Dreaded Married womens stamp....

lovinituk

margaretclare wrote: »

They preferred having 'money in their hand' now, rather than putting it towards their retirement.

I think that rings true for many now... both men and women!!

atush

If the house is hard to heat, she could be in line for grants towards insulation, as well as energy efficient boiler.

How many bedrooms does the house have? Did they have savings and investments?

It would be wise to downsize if she can to a smaller cheaper to run place. And to replace the car as well if she is still safe to drive.

gadgetmind

margaretclare wrote: »

I used to get laughed at a lot by women I worked with, who thought I was bonkers to pay full stamp and also to pay into the work pension scheme. I know for a fact that those women aren't laughing now.

I'm also looking forwards to sharing a few views with pension naysayers, equities cynics, gold bugs and spendthrifts when I (hopefully!) achieve early retirement. I know it's not big and clever, but I think I'll have deserved it.

mumps

evie451 wrote: »

thanks Atush I am feeling a bit better about reassuring her now, the costs arent going to go down much I dont think, the car is old and is in constant need of repair it seems the house is high for council tax and heating so I feel some difficult choices ahead....

If she lives alone she should get the discount on her council tax. Did her husband have any SERPS/S2P as she will get something from that. We have been sorting this out for my aunt following my uncles death last month and it has worked out as alot more than she expected. She was convinced she wouldn't have enough to live on but looks like she will be fine, I hope it works out the same for your mother in law.

The "trick" with the small stamp (I don't know if this still works but it definitely used to) is to get divorced before you are 60, you can then claim your own pension using husbands contributions, then remarry after you retire and you keep the full pension. I kndw someone who did this and it really did work. Well it was someone at work but I don't see why she would have lied about it. Not sure where you would find out if that is still possible and it might seem a bit extreme for some but she obviously felt it was worth it. Amazing isn't it, I couldn't believe it would work but it did.

I think one of the problems with pensions is there are so many changes that people have no confidence in what they are paying for.

I have just realised that I would have been just as well off if I had paid the small stamps for a few year and could have enjoyed the extra cash. I started work at 15 and can retire at 64 years and 9 months, I will then have 49 years and 3 months contribution years, until today I needed 30 years for my pension, now it looks like 35 years after today's announcements so I could have paid the small stamp for 14 years and 3 months and lost nothing on my pension and enjoyed the extra money at the time. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing?

evie451

xylophone wrote: »

.
Have you looked at the link in 2 above? Has the local council a benefits Adviser?

Is she entitled to HB or CTC? She won't know unless she asks! http://www.ageuk.org.uk/money-matters/claiming-benefits/

I am going to 'encourage' her to apply for everything she can and thank you xylophone for the link. Loads of money a month at £190 after the discount for council tax.....

She has a teachers pension but its not a lot and I have a horrible feeling it will be just enough to stop her qualifying for any help.....

tanith

evie if she has a teachers pension and a possible share of 2/3 of her husbands pension things aren't as bad as she fears.. it surprised me how much less I could manage on once I had to take early retirement with just small occupational pension.

evie451

Tanith its the not knowing thats the problem and not being able to face it, she is the same with health things as well........Had a scare with a lump in her neck and we practically had to hog tie her and take her to the docs......

I dont think that as a couple they were particularly good with money and it frankly frightens me for my own pension provision! She is going to have to get pretty savvy pretty quickly.....unfortunatley they took on a 5k debt to get new windows at the beginning of december and my late FIL had bought a camera from Jessops on HP to the tune of £60+ a month for the next year! she was going to try and take it back to Jessops and see what could be done about it but thats unlikely to happen now! :eek:

margaretclare

I asked my own mother about her pension after all this and she seems to have been one of the lucky ones and did, like you, pay the big stamp......

It may have been luck, it may have been being better-informed.

I made the change to the 'small stamp' just after I married in Feb 1957. The general atmosphere of the time was that it was 'just what you did'. No one explained the pros and cons. Even when I dropped into the government office to make this change I was never advised as to the long-term implications. Nowadays I might be given a leaflet setting it all out, but not then. That marriage didn't last, I walked out after a few weeks and then had occasion to claim unemployment benefit (JSA now). I met my former colleagues at the Ministry of Labour office (now JobCentre) where I'd worked, and they spelled it out for me in words of one syllable. I changed back again pretty damn quick. So for me, it was luck, entirely luck, and knowing people who could explain it all to me.

As for the suggestion about getting divorced before age 60 and then remarrying after age 65, well, divorce does cost money. The point was, I never wanted my long-term income in retirement to come from any bloke's contributions. When I reached age 60 I was offered the choice of claiming SRP against my late husband's contributions or against my own. I chose my own because that was the better deal. When I remarried a few years later I believe I would have had to claim against my new husband's contributions rather than my previous husband's. In fact, because my claim is based on my own contributions it just carried on seamlessly. I also have some SERPS which DH could inherit if I predecease him.

jamesd

evie451 wrote: »

unfortunatley they took on a 5k debt to get new windows at the beginning of december

Who signed the loan agreement?

Debts are individual, not personal. They aren't inherited. His estate would have to settle the debt but if its value is low enough it may not be possible to pay it all.

The Green Deal may help with insulation and heating. Once she's in a better state to deal with it she might consider getting a Green Deal survey. The basic principle of this scheme is that the money is paid via the electricity bill but the insulation and more efficient heating has to be saving at least as much as the extra charge. So it's a way of getting a more comfortable place with little or no up front cost. If she decides that downsizing is a good idea it can also be used to help to improve the new place.

evie451

well my mum seems to have been advised by some people where she worked.......I think she might have had the idea that she didnt really get on with my dad that well! as it turned out they did get divorced and 7yrs later she remarried, then divorced again and has remained single since she was in her early 50's when she had to give up work due to disability.....So thank goodness she didnt have to go through what might have been quite a complicated claim for Pension! From reading apparently there are a certain amount of women who are still on this scheme........