Dear LPG,

My friend wrote this letter and sent it off to LPG nearly 20 years ago. I found this copy recently and it got me thinking about just how much things have changed since the beginning of the 21^st Century.

She wrote…

Hello LPG,

I picked up a copy of the Gazette in the local Library recently and I noticed that most of the topics and opinions seem to revolve around the belief that the Government cannot afford us elders any more, or at any rate illustrating that 'they' should be doing more for pensioners.   Well, yes that would be nice, but would it not be an idea for people (before they become pensioners) to think about providing more for themselves when the time comes to retire.

For example, I raised my four children alone, mostly, and even had to be on the National Assistance (as was) for a time but when I could work I did and always paid the full National Insurance Stamp which entitles me to my full pension.  I also paid into my employer's Pension Fund and topped up as much as I could with AVC's. 

I was only a shop worker although admittedly with a large supermarket chain, and my two pensions together come to as much as I was earning whilst at work.  Had my employer not had a pension fund I would have paid into a private scheme just to ensure that times would not be too hard after retirement. 

Of course I understand that not everybody has even been able to have a job for various reasons and cannot plan ahead.  For some being alive is a bonus.  But I do think that we should all be encouraged to think ahead.  Do you agree?

Yours sincerely

I am not sure if I absolutely agree with her sentiments but …  Isn’t it ironic that the Government have spent a lot of the 20 years since she wrote down her thoughts, legislating towards  exactly what she was thinking back then.  The one thing that most of us pensioners have learned is that, the pre-pensioners of any era need to do more than the  government of the day stipulate as ‘statutory requirements’ if our old age is to be protected and relatively comfortable, and I have a feeling that that will not change in the near future. So I have to ask … should we be passing this message of thinking ahead on to our children now.

SJ. Forest Hill

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