Not for one second did we think that we could do anything to save the earth from man kind, we just didn't want to add any of our offspring to deal with the issues that will come shortly.
Yes they are but I make the distinction simply because most public sector pensions are unfunded defined benefits whereas most private sector pensions are funded from defined contributions. I happen to think that this is a very generous arrangement for the public sector where salaries also now tend to be higher than the private sector, a generalisation I know and I am sure there are exceptions.
People may have a 550K houses, but owning the capital is the important factor, if you die before hand and your life insurance covers the debt (mortgage) I don't see that as too beneficial for that individual only siblings or spouse? I'd bet some of the people in the South driving nice motors and owing expensive houses have considerable "controlled debt, or long term investments if that's a preferential word" That's not rich, that's a slave to the system, the rat race perhaps?
In the case of unfunded public sector pensions, the entitlements constitute assets for the prospective beneficiaries and are liabilities for the public bodies which will have to pay out. Funded private sector pension funds are invested somewhere, and those funds constitute liabilities for the recipients of those investments and are assets for the prospective beneficiaries. The assets and liabilities are equivalent to one another in both cases.
No they're not, the risk and reward distribution is completely different. In the private sector the risk falls upon the prospective pensioner whilst in the public sector the risk falls upon the taxpayer. Hence the saying that public sector pensions are "gold plated", which they are.
I don't follow what you mean. What risk? Having to pay out a pension to the pensioner in due course is not a risk, it's a certainty. So what "risk" could you be thinking of?
It is a certainty if you have a gold plated public sector pension underwritten by the taxpayer. Those on defined contributions pensions are entirely dependent upon the performance of the markets, which is where the risk comes in.
