Pension plans rarely provide even 80% of a former workers average monthly income. in ANY of the countries in which
I have dwelt, or with which I am familiar (even in heavily socialised Scandinavia). My German friends who come closest to matching their average late career work pay, get around 80%, and feel very lucky to do so. And, on top of that, they generally lose a little more each year, to inflation. So why should new pensioners have a LOT of disposable or discretionary income, when their pension income is already only able to support a very frugal lifestyle, and less able to do even that, over each succeeding year. I hear many, many stories about record collectors having to sell off their collections to survive, and very few if any stories about collectors who can now buy more, and more expensive records now that they are receiving their pension money. I don't know much about The British system, but, I can't imagine that it provides significantly higher pension incomes relative to previous worker incomes than in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany Denmark, Sweden, Canada and USA (of which I am familiar).