So in other words, expand them. Take away more individual choice from people, tax them further and ruin competitiveness, and put such plans into the hands of unaccountable bureaucrats? :loco: I would say just the opposite. Trim them and keep the bare minimum. I’m supportive of having some public option–basically enough for a retiree to afford basic rent and basic food. In Canada, I think the public plan you pay into (CPP) and the one you’re entitled to (OAS) provide around $1800 per month in retirement to people that have lived and worked in the country.
Any more than that, it’s up to the individual’s savings and the plans his workplace provided. I think most Western countries provide some sort of basic program. Given the fiscal situation so many countries are in, expanding such programs would be very stupid.
It’s also a PR disaster for countries when they go bankrupt, when their credit rating is downgraded, and when countries are forced into austerity measures because of bloated government systems . I think there is a general consensus that retirement ages must be raised and that individual responsibility and financial planning are the most important components of a healthy retirement. Or lots of old people, like they do in Taiwan, should work. But given the entitlement culture that permeates so much of Western society, could you actually see the bums and the geezers that constitute the lower stratums in old age wanting to work hard? 
I sure to hell don’t. 
They didn’t when they were younger, why would they in their twilight?
Which is way painful decisions need to be made now and why expanding any program as you suggest sees like a pretty stupid idea. If programs are to remain solvent, a general consensus needs to be reached that the state can’t do everything for people and that only a small portion of one’s retirement should come from national programs. Minimize them and streamline them to ensure they’ll be there to provide partial incomes for people in retirement for many years to come.
[quote=“GuyinTaiwan”]
Thus, everyone else (via the government) will be looking to take a bite out of him and anyone with two cents to rub together who didn’t piss it up against a wall when younger. [/quote]
It’s a sad state of affairs when people punish wealth creators. Whether it’s Obama’s push to end tax breaks for people making more than $250,000/year or the Liberal Democrats as part of the UK coalition wanting to raise taxes on the rich, it’s the politics of envy. You raise taxes or redistribute too much, businesses will leave to where there is less red tape/government intervention. If anything, we should be celebrating wealth creators. I think it’s the educational systems in the West and the control of them by the unions that brainwashes so many people into thinking wealth creation is bad.
[color=#FF0000]Mod Note - Split the thread to here:[/color] Retirment Planning and Investments as an Expat