Oh dear !! Final salary schemes 'face axe'

OK I know it's all my fault taking £4 billion a year out of the pensioners pensions and effectively the stock market all those years ago was in retrospect stupid , but it seemed like a good idea at the time , ( like selling the Gold ) and probably the£200 billion defecit is exactly the same amount given compound interest that is their shortfall , but Hey you win some and lose some , that's life , so take it like men , so I trashed the UK pension industry , OK it was the best in the world , it's not now TOUGH !!!!

      Final salary schemes 'face axe'

The past decade has seen a huge wave of pension closures

A quarter of major private sector firms expect to close their final salary pension schemes to existing members in the next few years, a survey suggests.

Many companies have already closed their schemes to new members, saying they are too expensive to finance.

But barring current contributors will become more common, says the National Association of Pension Funds, which is pressing for more government help.

It found 25 of the 100 firms which replied to its study expected to do so.

'Death knell'

Final salary schemes, which offer guaranteed benefits to members, are facing pressure from plunging stock markets, falling interest rates and growing life expectancy.

The latest estimate of total company pension deficits is nearly £200bn.      

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7846122.stm