How much to live on

Kim1965

The stat was63. 5%of dwellings, not sure how many are single occupancy. I think that some claim Ing non means tested benefits get their council tax paid which seems odd to me. 

Albermarle

Floss said:

Albermarle said:

Kim1965 said:

Apparantly only 63.5 % of uk households pay  full council tax. Its certainly my biggest single bill ( and bigger than my combined energy cost).
 

It would be interesting to see who the 36.5% are.
Presumably a mixture of:
People living alone
Students
Empty properties
People getting council tax benefits
Some disabled people get discounts.
Holiday park homes
Holiday lets ( pay business rates ) 

I pay 75% as a single household. My CT will go up by 4.99%, my rent by 6.85% and currently my salary won't go up by anything. 

Average UK pay has gone up by 6% in the last 12 months. 
There can not be that many jobs with a zero salary increase, so maybe time to look around for a better employer!

Floss

Albermarle said:

Floss said:
I pay 75% as a single household. My CT will go up by 4.99%, my rent by 6.85% and currently my salary won't go up by anything. 

Average UK pay has gone up by 6% in the last 12 months. 
There can not be that many jobs with a zero salary increase, so maybe time to look around for a better employer!

It's NHS - the pay review body won't report to government until May. And then goodness knows when it will hit pay packets. So I will probably have at least 6 months of increased bills & no pay rise. Back pay is all very nice but doesn't pay my increased rent from April!

Willow1983

Hi, I have a query regarding state pension. I know this question has been asked before but can’t remember the answer!  My husband is planning on retiring at the end of 2025 at the age of 63 so he will be 4 years from state pension age and we have money to bridge the gap in between, however, my question is if he will need to keep paying national insurance contributions or if he just stops as we don’t want to risk not getting full state pension after working all his life. This is the information on the government website - he has 45 full years contributions - 6 years to contribute before 2029 - you cannot improve your forecast anymore. I am just not sure if he needs to keep contributing till 2029.  Thanks in advance.

KittyS

[Deleted User] said:

PersonaIly, I feel you have more than enough to retire fully. You will have £18000 a year plus substantial savings to get you through to state pension age. At state pension age at current values you will have another £11500(including April 2024 rise) a year to add to the £18000 a year pension. You will probably also have sufficient savings left as a financial back up. These figures will place you very much in the comfortable category compared to many others.

That is really helpful and the other comments - thank you so much.  Redundancy is looming x

blue.peter

Willow1983 said:

Hi, I have a query regarding state pension. I know this question has been asked before but can’t remember the answer!  My husband is planning on retiring at the end of 2025 at the age of 63 so he will be 4 years from state pension age and we have money to bridge the gap in between, however, my question is if he will need to keep paying national insurance contributions or if he just stops as we don’t want to risk not getting full state pension after working all his life. This is the information on the government website - he has 45 full years contributions - 6 years to contribute before 2029 - you cannot improve your forecast anymore. I am just not sure if he needs to keep contributing till 2029.  Thanks in advance.

It sounds as if the answer is "no, he doesn't need to keep contributing". With 45 years contributions paid, I certainly wouldn't expect him to need to. In case it helps, I won't qualify for the maximum without paying further contributions, and my online forecast looks like this:

You and your husband are welcome to compare this with his. It sounds as if they'll look rather different from one another. I hope that this helps you.

(I'm not going to pay any further NI contributions, and am not bothered by the fact that I won't get the maximum state pension. My private pensions plus £184.75/week plus a little indexation will be more than enough for me to live on.)

barnstar2077

Willow1983 said:

Hi, I have a query regarding state pension. I know this question has been asked before but can’t remember the answer!  My husband is planning on retiring at the end of 2025 at the age of 63 so he will be 4 years from state pension age and we have money to bridge the gap in between, however, my question is if he will need to keep paying national insurance contributions or if he just stops as we don’t want to risk not getting full state pension after working all his life. This is the information on the government website - he has 45 full years contributions - 6 years to contribute before 2029 - you cannot improve your forecast anymore. I am just not sure if he needs to keep contributing till 2029.  Thanks in advance.

Check your State Pension forecast - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Use the above link to double check everything is okay.  If it is, and your husband retires, then there is no need for him to pay any more NI.  If your husband continues to work he will pay NI, but it won't matter as regards the state pension.

Albermarle

It sounds like he is O,  but if you have any more specific questions, it would be better to ask on the pensions forum,
Pensions, annuities & retirement planning — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Or maybe first read this thread from there.
New board for state pension top-up / Future Pension Centre / voluntary NICs questions — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Willow1983

Thanks everyone for answering that’s our minds at rest 😊

blue.peter

blue.peter said:

(I'm not going to pay any further NI contributions, and am not bothered by the fact that I won't get the maximum state pension. My private pensions plus £184.75/week plus a little indexation will be more than enough for me to live on.)

I raised a couple of questions about my state pension on the Pensions, annuities & retirement planning board this morning. A couple of kind souls there have persuaded me to rethink my position on paying voluntary NI conts. It seems that they are a lot cheaper than I had realised and very much worthwhile. Apparently, I can increase my state pension by nearly £20/week for a lump sum of under £2,500 (i.e., three years' contributions). This is a terrific effective rate of return. Assuming that the information I've been given is correct, I'll be doing it.

I'm going to look further into it. I'm glad it's not too late.

If you can fill gaps in your NI record, it appears that it's worth your while giving serious thought to it. Don't just dismiss the option as I did!