension plan. It’s called the goodwill of his children to look after him. We really don’t know how lucky we are.
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