UK elderly fourth poorest in EU ( Is this a result of economic policy?)

Pobby

lemonjelly wrote: »

Great post. Can't fault what you say here.

There is a lot of misinformation around regarding the elderly. These heat or eat campaigns are I would argue quite false. The benefits system in the UK has, over the past 10 years been heavily leveraged to be significantly more beneficial towards the over 60's. Any pensioner who says they don't get any state/council support, in all likelihood has masses and masses of cash stashed away ( pension credit has no upper limit on how much savings you can have, so you have to have A LOT to prevent you getting benefits now).

I thought pension credit was not awarded if you had £16k plus in savings.

kennyboy66_2

Thrugelmir wrote: »

kennyboy66 wrote: »

Its absolutley nothing to do with a gamble on house prices.

Investing in property rather than a more traditional pension scheme has been the vogue for many in recent years. Not just BTL , but one house owners that look one day to downsize.

As a nation we save too little. In any form.

Roughly 40% of pensioner live in rented accomodation.
This is were you find most of the "relative poverty

Thrugelmir

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

Slightly off tangent from the topic, but with the baby boomer generation coming up for retirement, could we see the next cycle of property be affected by a dramatic increase in properties becoming available as the baby boomers start to pass on their properties when their time comes to an end.

Seems to me in the next 20-30 years, there could be a massige surge in available properties.
Of course we do not know what the population will be like by then and it could all be irrelevant.

Don't we already have more people aged over 60 than aged under 16 in this country ?

Demand for property may well level off. Depending on immigration / emmigration to other EEC countries.

IveSeenTheLight

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Don't we already have more people aged over 60 than aged under 16 in this country ?

Demand for property may well level off. Depending on immigration / emmigration to other EEC countries.

I think we do, but what will be the impact when these people pass on and leave property?
Ok not all will own property outright, but if we play the averages game, there could be a surge of available property in about 20-30 years from now.

lemonjelly

Pobby wrote: »

I thought pension credit was not awarded if you had £16k plus in savings.

Nope. Old rules for Income Support was that the over 60's could have savings up to £16k.

When Pension Credit was introduced, they removed this. There is no upper limit - hasn't been since 2004.

Masomnia

I wonder if this is related to how we take care of our elderly. How many people do you know who live with their elderly parents? Virtually none I imagine.

A few decades ago it was commonplace for families to all live together, three generations under one roof. I wonder if in some countries they still live in this way, perhaps we're not comparing like with like?

IveSeenTheLight

Masomnia wrote: »

I wonder if this is related to how we take care of our elderly. How many people do you know who live with their elderly parents? Virtually none I imagine.

A few decades ago it was commonplace for families to all live together, three generations under one roof. I wonder if in some countries they still live in this way, perhaps we're not comparing like with like?

In South East Asia, this is definately the case.
Many countries in South East Asia do not have pension systems and what happens is the parents live with the children who go out and work while the grandparents look after the children.

The grandparents are also in turn looked after health and care wise by their siblings

I know in some occasions the grandparents move houses between their siblings depending on how old the grandchildren are (needing looked after) and space in the house.

[Deleted User]

Time and time again we met people our age who kept on saying `I am spending the lot so I can live off the state` these are the same oap`s who bought their council houses cheaply and re-mortgaged to go on exotic holidays and who are now shouting poverty.

We cannot all be tarred with the same brush as my dh and I are not alone, in living our lives within our means, not having exotic holidays and accruing savings, just so that we could be comfortable, now that we have retired

It would be interesting to know hand on heart, just how the so-called poor pensioners lived while they were younger. The younger people today are really struggling so why should they be expected to dip into their pockets yet again

Pobby

I was asked some time ago by an older customer if I had savings? I said that I did. His solution was to turn it into cash and put it in a safe!

Wouldn`t work for me as my private and ssp would take me right over the limit for pension tax credit. I, however, do like the fact that when I retire I will get a higher tax free allowance.

Tbh, I have said before, the idea of totally not working is not appealing although we do have quite a bit of income at retirement. That`s why I am qualifying in a completely different field to what I do now so I can have a part time business. Cut price computer maintenance anyone?

ManAtHome

lemonjelly wrote: »

Nope. Old rules for Income Support was that the over 60's could have savings up to £16k.

When Pension Credit was introduced, they removed this. There is no upper limit - hasn't been since 2004.

Yes, but don't they assume you're getting an income equivalent to 10% pa on anything over 6 grand?