I think in principle planning for retirement makes sence. I think we need to do both. I think pension or retirement packages need to innovate and find a solution relevant to issues raised above. If it is the same old package as 40 years ago this will not work.

Believing that you will just finish work without a plan is foolish. As hard as things may get, the bottom line is working or young people need to find a way to plan for life after work. If it is such a big issue we must make more noise for both entities and ensure that the issues raised are addressed.

We should stop spending what we do not have as nations and instill discipline and educational information from a young age as highlighted by the article. We cannot sit by and just say pensions are old and hope to make a plan. Then lets challenge the policies and ensure our children and grand hidden are protected. Both ideals are important! To save through meaningful structure and to train children in financial literacy!

Something has to be done and soon, before its too late. Long gone are the days when school leavers took a job, stayed with the same company for life and then received a final salary pension. It is our own responsibilities to plan our own individual and families futures yet no one is focusing on it. If we leave it any longer it will be too late and nothing we do will be able to resolve the problem, then it will be us too blame for passing on a worse legacy than the one we inherited.

The problem being of course that education and reality usually turn out to be two very different and separate things.

I think the author here has ignored a point not missed by today's young people.

It is they, the young, who are being lumbered with the resulting debts and pension promises that have resulted from the unsubstainable life style their parents and grandparents have helped themselves to.

You would think that after a life time selling pensions and seeing that hardly any one has a good word for them, Mr Green and his associates would realise there is something wrong with his product and and do something about it, other than repeating the same old tired mantra.

Pensions were designed to benefit politicians, civil servants and the industry and these people love them and are interested in them. But for the rest of us they are a "lousy" bargain and we try to avoid them. What is surprising about that?

Hear! Hear!

What a good idea! Teenagers are leaving school with not even enough Maths and English skills (if University Dons and business leaders are to be believed) to get into the world of work/University without extensive extra training. Explain to them all about saving for retirement, then explain how they are supposed to do this whilst on Jobseekers Allowance. The "lucky" ones who get into University will come out with massive debts now that tuition fees are going up to about £9000 p.a. which are to be repaid once income rises above a certain level, assuming that they can find a job/career once they have graduated. Also explain that, if you save enough for your own retirement, the State will do its best to take everything away from you if you need to go into care whilst those "unlucky" ones who have not been able to get a job will have everything paid for.
Explain to them that, "Buying a house is the best investment you will ever make", as I was told 40 odd years ago, then explain how they can get the Banks/Building Societies to give them a mortgage if they don't have a huge deposit to put down and a large enough income to make the repayments.
In an ideal world where everyone who wants one can get a job, this idea would make a lot of sense. In today's world where everyone is struggling to make ends meet whilst trying to keep their heads above water, a pension is not on most people's high priority list.