In the UK the
government made retirement (especially for women, minorities and naturalized
citizens) an impossible and unaffordable dream.
The new pension age to receive meager state pension is 66 years old and
its less than a third of an average salary.
To get this “full pension” you need to work for 35 years. The pension is
$1,000 a month.
There is an
expression “smoke and mirrors”. This
means the obscuring or embellishing of the truth of a situation with misleading
or irrelevant information. The Black Lives Matter, climate change, transgender
issues and the rest are there to distract attention from real issues, injustice and
discrimination in everyday life.
A colleague of
mine is about to retire (at the age of 55), after working for the same company for
30 years. As he worked part of his
career abroad (for about 18 years), he has two pensions. The pension for the time abroad is worth $1.7
million and you could take it as tax free lump sum. The other is
worth $1.7 million too but subject to taxes, should he withdraw it as a lump
sum.
According to
the pension fund conditions, the second $1.7 million pension, should he leave it in
the fund, will generate $50K a year taxable, inflation adjusted pension for
life. This is an independent
confirmation of my four percent rule review.
I am working
for the same company. We worked together on two projects in to different
countries, as expatriates. I actually progressed faster than him, by
approximately 6 years. The truly
illuminating detail that my pension will be zero with the same company. The
reason? We have different nationalities,
so when we work on the same project and in the same role the employment
conditions are different. This is hidden
truth that will never be published or discussed, as this is how western system is
all built and functions to this date.
The funny part?
Having zero pension contributions is not considered an employing advantage, as “non-core”
nationalities are perceived as inferior.
Such behavior is revealing in its hypocrisy.
I actually have
to take money out of my paycheck to make my savings for the retirement. The paycheck is lower too for doing the same
job.
I will be very lucky to have half of his pension as taxable and ten
years later (65 years) at the current savings rate.
It is clear that
discrimination and exploitation is integral to the UK and EU economy nowadays,
like the slavery was for more than a century, with proceeds enjoyed at home and
misery parked offshore.
Fun fact: The
richest 1 per cent of humanity is responsible for over 15 percent of all
emissions between 1990 and 2015, while the richest 10 per cent were responsible
for 52 per cent. While the poor will pay for the greenhouses gases emissions transition.