Pensioners and savers.

margaretclare

dunstonh wrote: »

Who would want to retire on benefits on anyway? £9000 a year income (For a couple) isn't going to be a fun retirement. Although if you are trailer trash and want to watch Jeremy Kyle all day then I suppose you may as well plan to fail.

I have read posts on this site and others which suggest that some people DO think it's a good idea to retire on benefits and plan to do so. The argument usually goes 'My mother/father/parents/grandparents worked hard all their lives, saved, and now get nothing (from the state). They have a friend/neighbour/relative who never saved, spent everything that came in, and now, in retirement years, they get help with pension credit, council tax benefit, free this, that and t'other....' you've read these, dunstonh and like me, could recite them as required. The inference therefore is that a good life is to be had in retirement because 'you get all kinds of help' whereas, if you have savings and an income from earned pensions, you get nowt.

My experience has been different and I agree, I wouldn't want, in retirement years, to live on benefits. I have been poor and, while poverty can be coped with when you're young, fit, active and agile and can work - even in menial jobs - it is not something I could contemplate in later life. I have found it extremely useful to have enough money to pay for things that were needed. I've been told 'the council can help' but in my experience they couldn't, wouldn't and didn't.

I was taught to save at a very young age by those who had little to save from, but who still saw the value of saving. It was a different world then and benefits didn't exist, apart from my grandad's old age pension. I still think the principle of saving is a good one and I'd always advise it rather than 'spend all you have in the hope of claiming benefits'. I've never thought that living on savings income was a good idea. I'd far rather see low interest because otherwise, an awful lotta people are not going to be able to afford the mortgages they took on in recent years, with very expensive properties. I recall paying 15% mortgage interest and that was crippling, even on a mortgage of £45K! People have much bigger mortgages now, and where would they live otherwise?

In regard to Jeremy Kyle, he does 'tell it like it is'. He has a very blunt phrase he uses to ask why contraception was not used. I've not forgotten that I'm a graduate in Behavioural Sciences and I watch the people he gets on his show with the interest of someone doing anthropological research. They're almost like a different species. The way they dress, speak, sit, the body language, the world-view - where do these people come from?

Nevertheless, I don't have the patience to watch his show very often and I usually switch off in utter boredom.

Onawingandaprayer

margaretclare wrote: »

In regard to Jeremy Kyle, he does 'tell it like it is'. He has a very blunt phrase he uses to ask why contraception was not used. I've not forgotten that I'm a graduate in Behavioural Sciences and I watch the people he gets on his show with the interest of someone doing anthropological research. They're almost like a different species. The way they dress, speak, sit, the body language, the world-view - where do these people come from?

Nevertheless, I don't have the patience to watch his show very often and I usually switch off in utter boredom.

Agree 100%, though I switch off because of sheer horror at the feral society the UK seems to have become. Hopefully it's as Andy Warhol said, and it's a small minority just getting their 15 mins in the spotlight. Please let it to be so!

margaretclare

Onawingandaprayer wrote: »

Agree 100%, though I switch off because of sheer horror at the feral society the UK seems to have become. Hopefully it's as Andy Warhol said, and it's a small minority just getting their 15 mins in the spotlight. Please let it to be so!

Well, I don't know anyone at all like the people JK gets on his show and like you, I'd fervently hope that this is a small minority. Those who freely admit to drinking and drug-taking while also admitting to not working form a large proportion of his guests. Where do they get this money from? I couldn't afford it, not that I want to.

Gray_colt

Up once again and no hint of an increase from 0.5% The governments remit is clear as day now and it sure as hell doent have anything to do with keeping inflation at 2%. Ive never know a job in which you can 100% of the time get it wrong and yet have to write a letter then carry on in your job getting 150k. Whats the oint of the MPC ...there is no point, may as well just ick random people off the street coz there not worth paying £1.50p a year let alone 150k

Aegis

Gray_colt wrote: »

Up once again and no hint of an increase from 0.5% The governments remit is clear as day now and it sure as hell doent have anything to do with keeping inflation at 2%. Ive never know a job in which you can 100% of the time get it wrong and yet have to write a letter then carry on in your job getting 150k. Whats the oint of the MPC ...there is no point, may as well just ick random people off the street coz there not worth paying £1.50p a year let alone 150k

Wow, another inane rant that completely misses the point.

For anyone genuinely interested, the MPC's mandate is to control inflation in the much longer term than simply whenever we happen to get a bit of slightly good news. When all's said and done, the economy is still in a fragile state following the credit crunch, and there's currently speculation that there may need to be even more quantitative easing to ensure that the economy picks up. Current CPI forecasts have it reducing down to around the 2.5% level in the medium term, which is within the acceptable range of 1% deviation from target.

Increasing interest rates now simply to appease the savers who feel ripped off would be phenomenally stupid. If there's good justification for raising the interest rates to positively affect the whole economy, then they will rise, until then they need to stay low while the recovery solidifies and until we have a clear picture of where inflation is actually heading. We really don't want to end up in a deflationary environment, which is exactly what raising the interest rates too far too quickly could achieve.

All in all, it's really not as simple as the ranters would like to think, especially when you consider that many people's pensions and investments are linked to the stockmarkets in preference to the base rate (which, in the long term, is a much more sensible approach to long-term savings than keeping everything in cash and demanding higher rates at inappropriate times).

Gray_colt

With banks making handsome profits now and houses going through the roof once again and they still keep rates at 0.5. Come jan when vat goes up to 20% what will there excuse be then? The MPC is a complete sham. They have lost all credibility. All savers have been stamped on and bailed out banks, manufacturing. Londons bonuses are in full swing again and savers just get fobbed off at 2.8% AA...pityful. Savers wont get a decent rate now for at least 5 years. This government simply doesnt care.

le_loup

Yea. Whatever.

Angela41

le_loup wrote: »

erm, slightly contradictory there!
You're not Mrs Gray_colt, are you?

No am not Mrs Gray_Colt, sorry yes it is slightly contradictory but did not wish to go into too much detail on my personal position.

Angela41

Ok here's my dilema that perhaps some can advise on. I downsized my housing with one chilld to keep expenditure without income to a minimum and unexpectedily had another child. The children's father is out of the picture the house/money was and is mine. Deeply regretting my decision to downsize for a) space and b) investment percentages I am in a position that if I buy a bigger house so the boys have a decent room each I deplet my capital on purpose so would not be entitled to benefits should I hit a rocky patch. So do I stay as I am, spending my capital or bite the bullet and upsize. Advise and courage needed.

Aegis

Gray_colt wrote: »

With banks making handsome profits now and houses going through the roof once again and they still keep rates at 0.5. Come jan when vat goes up to 20% what will there excuse be then? The MPC is a complete sham. They have lost all credibility. All savers have been stamped on and bailed out banks, manufacturing. Londons bonuses are in full swing again and savers just get fobbed off at 2.8% AA...pityful. Savers wont get a decent rate now for at least 5 years. This government simply doesnt care.

What a shocker, another rant which completely ignores everything that people have told you so far.

Why exactly are you so keep on trolling this issue, as it hardly does your cause any good if you can't actually discuss the facts rationally/