Im almost 64 firm expect me to to run about like an 18 year old.

pelirocco

bendix wrote: »

The OP has a personal computer.

If that's poverty level, I'm a banana.

If you can afford a PC (presumably for recreational use because by his own admission he is a manual labourer) you can afford to save for your retirement.

Because of course not only are computers expensive , they cost a fortune to run ( insert roll eyes smiley ) .

I was born in 1960 and as i was growing up , despite my dad having a skilled job , we didnt own our own house , a car or even have a telephone , and that was pretty normal for everyone i knew . paying into a private pension i would imagine was unheard of for them, and nor was it expected that they would need it , after all thats what the state pension was for , its only been in the last ( relatively ) few years that it has become obvious that the state pension wont be enough , far too late for people coming up to retirement in the next 20 years ........you really need to be paying in either huge sums each month , or for many years . An awful lot of pensioners are going to be left high and dry , through no fault of their own.

And now we are coming into very hard finacial times , not many people will have the extra money to invest for their old age

Bendix , you need to live in the real world , I assume you have private pension plans in place? ..........dont assume you will be iprotected in retirement , you never know whats around the corner

roysterer

BENDIX
Wow I did't realise I was so wealthy by owning a £300 Laptop.
I guess a secondhand one would cost a MIGHTY £50.
What a big TWA* you are.

bendix

Perhaps all of you who are flying off the handle should pull your head in. If you bothered to read the thread, you will have noticed that the OP has mentioned - and I have commented upon - the fact that he has been contributing to a private pension for 25 years already. Rather than doing the 'let me be a popular hand-wringing liberal softie' it might be more useful to the OP to help him sort that out.

He is 63. Given that he has been contributing to a personal pension for 25 years it completely reinforces my comments that he should have had enough foresight to plan for his retirement rather than relying on the state to help him. Good on him for doing that.

The only advice he needs, it seems to me, is to work out how to leverage those funds to tide him over until he gets state pension. I have already made my comments constructively on that. Has anyone else?

You bleeding heart liberals are all the same. You prefer to make populist but completely useless platitudes in a bid to curry favour, rather than address the real issues.

And I stand by my point. If someone has the disposable income to own a PC, they have the disposable income to save for the future. As a philosophical argument that cannot be refuted.

bendix

roysterer wrote: »

BENDIX
Wow I did't realise I was so wealthy by owning a £300 Laptop.
I guess a secondhand one would cost a MIGHTY £50.
What a big TWA* you are.

Oh, what a drama queen.

Where did I say anything about being wealthy?

I said if people can afford to buy a personal computer, then they - ipso facto - have a certain amount of disposable income. If they have disposable income, then they have choices on what to do with that personal income. They can choose to buy consumer goods and non-essential items which enhance their quality of life (a PC is a good example) or they can save for their retirement.

It's called free will, precious.

marklv

Lavant_Lad wrote: »

Hello all, well as in title really, there are no light jobs at my current company, I ache all over, and my hands are beginning to stiffen up.
All this for £880 a month in hand.
I am seriously considering just walking away !!!!
I have been in gain full employment since I was 15, never been unemployed.
I am married, my wife is 63, we have no savings, and we life in a council flat.
I do get some tax credit + my rent and council tax are reduced.
What should I do? I feel worn out, and the job is really getting me down.
Advise is very welcome, thanks for reading.

For God's sake RETIRE!!!!

At that age you should be doing a sit-down job in some office, not anything strenuous.

marklv

isplumm wrote: »

As the OP is almost 64 & the 66 retirment age thing is unlikely to come into force until 2016, I don't really thing this will effect him.

You can retire when you want - you just will not get the UK state pension until 65 (eventually going upto 70) - which as it is only about £100 a week ... might not be worth waiting for.

Mark

£100 a week makes a lot of difference to most people, so stop talking nonsense. Where did you read that the state pension age is going to 70? The current intention is that it will rise to 68 gradually.

bendix

pelirocco wrote: »

I was born in 1960 and as i was growing up , despite my dad having a skilled job , we didnt own our own house , a car or even have a telephone , and that was pretty normal for everyone i knew . paying into a private pension i would imagine was unheard of for them, and nor was it expected that they would need it , after all thats what the state pension was for , its only been in the last ( relatively ) few years that it has become obvious that the state pension wont be enough , far too late for people coming up to retirement in the next 20 years ........you really need to be paying in either huge sums each month , or for many years . An awful lot of pensioners are going to be left high and dry , through no fault of their own.

And now we are coming into very hard finacial times , not many people will have the extra money to invest for their old age

Bendix , you need to live in the real world , I assume you have private pension plans in place? ..........dont assume you will be iprotected in retirement , you never know whats around the corner

This thread isn't about me - it's about the OP - who, I'm delighted to learn has been investing in a personal pension for the past 25 years. Does that qualify as paying in over a long period?

But, if you want to trade personal life experiences, I'm happy to engage.

My experience trumps yours. I was born in 1964. My dad was unskilled and for most of my life growing up he was either unemployed or working in manual labouring jobs. We lived in a council house in rural Norfolk. My parents seperated when I was 8 and - as a result - my father spent months in and out of mental hospitals following a breakdown. I was left to take care of my siblings, being the oldest.

I left home at 15 because my dad recovered, remarried and had more kids. Our council house wasn't big enough, so I just moved away.

Perhaps because of my background, I learnt the value of saving. I understood the precariousness of tomorrow. I assessed my priorities and realised that a secure tomorrow is much more important than buying things I don't need today.

Today I earn a very good six figure salary. But I don't have a car. Funnily enough, I don't have a PC.

I do, though, have adequate personal pension provision, thank you for asking.

harz99

bendix wrote: »

Now hold on. Hold on.

I'm chastised for making the reasonable assumption (based on the fact that he has an email address and is posting on a website and is obviously computer literate despite being in his sixties) that he has a PC, and yet you lot get away with the much bigger assumption that he hasn't been able to save for retirement in his 40-50 years of working life, based on no evidence whatsoever, except for the fact that he is currently on a low salary at the end of his career?

I protest.

Protest you may, but the point I made was perfectly valid and correct!

Now it's my turn to protest.

By associating my previous post with your comments above about "you lot" you are inferring that I have made assumptions which, unlike yourself, I have not done and try to avoid ever doing so, because assumptions invariably come back and bite you at a later time.:D

isplumm

marklv wrote: »

£100 a week makes a lot of difference to most people, so stop talking nonsense. Where did you read that the state pension age is going to 70? The current intention is that it will rise to 68 gradually.

I think you need to calm down - £100 a week is not very much - so people need to take responsibility for their own pension, not rely on the state .... it works out @ £5,200 a year - which is peanuts - very difficult to live on ....

As to the 70 thing - well here is 1 article http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6788425.ece
another one http://www.respublica.org.uk/blog/2010/07/raising-retirement-age-line-life-expectancy-would-be-first-world

But here is an article denying it .... http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/politics/article-23849039-iain-duncan-smith-increasing-retirement-age-is-not-about-saving-money.do

The problem is I tend not to believe governments!!

Mark

bendix

harz99 wrote: »

Protest you may, but the point I made was perfectly valid and correct!

Now it's my turn to protest.

By associating my previous post with your comments above about "you lot" you are inferring that I have made assumptions which, unlike yourself, I have not done and try to avoid ever doing so, because assumptions invariably come back and bite you at a later time.:D

Are you related to the late, great Stanley Unwin, by any chance?