Single pensioners

Prudent

jangor wrote: »

I am quite interested in this thread since I have been worrying over recent years how I can manage on my own once I retire, which I am too terrified to even consider as long as I can keep working. When I am eventually forced to leave my employment, my income will drop to approximately £8000 per year. I have been advised I will not be entitled to any extra assistance. I have been over and over the essential bills but the outgoings appear to exceed my probable income. I have been on my own with two children and have always worked full time but my income has been insufficient to cover a personal pension until recently. I took out a small private pension about ten years ago which means that my income will be just above the level where pension credit or any help can be applied for. I am just puzzled how people manage.

I think you may surprise yourself. I have bought up my daughter by myself and am planning for retirement by myself. I do understand your anxieties because I have often thought about this too. I do actually have partner -who is trying to get early retirement just now. He would like us to move in together, but 8 years of being by myself have also shown me the benefits of being able to make all my own choices.

Over the last couple of years I have kept a month by month spending total. It has shown me I live on an average of £849 a month. Out of this £120 is communting to work (I wont have that cost in retirement) and around £200 goes directly on my daughter. Even allowing for bigger heating bills when at home all day and more spending on social petrol and leisure activties I will still need less. I think I could do £8000 a year. I save a fair bit for retirement and just feel I can only do what I can and the rest will work out.

[Deleted User]

My total income including DLA is around £11.000 p.a. I have no mortgage as it was paid off 15 years ago. I manage, as a lot of widows do, through careful budgetting. I save for my holidays, of which I have a week in the spring, and a fortnight during the summer, with my youngest DD and family We split the cost of a house between us for a fortnight as she has five children .
I don't smoke and rarely go out in the evenings, and certainly not to a pub on my own.I enjoy the odd G&T now and again in the summer in the garden when I have friends to stay.I have a roof over my head and food in the cupboard.I am reasonably comfortable and want for little I lead a busy life with my 7 grandchildren and two DDs who live close by.I enjoy cooking stuff from scratch and don't eat 'junk' food
I would swap everything I have now though just to have my husband with me, as a widows life isn't always an easy one .When you are feeling a bit down ,or your joints ache ,or you just would like to share a joke with someone over something daft on t.v. thats when you feel it most
I lost not only my husband nearly seven years ago, but my best friend and literally my 'other half' as we had been together for two thirds of my life.
I'm not moaning though as I just have to make the best of what I have got and am probably luckier than most .I am halfway through a four year Uni History course which I love and that takes up quite a bit of my time I knit,cook ,do crafting and read a lot so my life in fairly full most of the time.I get cross when I can't do the things I used to be able to do owing to osteo-arthritis and I'm in remission from breast cancer so that was another obstacle that I had to face without him, although I know he would have been dreadful when I had my mastectomy in 2007 as he hated me being ill .But no matter how long ago it is you still have times when you just wish there were two of you instead of one.but can't alter life so you just have to make the most of what you have ,as my motto is 'onwards and upwards' I do my best to do just that .I am also lucky that I have a very supportive family close by which a lot of widowed Mum's don't have

downshifter

Sorry to hijack your thread Lilac but just wanted to encourage Jangor to post a SOA on the other thread as already suggested and also to check entitlements on the entitledto website, using the expected figures when your work finishes. Until my recent bit of good fortune in the job hunting world, I was living on under 700 a month, of which 400 was rent. My big expense was petrol, and always will be as I also live out in the sticks. Apparently I could have received council tax and housing benefit but didn't pursue the claim in the end so I don't know how much it would've been.

Living alone is inevitably more expensive than as a couple, but it's also made me incredibly, wonderfully selfish!!! That song is fab.

Errata

There's a thread somewhere about living on £4000 a year (don't think that includes rent or mortgage), but I can't remember which Board it 's posted on.

torbrex

I have been single all my days and will probably be single when I retire at about age 59/60. I have been planning for this retirement for about 10 years and saving in such a way that I have effectively reduced my income to a level that I think it will be (roughly) when I do retire. That way I will be used to a certain level of income and hopefully it will not be too much of a shock to my routine.

Prudent

That is a really good idea Torbrex. I supose I am gradually doing the same.

scotsbob

lilac_lady wrote: »

Is financial life harder for single pensioners?

No, quite the opposite.

When you're single you don't have anyone nagging you for money every week.
You can spend your money on golf and scuba diving. You can buy a new car or TV without having to justify your spending.
In restaurants you only have to pay for two lots of helpings instead of three (or even four if she has a sweet tooth)
Holidays are cheaper and you get a discount on your poll tax.
Can't see how anyone who thinks otherwise does the sums.

margaretclare

scotsbob wrote: »

No, quite the opposite.

When you're single you don't have anyone nagging you for money every week.
You can spend your money on golf and scuba diving. You can buy a new car or TV without having to justify your spending.
In restaurants you only have to pay for two lots of helpings instead of three (or even four if she has a sweet tooth)
Holidays are cheaper and you get a discount on your poll tax.
Can't see how anyone who thinks otherwise does the sums.

Ah, there speaks a born-again cynic - or someone who has suffered.

I know what you mean, Scotsbob, my DH didn't even want us to have a joint account for household bills because of bad experiences he'd had in his last marriage. It has taken years for him to come round to the way he feels now, although he did say recently that he 'felt so safe and secure' when he moved in with me.

I agree with JackieO. Much of our life together now is built up of doing very simple things and enjoying them together. Being able to turn to someone at your side and say 'oh, just look at that' - the goldfinches on the feeders opposite the window, just small enjoyable things. I've been widowed once. It's not something I would wish on my worst enemy, and the money worries are only a small part of it.

pollypenny

Good points from Errata and Prudent

DH would move to one of the outlying villages anytime - the countryside around here is beautiful, but not not only is a car essential, but roads are frequently blocked in winter.

Regarding living on a pension, we were surprised how well we manage.

We have always had to count the pennies; at least now we were not paying a mortgage or keeping students in pizza and booze.

seven-day-weekend

After living on approximately £8.5k for five years, on my husband's Teachers' Pension plus a small amount of other income, we feel positively rich now I have started getting my State Pension of just over £100 a week.

However, if I were single, this would be made up to £130 a week by Pension Credit, plus my Council Tax paid. This is £6750 a year so less than we as a couple have been living on.