Pensions

Pobby

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1227859/Could-survive-State-Pension.html

Not sure if I could cope on just a basic pension. Granted I would get pension credit, provided I had no more than £16,000 in the bank so a stunning £130 a week plus rent ( if applicable ) and ct paid for.

Many companies do not provide pensions and many do not earn enough to pay into one. With the stupid levels of property prices, saving for a pension is even more difficult.

I find it hard to believe that some people have worked very hard all their lives, paid taxes and ni and yet receive so little in their retirement. However others seem to swan it and end up no worse off than all the years that they received state hand outs.

wageslave

Pobby wrote: »

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1227859/Could-survive-State-Pension.html

Not sure if I could cope on just a basic pension. Granted I would get pension credit, provided I had no more than £16,000 in the bank so a stunning £130 a week plus rent ( if applicable ) and ct paid for.

Many companies do not provide pensions and many do not earn enough to pay into one. With the stupid levels of property prices, saving for a pension is even more difficult.

I find it hard to believe that some people have worked very hard all their lives, paid taxes and ni and yet receive so little in their retirement. However others seem to swan it and end up no worse off than all the years that they received state hand outs.

I think I read somewhere (and feel free to correct me if I have got it wrong) that unless you earn 30k a year or more it is pointless paying into a private pension.

treliac

Coping on a basic pension alone - it's an appalling thought, even with the additional pension credit and council tax benefit.

Perhaps that's why the rules change in 2012 .... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7414108.stm

Wonder how much difference it will make?

McKneff

belive me pobby, you would survive on a state pension if you had to. Lots of people do. (because they have to)

To be honest, i dont think its that bad.
£130 a week plus rent paid for plus CT


I am lucky that i have just hit retirement, but have kept my job (gone part time) my state pension is guess - £57 a week plus £25 sp2.
I am mortgage free but there are two of us so we pay full council tax.

I paid mw stamp for a long time but it was never explained to me when i started this that it would affect benefits and/or state pension so when i found out
around 20 years ago i changed to full stamp or i would have got nothing at all in my own right.
(or claimed on my husbands contributions) i eventually did this because pension in my own right was 52 and claiming on his was £57. huh, big money eh.
I have paid taxes since i was 15 but taxes are not for benefits or state pensions. But yes, as you say, its a pig to end up getting a pittance, i am still having to work, in actual fact i dont mind, i have the self respect that I am taking responsibility for my self and not expecting the government to pay me.
I dont see why they should. I am quite capable of doing it. But i do know what you mean.
Regards
Annie

kabayiri

Blimey, that 2012 business is a minefield.

Has this government ever heard of keeping things simple?

I think its all designed to keep an army of advisors in employment.

CLAPTON

so a weekly income of 130 is

-a yearly income of 6,760
plus you would get council tax paid ... say 100 per month = 1200 per annum
plus rent at lets say 600 per month i.e. 7,200

so if you were earning you would need 15,100 take home

which equates to about 19,000 per annum

how much do you earn at the moment?

Pobby

McKneff wrote: »

belive me pobby, you would survive on a state pension if you had to. Lots of people do. (because they have to)

To be honest, i dont think its that bad.
£130 a week plus rent paid for plus CT


I am lucky that i have just hit retirement, but have kept my job (gone part time) my state pension is guess - £57 a week plus £25 sp2.
I am mortgage free but there are two of us so we pay full council tax.

I paid mw stamp for a long time but it was never explained to me when i started this that it would affect benefits and/or state pension so when i found out
around 20 years ago i changed to full stamp or i would have got nothing at all in my own right.
(or claimed on my husbands contributions) i eventually did this because pension in my own right was 52 and claiming on his was £57. huh, big money eh.
I have paid taxes since i was 15 but taxes are not for benefits or state pensions. But yes, as you say, its a pig to end up getting a pittance, i am still having to work, in actual fact i dont mind, i have the self respect that I am taking responsibility for my self and not expecting the government to pay me.
I dont see why they should. I am quite capable of doing it. But i do know what you mean.
Regards
Annie

Yes the " small stamp " I think was another name for it. I think my 70 year old cousin paid that and for a very short time so receives next to nothing in the way of pension but they are wealthy. Sadly my cousin Pete died this time last year and I don`t think his wife worked. He did have a BT pension so I assume she will receive some of that. I understand that she will get her late husbands state pension.

One worry is that for some of us, I am 60, has been the downturn in the stock market also the ever changing levels of annuities on private pensions. Health being OK, Annie, I think my wife intends do the same as you, part time work. I can`t see her sitting around doing owt day after day.

I certainly will want to carry on either the business I have now but that will depend on the people I contract for. I am a bit of a computer buff and I am studying a certification that will enable me to carry on a part time business in that field in retirement.

Tbh, we don`t spend more now than what we will have to live on in retirement regardless of if we chose to work or not we work or not.

Pobby

CLAPTON wrote: »

so a weekly income of 130 is

-a yearly income of 6,760
plus you would get council tax paid ... say 100 per month = 1200 per annum
plus rent at lets say 600 per month i.e. 7,200

so if you were earning you would need 15,100 take home

which equates to about 19,000 per annum

how much do you earn at the moment?

Very good point that. Currently I guess between us we earn about £32k a year before stoppages. Was a lot more but I am semi retired due ti the down turn. Flipping heck, we can save loads from that right now. When I ran the soa calculator on here even with a very healthy budget for entertainment it came to less than $11k a year.

kabayiri

My mother used to run rest homes in the 80s/early 90s.

You used to see these cheques arrive from the pension companies, for pitiful amounts really. The people in the home really believed they were saving towards a significant nest egg.

The problem they need to address is trust. You have to believe that if you contribute X every month that it will provide a predicted return.

Pobby

I know that many pensioners rely on savings to help out. That has been very difficult since the drop in interest rates. I calculated 20 years of with drawing capital and interest over 20 years at 5% and I was comfortable with the result but a different story now.

Graham_Devon

I haven't started a pension yet and will be in my 30's soon.

However, just putting a roof over my head was expensive enough, alongisde all the living costs, and as many know, this isn't even "my own" house as it were, that's the next step...again, which I have to save massively for at todays prices (haven't got parental deposit help and never have had).

Can either save for the house, or save for a pension. And at the moment, I need the house.

Got a child on the way so that will put things back further.

Daunting prospect though with the whole "you may not have a state pension when you reach retirement" thoughts going on at the moment due to the costs of the system. But at the same time, need to live now and still need to pave the way into full ownership.

Daunting prospects all round really. But regard myself lucky to be just 5-8 years older than others. The early twenty year olds, without parental help, as far as I can see from my own experience must be completely and royally screwed.