With our pensions in disarray, why save for old age?

THE front-page story Middle-class Pension Crisis (Mail) highlighted that many people are not saving for old age. Government policies on pensions and old age are a shambles. The state pension is pathetically poor while services for old people are starved of funding. Why would anyone believe politicians care about the finances of the elderly? When I retired in 1997, my pension plan was well-managed and provided aboveinflation increases. But not any more. Thanks to government interference with the inflation indices and Gordon Brown’s tax raids on pensions funds, annual increases are now derisory and do not keep pace with inflation. I am losing ground financially year on year. Anyone being advised to put their pension money into a place where the Government can get its sticky fingers on it should think again.

R. HAVENHAND, Nantwich, Cheshire. MY WIFE and I saved for our retirement by making sacrifices, such as not having holidays abroad. An independent financial adviser managed our money and, every month, we were told how our investments were doing. Suddenly, the contact stopped. Then came the financial crash and we lost £20,000. After two years, the Financial Ombudsman ruled that the company had not broken any rules. The Financial Conduct Authority admitted rules had been broken, but was not prepared to do anything. Our dreams of a comfortable retirement have been ruined and, at 81, I am still working.

JACK BYARD, Bradford.