h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Dear Ancient Brit

Please allow me to add you to the list of my friends?

No problem Pierce.
I've seen you around a bit.
Feel free to visit any time.
I'll return you the compliment.

looking forward to interesting conversations

pierce - I've had a quick lurk around your space. Got you down as a male Dane.
I'm an English tax payer and old age pensioner.

I will be able to take early retirement in less than 18 months. October 1st I will have w*rked in the news business for 40 years and I'm starting to get tired of it

What line of w*rk were you in?

I took early retirement from the iron and steel industry in 1983 at the age of 55 having given 40 years service. (Simple arithmatic shows me up as and old man of 84). Different industry, similar situation to you.
I had access to my company pension. I was fully paid up with national insurance after 40 years contributions but to derive full benefit I could not access until I was 65. That has all come and gone and now 29 years later I live with my wife in relative comfort.

84 makes you 30 years older than me. My eldest is 30 years younger than me.

40 years in iron and steel sounds like a lot of hard w*rk. As a young lad I w*rked as a sailor, bricklayer's assistant and shift w*rker, so I'm not a stranger to hard physical labour.

W*rking days, nights and weekends as a young(er) journalist was not a walk in the park either, only different. But for the last 25 years I've been stuck behind a desk as a sub-editor and after I gave up tobacco and cut down on drink plus got enough experience never to let the job stress me I'd say it beats hard w*rk any day

But the job isn't what it used to be and after several cutbacks we are now fewer people having to w*rk faster and for a lower income, so I'm looking forward to leaving the w*rk force. Maybe I'll start writing again. This time for fun

Old enough to be your dad. I have two sons around the same age as you.
My work in the steel industry was not all physical. I served a five year engineering apprenticeship the final year of which took me to the 'drawing' office. My career was mainly concerned with the design and development of plant and equipment for the company I worked for.
Like you, I eventually lost motivation. The Maggie Thatcher years did little to help matters.
For better or worse my work was classed as a reserved occupation and it kept me out of active military service, it also gave me training/engineering qualifications that lead to the ulimate attainment of professional engineering status.
If you are satisfied with your financial security and are happy that you have done your bit then go for retirement.
I am still a consumer and tax payer within the UK economy.

PS - I write to you in plain English my first and only language.
Engineers (professional or otherwise ) are not famed for their linguistic capabilities.

I am glad neither of us were worn down by hard physical labour and that neither of us had to serve our respective queens and countries in the military

I lost my father to cancer when he was only 53, 4 days after my 20th birthday. In the past it has worried me a bit that I have no experience with an "adult father-son relationship", but it worries me no more, since I get on very well with my sons of 29 and 26 and my daughter of 23

My union is famous for long ago having established a pension plan that has served as a model for many other unions, so financially I should be okay, allthough nowhere near well-off. I'll get by

I was born a Dane, albeit in Germany, and half of my family is German, so I grew up with Danish and German and later my canadian cousin taught me english. My teachers at school weren't very good at it, I have learned far more by being 11 years with H2G2

It's been a long day so I will turn in now. Good night

Enough said about family history except to say that my father also died from cancer at an early age. He was 52 although I was in my thirties.
Way back our nationalised industries had solid based pensions. With privatisation and denationalisation a lot of them were dissolved. Today the biggest unions are those in the public sector who 'support' the pension schemes for their workers. The schemes are better than those of the private sector worker who have to pay for their own scheme and through their taxes pay the wages of those in the public sector.
The unresolved problem here in the UK is that not only does the public sector wage bill come out of taxes and hence the pension contributions, but the tax payer must also pay the actual pensions of those who have retired. The public sector worker is also given the state old age pension, so effectively they get two state pensions paid for out of taxes.
It must also to be said that taxes paid by an old age pensioner contribute in some way towards paying the cost of public sector wages and pensions.

According to politicians and economists all over Europe "we" can no longer afford to let people leave the w*rk force and take retirement, let alone early retirement. There are fewer and fewer young people to service and support the more and more elderly.

Meanwhile more and more elderly people are fired and have a hard time getting new jobs...

That's the situation here in Denmark, anyway. The government has just raised both pension ages. Luckily I am too old already to be affected by it.

At the same time taxes have been lifted in a way that favours the well-to-do far more than the less fortunate. The fact is that surveys show a lot of Danes are willing to pay more taxes - and we already pay the highest in the world.

These are probably no news to you. Just wanted to let you know where I stand in this discussion. I shall step down from my soap box now

This thread puts you at 54 years of age looking to retire in 18 months time. Here in the UK that would put you among the well-to-do.
Like me you are in the middle. A middle man who has taxes to pay and fortunately can pay them but at the same time could put the money he pays out in taxes to good use within his own family.
I have paid my taxes for almost 70 years and I have not always been happy with how the government of the day has spent my money. UK citizens are taxed as individuals whereas in my view taxation needs to give more attention to the family unit.

, I made a stupid error earlier. I am 58, not 54.

I can take early retirement at 60 (but if I wait 2 years I'll get quite a lot more out of it) and will be an old age pensioner at 65.

People 6 years younger than me will now have to wait until they are 62, 64 og 67 respectively.

Most people here only have the regular state pension which you can just barely live on - in particular if you don't own all of your house (no mortgages left) or pay rent.

I'm better off than that since my union forced me to pay more than 10 percent of my income to a pension plan since I started w*rking in 1977 (I think it was).

However, since I have my own pension my state pension will be reduced. Fair enough, it is meant to benefit only the needy, but it feels a bit like being punished for saving up.

We don't mind paying taxes, but we are regularly frustrated by how little the needy get out of it. Privatisation may have helped in some cases, but certainly not in all. Competition between private hospitals for instance *may* cause rationalisations and lower prices, but private companies still make a profit which public hospitals don't have to. This profit could have been put to good use in toher places than in shareholders pockets.

Giving more attention to the family unit sounds like a good idea