The reality of the Pension Debt (To encourage discussion)

margaretclare

Thanks for the correction, JamesD.

We're pensioners and we're not in poverty according to the definition you give. I know people who are better-off than we are, but I also see people around who seem to be obviously a lot worse off.

Margaret

seven-day-weekend

EdInvestor wrote: »

After you've been retired a few years you'll probably find you get closer to the average as you are both on RPI- linked pensions. The index in dragged down by those on level annuities, those on a lower level of index linking and those with pensions which predate the index- linking rules, plus of course the large number of elderly widows with virtually no pension at all (as they die the average will obviously rise)..

It's not uncommon for women to have below average pensions of course, and IIRC your husband was forced to retire early with a pension reduction on health grounds? Perhaps his pension would be closer to the average if he had been able to work until normal retirement age,

These days of course it's also not uncommon for people to obtain retirement income from other sources as well as pensions (eg ISAs, property rental income, equity release).So a low pension income doesn't necessarily mean a person is particularly poor.

Indeed it can be quite the opposite, as well off families will typically feature a giant company pension for the husband and virtually nothing for a wife who has never had to work - though of course she may have plenty of other savings and investments.

Edinvestor you are quite correct and I wasn't grumbling, just pointing out that the 'average' is a bit of a blunt axe to use (as explained by james d).

Actually, my husband went into teaching late and finished early, and I only paid into the LGPS for ten years. We can't have it all ways!