Over 60.... Work or benefits

poundcoin

Hope I don't get too much flak for posting this on here but just wondered if anyone else has had similar experiences they wish to relate .

I just checked my old age pension forecast and find I have paid 47 consecutive years of work .
The last 30 years as self-employed until the recession finished us off 3 months ago but I am 2.5 years away from my Government pension . My wife gets her old age pension in 6 months .

Have a small private pension of £50 per week , not enough but I always thought I would have a business to sell when it came to retirement but recession changed all that .

Checking on the pension credit site I should be entitled to about £150 per week plus (in theory) qualify for receiving council tax rebate . We should be able to manage on that but haven't yet claimed for PC.

However this week I passed the 2nd part of an interview for a part-time shop floor job in M&S and waiting for them to ring to see if I was successful , though they weren't able to advise the exact hours or even the shifts .

Problem is financially I would be better off initially taking the Pension Credit assuming the M&S wage is £6.50ish per hour and about 25 hours per week but when it gets to next March my wifes pension will be deducted from any benefit received.....whereas if I was working that would be a bonus .

I have heard plenty of retired people say they are bored stiff at home and need something to get them out the house and that is my worry .

Is it stupid to even consider the job which could even be working in cold freezer chests , if offered and I won't be any better off .

My wife isn't pleased as she thinks we have deserved our "retirement" but my argument is if any financial emergency occurred I could at least try and earn more money whereas with Pension Credit you are virtually stuck and unable to earn more without being penalised .

Any similar experiences to relate ?

Oldernotwiser

Is there any possibility that the job would be for 30 hours a week (or that you could add something to this to make it so) so that you could claim WTC? Also, have you looked to see whether you might still be on a low enough income to claim Council Tax Credit?

Personally, if you're offered the job, I'd take it. If you don't like it you can always leave, whereas, if you turn it down, you lose the option.

Voyager2002

If you were to work for a couple more years, would that do anything to boost the private pension?

You mentioned your worry of being bored in retirement: any chance that you could start another business? It would need to break even rather than make massive profits, but doing that would probably be more interesting than filling freezers!

poundcoin

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Is there any possibility that the job would be for 30 hours a week .....so that you could claim WTC? Also, have you looked to see whether you might still be on a low enough income to claim Council Tax Credit?

Thanks , thats why this board is so useful as I must admit I haven't looked into WTC .

Difficult to work out the options until I know what the hours/shifts are (if offered) and will they give me an option to think about it when they phone ?

Surprised that the interviewer did not have any idea of the details (apart from that it was in the food section) it seems strange for a company like M&S.
It makes me think that she was just going through the motions with me and it will go to (probably) a younger candidate ?

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Voyager2002 wrote: »

If you were to work for a couple more years, would that do anything to boost the private pension?

You mentioned your worry of being bored in retirement: any chance that you could start another business? It would need to break even rather than make massive profits, but doing that would probably be more interesting than filling freezers!

Am already drawing the private pension so not an option to boost it .

As to being self-employed again think I have had enough of that....too much stress ! I am basically a retailer and it's just too tough out there .
Another stress example is that in the shop that we vacated , the new leaseholder just had the lead stripped off the roof just before he opened !

terryw

I am in the same age group as you, and your dilemma one that several of my friends have faced. One pal wishes that he was doing some work as he ends up as a baby-sitter for his grandkids, another who doesn't work and relies upon Pension Credit and then grumbles that it costs money to fill in his days because he isn't working.

Really it all depends upon the individual - I would not make the decision purely upon financial aspects. The happiest pal is one who works part-time for a large coffee chain just sweeping up and clearing the car-park. He is only marginally better off than on Pension Credit but enjoys his work for the social aspect and the feeling of being useful.

It is worth mentioning that not working gives you a great deal more flexibility in in picking travel deals
on budget airlines and railways etc, if you enjoy this sort of thing.

Whatever you decide - the best of luck, but it is not worthwhile to do a really sh*tty job if you can manage otherwise.

bw

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terryw wrote: »

One pal wishes that he was doing some work as he ends up as a baby-sitter for his grandkids.

It is worth mentioning that not working gives you a great deal more flexibility in in picking travel deals
on budget airlines and railways etc, if you enjoy this sort of thing.

bw

I appreciate the flexibility of not being employed but being previously self-employed we never had many holidays so there isn't much to miss there . I would rather spend any cash on home improvements first , maybe so that we can sell and down-size.

We are the opposite to your pal , in that our grandkids are 300 miles away and we would love to see them more and thats another problem......price of diesel is a major expense when visiting and to see our sons / grandkids its only really feasible to see them at weekends which if in retail employment may not always be possible .

Savvy_Sue

I think that if you really want to go for the job, you need to discuss it fully with your wife, giving reasons ...

Does she work? I'm guessing not, hence her frustration if she thinks she was finally going to get you to herself, and now you're talking of working again.

You've had all the pros and cons set out here, but the 3 rules of a happy marriage are 'Communicate, communicate, communicate' ...

Farway

I took voluntary redundancy about 6 years ago, not a huge payout but enough to get by without worry

Since then I have only met one retired person who is bored & does not know what to do with their time, all the others just wonder how they ever managed to fit work in with all the hobbies, gardening, chatting down the pub, volunteering, walking, photography, genealogy etc etc

One thing I have read is that some wives find hubby at home all day is disruptive on the wife's previous daily routine, and can cause friction

So just give her a list of things to do while you are out

poundcoin

Farway wrote: »

So just give her a list of things to do while you are out

Ha Ha ....thats the wrong way round......I'm the one given a list of jobs !

hobbyman

Several years ago, I registered with Ebay. I had a whale of a time selling stuff that I had accumulated over the years and made very large sums for over a year before I got rid of the bulk of it. If you are all that bored, find something to specialise in on Ebay. Old greetings cards or suchlike seem to do very well, but there are loads of other things that you can pick up at local auctions for next to nothing. I found it great fun. Eventually, I tend to get tired of it and stop for a while. But when I do go on again, it is normally very successful until I get bored again. I often think that if I was leaving school today, I would take up Ebay full-time and I am naive enough to think that (given the time) I could make myself into a millionaire (if I was 15 again!).

I am well over 65 now, but still employ myself fully from about 0900 to 1800 daily doing all manner of things. And I still enjoy Ebay every few weeks or so!

hobbyman