Your Pension …

Possibly Urms. I know that a neighbour of ours with a lifestyle I couldn’t afford without draining the savings (nor do I envy it) has a good final salary pension. Oh, the luxury!

Germanshepherdsmum

I agree Maw. I have a simple lifestyle and don’t want holidays but I am very aware of people who seemingly have very good retirement incomes.

I’ve noticed this too GSM. I do wonder whether some of these wealthy retirees may also have inherited some money along the way. That must make a huge difference. My late mum used to say ‘it takes a generation to earn it then a generation to spend it’.

😁

A good way of putting it Maw. Running costs/repairs/maintenance of a house costs a lot of money. The Forth Bridge comes to mind. Another reason why we downsized. Smaller utility bills, no garden to buy plants for or fences to creosote, no new driveway to lay or roof slates to replace. This frees up money for us which goes towards our flights to Málaga, meals out etc. That said, I think some folk would absolutely hate to be in a small apartment - especially those with hobbies that require space (or even a spare room), pets take up room too with all their needs - beds, cupboard for food etc - and ditto cooks and bakers with their Kenwood Chefs and air fryers.

I suppose choices in life get made along the way. The secret is to be happy with those choices and the life you lead. We cut our cloth to fund the lifestyle we both wanted, so a new car or a house we’re out of the question. But we feel very fortunate because luckily, we have our health, which is priceless as we all know.

I find the fact that you’re no longer earning and able to replace savings hard to come to terms with after a lifetime of work.

Like Maw, I worry that my modest rainy day pot won’t be refilled as my pensions fund my lifestyle quite comfortably but there isn’t a lot over to save. This morning’s visit from the roofer means that there will soon be a noticeable withdrawal from the savings, but I do know I am luckier than most, thanks partly to DH’s prudent management. Left to me there probably wouldn’t have been any savings!

I agree Maw. I have a simple lifestyle and don’t want holidays but I am very aware of people who seemingly have very good retirement incomes.

Oddly, since retiring I have become more aware of differences in income/lifestyle than when I was working.
I suppose we were all too busy at work to necessarily enjoy much more than the annual holiday and I was as happy in a cottage in this country -if not happier- than some villa in the sun.
But now I hear of retired friends going on cruise after cruise, tine shares, (inherited, possibly) second homes etc.
I don’t begrudge them their cruises or exotic trips to Thailand or Vietnam, but am aware that my “rainy day” pot will never be topped up from my pension which is less than a full one, both teachers’ and state, and I only get half of a very modest private pension DH took out despite years of not being able to work through ill health.
I have never thought of myself as being in any group income-wise, but the increase in living costs is all the more worrying as I need to keep my “rainy day” money for possible future house repairs, car, replacement carpets or whatever.
I refuse to feel poor, because I am not, but increasingly aware that I need to be careful.

nanna8

The uk are really bad about paying overseas pensions regardless of how long you have worked there. They freeze it from the moment you start getting it. I think I get around £5 a week from the tightwads. It is an ongoing bone of contention for expats. My husband worked there for 12 years and gets a pathetic amount frozen since 2003. We get nothing from the Australian government at all.

That is not the case for every country. It applies only to countries that are not in the EEA, or with whom the UK doesn’t have a reciprocal social security arrangement (excluding New Zealand and Canada)

www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pensions-annual-increases-if-you-live-abroad/countries-where-we-pay-an-annual-increase-in-the-state-pension

Greyduster

Close to the second tier, and manage fine on that, but have “rainy day” money to fall back on. So far we haven’t had any rainy days🤞🏻! If that’s not tempting fate I don’t know what is!

Rainy days:

For example waiting 4 or 5 years for knee or hip replacements forces many people into paying to go privately using rainy day money or money set aside for longed-for holidays .
If they don't, then their quality of life is impaired.

Wheniwasyourage

Why would anyone need a new kitchen or bathroom every 10/15 years?

My kitchen is positively ancient 😲

There are so many variables eg area, perhaps rent, amount of Council tax, water rates, dentist as mentioned (even NHS dentists cost a lot), transport of various kinds.

How long is a piece of string?

Exactly nanna8 same for my pension from when I worked in France. A timely reminder to get onto i, tthough I doubt whether I will ever see much of it.

crazyH

Shiname - £1500 for extraction and partial denture? Good grief !

I had to have five teeth pulled that was over £71 for each of the teeth!! 🤷‍♀️but I must say the dentist was very very good and dental work is just not cheap anymore… The bridge took quite awhile to dislodge as well,I suppose I was in there for about 1 1/4 hours but at least it’s done now and my bottom teeth I still have and they are in quite good condition apparently…

The uk are really bad about paying overseas pensions regardless of how long you have worked there. They freeze it from the moment you start getting it. I think I get around £5 a week from the tightwads. It is an ongoing bone of contention for expats. My husband worked there for 12 years and gets a pathetic amount frozen since 2003. We get nothing from the Australian government at all.

Shiname - £1500 for extraction and partial denture? Good grief !

From the same article this is the chart for COUPLES.
We are very nearly on the moderate amount.
We run a 17y old small Peugeot and choose to spend more money on birthday presents. Different choices.
No mention is made in the article about (a) paying rent or (b) funding high service fees in our 2 small apartments.
I suppose it’s just a very general guide by the Rowntree Trust.

midgey am same as you

I drew my state and private pensions at 60 (lucky me) but continued to work doing private consultancy and now I run a small business. So I am about level 2. Lucky as my heating system recently sprung a leak and the plumber had to tear the bathroom apart to fix it so I just had the entire suite replaced. That will probably see me out.

My dental bridge failed and consequently I had to have five teeth out and a denture fitted on Tuesday. The point is I had to have this done now while I am still working because it’s cost me £1500 and there’s no way I would be able to afford it when I eventually retire and just have the state pension…(70 next month)

If I depended solely on my state pension, I will be well below the first bracket. Fortunately, due to the great British legal system, I get monthly alimony payments from my ex-husband, and a small private pension, from the time I worked as his Secretary. The divorce settlement also enabled me to downsize and thus have some savings tucked away. I can’t foresee any large expenditures, except sorting out a leak in the shower, and the resulting damp patch on the ceiling.

I can’t remember who said it but, ‘It’s not what you earn, it’s what you don’t spend.’ is very true in today’s climate.

I’m about half way between the first and second tier but as everything is paid for and my small car is not expensive to run, I’m doing OK.🤞

I'm not there yet, but I guess the answer is to get the new future proof bathroom and kitchen done now before the event?

I’m just under the first tier. Thank god I live in a housing association house.

Bathrooms I could see needing updates for example making one accessible. Our kitchen could probably do with a do over in a few years .

As a couple we just about hit the third tier thanks to a good works pension for Himself. We have no savings (much) no big cushion of money but could cut back on expenditures if we had to. As a WASPI woman, my SP is just over £700 p.m. but of course the enhanced rate is because I lost out on a SP for over 6 years at the lower rate. That ‘lost’ me £36k so my larger SP a month is playing catch up. I will be 80y old before that lost money is recouped - if I live that long. Smoke & mirrors come to mind.

Close to the second tier, and manage fine on that, but have “rainy day” money to fall back on. So far we haven’t had any rainy days🤞🏻! If that’s not tempting fate I don’t know what is!