About working once retired.

Candy53

Well we'll have to agree to disagree on that one.

It's like my kids, they are struggling to live. They're all on minimum wage and working all the hours they can just to pay the bills. They can't save.

Candy

lessonlearned

Candy53 wrote: »

So if you're both getting a pension are you claiming housing and council tax benefit and pension credits? You see I don't get it. How come you can earn money but my husband could only earn £10?! It's so ridiculous it would make me laugh if I wasn't so down.

I'm 60 so if the pension age hadn't changed we would have been ok. I can't work, because of illness but I'm not entitled to disability. Even if I could work they would take some of my husband's benefits away. I just don't know what we're going to do. I feel sick with worry:((

Candy.

If you are receiving only the state pension then yes you can work and earn as much as you like, just paying tax as necessary.

However if you are in receipt of guaranteed Pension Credit then anything your husband could earn will be capped. This also would apply to anything you could earn. That is just the way the system works and it is fair and just.

If a retiree was able to work then they wouldnt need Pension Credit.

I am afraid there are a lot of people in your position, especially women who got caught out with the changes to the pension qualifying rules. I know it doesn't help you much.....but know that you are not alone. The same thing happened to me. Too young for the revised pension age, too sick to work but not deemed ill enough to receive sick pay or disability.

Don't forget though that if you are in receipt of council tax relief and housing benefit this is a very generous benefit and your husband would have to work a lot of hours to earn that level of money if he was working a minimum wage job. It probably just wouldn't be worth it, especially if he has health problems.

TBH. With what your husband receives in state pension, pension credit, council tax benefit and housing benefit, your net household income will probably be quite a lot more than mine.

I am now in receipt of my state pension and a small pension from my late husband. I am technically living below the poverty line and am certainly in the bottom ten percent of the population in terms of income. Because of my Share of my Late husbands pension I am not eligible for pension credit or any kind of state help

However......I live like a queen.

How do I do it when I have champagne tastes but only a lemonade budget. :rotfl:

Well I learned long ago that living well on limited means requires commitment, skills, imagination and wit. I haggle, shop around, hunt out the bargains, I treat it as a game rather than a chore and I have fun with it. There are loads of opportunities out there, you just need to seek them out.

Feeling angry and hard done by won't get what you want, you need to change your mind set and take it as a challenge to test your skills and Ingenuity. Use the resources that are open to you. MSE is a fantastic resource and there are many more sites and blogs on the internet where you will get inspiration and ideas.

Oh and by the way......I still save at least 20 per cent of my income each month, even though my net income is likely to be lower than yours. And, unlike you, because I am not in receipt of pension credit, I get no help with council tax, dentist bills etc. I have to fork out for everything myself.

I get absolutely no help from the State and frankly I don't want any. I would rather stand proud and tall and not have them interfering in my business or telling me how to run my life.

I even manage to scrape enough money to buy private medical insurance so I don't have to rely on the NHS. i don't trust any of them.......not the State, not Adult Social Services and not the NHS, not after what my late husband went through.

Btw Don't forget Guaranteed Pension Credit is a "gateway benefit". It opens a lot of doors to all sorts of free stuff, discounts etc. Stuff to which self funders like me have no access.

Saving is vital.......and it's just a habit. Start small, even £10 a month is better than nothing, and once you get into the habit it becomes second nature. Like anything else it gets easier with practice.

margaretclare

Very well said, LL. Couldn't agree more.

About saving waaaay back, I have the fondest memories of watching my mum buying her weekly NI stamp, carefully sticking it on her card and writing the date across it. She knew she could retire at 60 (born 1911) and she was determined that's what she would do.

In those days your employer, or your main employer if you had more than one in the week (she worked for 2 or 3 women, cleaning for them, making their breakfast in bed for them etc) was supposed to do all that for you, but guess what, many didn't bother. Do you remember reading about the old nanny in 'Brideshead Revisited?' You never retired.

lessonlearned

Margaret.......your mum was one very savvy lady. Very clever, far seeing and wise.

