Should my wife and I spend all our savings? 8 February 2020 at 11:15AM in MoneySaving Dads 49 replies 6.4K views

gunnerpete

Hi, my wife and I are both 77. We have savings of 80K which has taken most of our married life of 57 years. Sadly we have no company pensions only the sate pension to keep us going. Our mortgage we paid off 20 years ago ( instead of quality holidays others chose). We have no debts we do not believe in HP. Sadly due to the way this government and its predecessors have rigged the system, we cannot claim any help with the large bills that eat up most of out state pensions every month (jointly we get £1075 pm ). Our Council tax alone is £220 per month and power equals £75 m average. The only other bills are car costs, water costs, and food. Not counting the money we dish out to help our two daughters and our three grandkids all in their twenties and struggling.

 

My main question is, can you advse me if it is worth us keeping our savings locked up in good ISA’s or should we spend it all on our family and a few holidays and then qualify for benefits??

 

Note, neither me or my wife have ever received a benefit of any kind throughout our lives and have watched others cream the system. It is sickening being honest but we cannot live any other way.

 

Regards and thank you

 

 

Peter 

badmemory

Have you actually checked that you will get any benefits if you do spend all your savings?  Check out how much a couple can earn before they get nothing.   Just over £255 per couple means you get none at present.

Savvy_Sue

I'm not sure this wouldn't be better on the Over 50s board, but here's my view. 

My parents scrimped and saved with 'make do and mend' the order of the day when we were young. In later life they were better off, thanks to a mix of inheritance and (to a lesser extent) pensions, plus the mentality that you don't spend money unless you have to (they never learned to drive, but it took a huge amount of persuasion to get them into a taxi, for example). 

They have now both died, but especially in Mum's later years I was SO glad to know that if she needed residential care, she would be able to CHOOSE where she went, rather than having to put up with whatever the local authority was prepared to pay for. And if that meant their home had to be sold and the proceeds used to pay for that care, and if that meant we each got tuppence ha'penny from them, I'd still have been glad. 

My in-laws are in a similar position: scrimped and saved while their children were young, never had two pennies to rub together, but now comfortable. FIL will need residential care if he outlives MIL, possibly even if he doesn't. And again, I am SO glad to know that they will be able to CHOOSE where FIL goes, rather than having to put up with whatever the local authority is prepared to pay for. And if that means their home has to be sold and the proceeds used to pay for that care, and if that means we each get tuppence ha'penny from them, I'll still be glad. 

BTW, if either of you NEED help with daily life, it could be worth applying for Attendance Allowance. It's not means-tested, it certainly used to have a much lower 'bar' than other disability claims, and once Mum and Dad were getting that it was much easier to persuade them to spend it, eg to have a cleaner, a gardener, occasional taxis etc. 

I'd also add that if you think anyone reliant on benefits is living well, with worry-free choices and no debt, you're out of touch or reading the wrong paper. 

onwards&upwards

You think other people claiming benefits they are entitled to is ‘sickening’ yet in the same post complain that you don’t get any ‘help’ to pay your bills and give money to your relatives because of the large sum of money you have squirrelled away.  

Are you for real?

JIL

My parents are in their early 80s, they have squirrelled their money away and still live very frugally. They dont have to. My mum says she would love a conservatory but feels it's now too late. 

They havent had any benefits apart from their pension but they moan about others getting pension credit. But they also see these people receiving pension credit having to watch their spending.  My parents dont have to, they choose to. I think you are also in that fortunate position. Perhaps count your blessings rather than getting worked up about what others are getting.

HampshireH

Why wouldnt you use the money you have to pay your bills?

What's the point in saving it if it's going to just sit there.

I actively encourage my parents to do as they see fit with their cash. They have their house paid off etc too and arent as old as you but I'm  not waiting to receive it and would be mortified if they posted similar suggesting they didn't have enough coming in monthly but we're dishing out handouts.

Also I'm not sure why you would throw it away to claim benefits which seems to be what your post suggests.

You are fortunate enough to be able to have savings to support you later in life. Thats what they are there for.

hb2

Firstly, I will reiterate that you will not be able to claim 'benefits' if it is deemed that you deliberately gave away/spent your savings in order to do so. Google 'deprivation of assets'. This would also include getting help with care home costs if that became necessary (and the LA can look back many years to decide this).

Secondly, what are you saving for if not to make your life more comfortable now? I understand that living frugally has become a habit but you certainly can't take it with you!

So, in answer to your question, no, I wouldn't advise blowing all your savings in order to  scrimp and save later on. I would advise loosening the purse-strings a little so that you can both enjoy the time you have left.

amandacat

My parents are very similar in terms of age and that they have savings they aren’t touching. The only exception is they don’t give me or my siblings any money but that’s just the way they are, they have always said we should stand on our own two feet and to be honest even if they offered it, we wouldn’t take it. 
I just want my parents to enjoy the money they’ve worked all their life for and go on nice holidays and enjoy their retirement. They don’t even go out for meals or have a couple days away in the UK etc. It frustrates me because at some point they may not be able to enjoy these things due to health or getting older. If they need any sort of care package in the future, their savings will be swallowed up by this and even if this doesn’t happen, after they’re gone their money will pass to us. But I don’t want their money, I want them to make the most of their retirement. 
So my advice to you is the same. Enjoy yourself while you are still able to. 

Keep_pedalling

You certainly should use at least some of that money to enjoy yourselves, but as home owners you need to keep a decent emergency fund, in case of expensive maintenance cost such as a new boiler or roof repairs. Quite why you think the government should help towards those sort of costs goodness knows.

Cash ISAs have been useless for a decade or more so that is probably not the best place to keep your savings, but besides that going by large CT bill you would seem to be living in a house that is bigger than you need and is expensive to run. Have you considered downsizing, which would free up a lot of cash to both enjoy yourselves, help children, and considerable reduce your running costs.

LionelChuttleworth

gunnerpete said:

Hi, my wife and I are both 77. We have savings of 80K which has taken most of our married life of 57 years. Sadly we have no company pensions only the sate pension to keep us going. Our mortgage we paid off 20 years ago ( instead of quality holidays others chose). We have no debts we do not believe in HP. Sadly due to the way this government and its predecessors have rigged the system, we cannot claim any help with the large bills that eat up most of out state pensions every month (jointly we get £1075 pm ). Our Council tax alone is £220 per month and power equals £75 m average. The only other bills are car costs, water costs, and food. Not counting the money we dish out to help our two daughters and our three grandkids all in their twenties and struggling.

 

My main question is, can you advse me if it is worth us keeping our savings locked up in good ISA’s or should we spend it all on our family and a few holidays and then qualify for benefits??

 

Note, neither me or my wife have ever received a benefit of any kind throughout our lives and have watched others cream the system. It is sickening being honest but we cannot live any other way.

 

Regards and thank you

 

 

Peter 

Peter you say, "being honest but we cannot live any other way." I take that to mean frugally ?

If so carry on as you are.  You also talk of holidays, if you want a holiday, take a holiday, its your money after all.

You waited a long time to have a family, so enjoy your grand children, what about Florida for all the family?

Robin9

My brother and I told our parents  to enjoy their holidays, spend on the house and not to leave us anything.