State Pension help! Please

margaretclare

EdInvestor wrote: »

Most women who agreed to pay the small stamp will have known that they would get 60% of the state pension anyway based on their husband's contributions.

Presumably they decided it was more advantageous to take the other 40% in advance as part of their pay.

I don't think that anyone thought in terms of percentages. I also don't think that retirement pension is the first thing on any new bride's mind!

There were a lot of assumptions made at that time, 'it was just what you did'. I didn't think clearly in 1957, that came later.

Margaret

Biggles

margaretclare wrote: »

I don't think that anyone thought in terms of percentages. I also don't think that retirement pension is the first thing on any new bride's mind!

There were a lot of assumptions made at that time, 'it was just what you did'. I didn't think clearly in 1957, that came later.

I don't think it's as simple as 'not thinking clearly'. And I don't think the suggestion that it was never explained properly to married women was generally true either. In the 50s & 60s, when the people involved were just getting married, starting a family, etc etc, it was a different time with different priorities.

Then, we were short of money and a few extra shillings a week came in handy. And it was before there was any thought that the husband's pension might be inadequate (and, obviously, divorce being 'unusual', you knew you would still be happily married to the same person when you reached age 60).

So it made the decision very much what I believe today is called a 'no-brainer'. It was probably the right decision, as the circumstances were at that time, but subsequent events have changed dramatically in ways we could never foresee.

seven-day-weekend

Biggles wrote: »

I don't think it's as simple as 'not thinking clearly'. And I don't think the suggestion that it was never explained properly to married women was generally true either. In the 50s & 60s, when the people involved were just getting married, starting a family, etc etc, it was a different time with different priorities.

Then, we were short of money and a few extra shillings a week came in handy. And it was before there was any thought that the husband's pension might be inadequate (and, obviously, divorce being 'unusual', you knew you would still be happily married to the same person when you reached age 60).

So it made the decision very much what I believe today is called a 'no-brainer'. It was probably the right decision, as the circumstances were at that time, but subsequent events have changed dramatically in ways we could never foresee.

I agree to a certain extent; I too assumed I would not get divorced and live happily ever after (Glad to say we're still together after 36 years).

But....what if the husband had died before building up the pension?

I think the people who are complaining about it now want it both ways. They didn't want to pay at the time, but still want the pension now.

chesky369

Things were certainly different when I married - I was 18 years old and the last thing I thought about was a pension; I also assumed that I would sail into the sunset with my new husband. Additionally, the nice lady in the accounts department said to me 'well, you're married now so you'll go on the married womans' stamp won't you?' I had no idea what she was talking about and simply agreed with her. In consequence, I had a huge gap in my NI contributions which of course I started to make up when my husband and I split up in the late 70s and I managed to claw some back - but not all, since I STILL had no thought about pensions (OK I came very late to all this). I don't blame anybody for this except myself but I would say that it's hardly ever too late to try to do something about it, even if it's taking alternative routes, like ISAs, stakeholders, etc.

seven-day-weekend

Sensible post Chesky!

djohn2002uk

I'm not comfortable with the seemingly uncompassionate responses in some of these posts, chesky and Biggles excepted and Margaret, who I seem to remember a few months back making a very strong point about this in support of the many women caught in this trap.
Lets not forget that although there was a choice, a lot of couples in the late 50s and early 60s hardly had two pennies to rub together and lived from week to week with a couple of kids and no chance to save. So if the good old caring government of the day gave them an option of paying a bit less and being told they will be able to claim on their husbands contributions, they grabbed it with both hands.
We were in that predicament and took the "cheap" option but I'm glad to say that we have been able to get to a more than comfortable position with a little good fortune and a lot of hard work.
That doesn't alter the fact that a lot of other couples and especially women who have found themselves alone are in a very difficult situation. How could anyone with an ounce of compassion begrudge them?

Ken68

I have yet to see a PRIVATE pension setup that allows husband and wife both to draw from one contribution.

seven-day-weekend

djohn, I've said elsewhere that the 50s and 60s were obviously a very different scenario to the early 70s, when I made this choice.

We didn't have much money either but I think it was spelled out to us better and after a year paying the married women's stamp I changed to the full one because I wanted to build a pension up of my own.

I'm talking of people my age (born in 1950) mainly, not those older, when I get a bit scathing....because we baby boomers DID have a real choice. I can't speak for people before that, only for my own generation.

So if people grumble now about not getting a pension, well that was the choice they made and I believe most people of my age made it knowingly.

(Edited to add) Women who 'find themselves alone' get a full pension , whether they are widowed or divorced, from their late- or ex-husband's contributions..

Bogof_Babe

I am very grateful that when I married in 1974 my employer didn't even ask whether I wanted to change to the small stamp, they just left me on the full one. I don't know why - perhaps their policy was not to change women over unless they specifically requested it.

The reason I am grateful is because if they had asked, I know I would have been very tempted, as we too struggled for the first few years, during which my husband did a second job cleaning buses for £1 an hour so we could pay the bills.

Of course whether there is any state pension left to claim when I eventually become old enough to draw it (Dec 2013) remains to be seen.

seven-day-weekend

Just out of interest, how much difference was it financially to pay the 'small' stamp? I really can't remember.