My parents were born in the 20s, survived the depression, the war, the post war austerity years. I can remember starting my life living in a bed sit with my parents, they had to share a kitchen and bathroom with 4 other families. My poor mother had even lived under the German Occupation of her country.......now that was real hardship. My grandparents worked the land and the Nazis took everything, their livestock, their crops, the food from their Pantry. They had nothing but a few bits and pieces they had managed to hide but as Belgium fell in 3 days they didn't have a lot of time to prepare.

For all their poverty and hardships they still managed to hide refugees in the cellars and feed them until they could help them escape.

My mum learned some valuable lessons about money management and living on fresh air. Oddly enough she always looked very glamourous though. Lord knows how she did it. She was a beauty and she used her beauty and charm to smuggle food and medicines across the check point on a daily basis, risking her life every day she smuggled goods into her village.

As she used to say......"you lot don't know you're born". :rotfl:

I know poverty is relative but I don't believe that Anyone who can afford a computer and internet access to post on websites can really class themselves themselves as poor, especially when their housing costs (rent and council tax) are being paid for by the State.

As I said before I think it's about getting your mindset right. To survive and thrive in harsh economic times is all about attitude as much as aptitude. Accept the challenge and use your skills and ingenuity. And if you don't have any special skills, then it's never too late to learn a few tricks.

lessonlearned

Candy - just out of idle curiosity I looked up the rates for pension credit.

For a couple it is £243.25 per week, £12,649 pa - £1054.08 per month. Plus winter fuel payment - £300 for a couple??? So nearly £13,000 a year. Plus of course your rent is paid.

And of course there is help with Council Tax Relief.

My income works out at just over £1100 pa, £916.66 per month. including £200 winter fuel payment. And out of that I have to pay full council tax, just under £1000 a year. I am mortgage free so like you no rent or mortgage payments to find.

I make that a difference of net annual income of approx £2749 if my maths are correct, taking into account that council tax relief.

Apart from food and clothing by and large the outgoings for me as a solo would be roughly the same as if I were part of a couple.

Candy..... I think you are worrying unnecessarily. A net income of over £1k a month should be more than enough to cover household costs and food. A budget of around £500 to £600 should cover that quite easily.

You should then have at least £400 to £500 a month left to play with.

Loadsa Money.:rotfl:

Plus of course there are a lot of intangibles and hidden extras. Just one example...... you rent your home so no need to worry about maintenance. I own mine so that is something I also have to think about and budget for.

You should be perfectly ok. Enjoy your retirement.

Farway

Plus of course as husband is retiring then possible further savings on transport and clothing that will no longer be required

lessonlearned

That's very true, Farway.

Going out to work does incur costs. I think people are often pleasantly surprised when they retire to discover how their expenditure actually goes down quite a bit.

Plus of course you have the one thing that money can't buy......time. And all that extra time can be put to good use, making and doing, shopping wisely and just generally better money management.

margaretclare

LL, WFP will not be £300 for Candy and her husband. That's what you get as a couple if you're over 80. They'll get £200, or £100 each.

You're right, though, the basic benefits are as you say. Doesn't her husband get any extra pension, what used to be called SERPS? DH gets this because he was never 'opted-out' into an employer's pension scheme. I can inherit it when he dies, or he can inherit mine if I die first (mine is less because I was opted out for much of my working life). I know DH does pretty well, getting basic state pension plus SERPS which is almost as much again.

I agree about renting your home. As an owner-occupier there is always some damned thing or other. Just this week we're having a new boiler - no hot water! If we were on means-tested benefits we could get help with this. As we're not, we can't. Attendance Allowance used to apply - now it doesn't.

lessonlearned

Ah thanks for that. I stand corrected.

As for Home maintenance......I need some new guttering, the back drain needs attention and I am waiting for the plumber to fit a new kitchen tap. What larks......

Houses are like the Forth Bridge......just when you think you've finished, it's back to the beginning. Old houses and period properties may have a certain charm but they are money pits.:rotfl:

iris

LL - why do you pay FULL COUNCIL TAX - you should be getting 25% discount now you live on your own?