Savings for Retirement

Well, I'm not sure that I will be retiring, Frank, being as I stopped work to look after my children and didn't pay into a pension fund, and when they left home my husband did as well. Divorce soon followed.I think I'm a lot older than you but am still doing a job that [I think] contributes to society, but is not very well paid. I inherited nothing from my parents because they were very poor. I have a very small pension that my husband gave me which, along with the state pension that I will eventually get will just about enable me to survive. I apologise for being some sort of leech/scrounger on society .

Frank I am not retired yet.

Yes glassortwo

You probably have £20,000,000.



Frank

glammanana

I have to admit that I seemed to spend about 20% of my time driving or walking when I worked for the council.
It was not my fault.
A lot of the services are now being put under the same roof to make things more efficient but it can not be done overnight.
I supose some of the car driving will be saved but there may be more walking within the buildings.

Frank

What a bloke here we go again!!!!!

Ana

Most of the people I know have strange ideas if you include the mob who wanted his ex lady friend to have the house I inherited from Mum and Dad.
One of them said I had about £10,000,000 a little while ago.
I wish that was the case.

Frank

All the Council employee's here in our Council are easily recognised by the files they carry under their arm walking from one complex to the other,don't seem to do anything else just walk.??

You seem to know a lot of people with some very strange ideas, Frank!

Ana

I agree.
One of them has even said that the occupational pension money should be shared between all retired employees regardless of the fact they may have not paid in to the scheme.

Frank

My daughters and son's in law are contributing to an occupational pension.
I am not getting my state pension yet but I have paid for it.

Frank

So true Ana has it occurred to your Frank that a lot of younger people now who are are employed and will be responsible for the taxes towards your State Pension only have part-time hours and do not have the funds to be paying into a private pension,we are fortunate to both have State & Private Pensions and funds from our property sale but not everyone is that fortunate,there is no way at all I would begrudge the lady down the Road her pension and any help she needed via benefits from the taxes that I have paid over the years as I have been the lucky one not her through no fault of her own.Bar-humbug comes to mind.

Well, Frank, if they think it's unfair that you are better off than them they must be pretty stupid.

anndomini

They were lucky to get almshouses.

Frank

Barrow

I could only get a low paid job for the last 5 years of my working life.
I did save when I was in a better paid job which paid me an immedite pension when I was made redundant as I was over 50.
I paid nearly half my salary while in that low paid job as I was getting my pension then.
Now people are begrudging council employees their pensions.
I have noticed that pensions paid for through AVC'S etc are included in the councils pension costs.
They are not costs as ex employees paid for them separately.

Frank

Charity collections! Used to be called alms. Next stop, almshouses.

Hi Ana

A couple of them are complaining it is unfair I am better off than them.
If they had listened to me this situation would have probably not arose.

Anyway I am off to pay a deposit for my daughters mothers day meals and I am in no doubt the grandparents will share the bill on mothers day.
We may extend the generosity to giving our granddaughters some money to buy some flowers nearer the time.
I do pay half as I think it is fair as I am now getting some of my wife's pension.

Frank

Why should anyone have to rely on charity collections? I maintain the basic state pension should be enough to give pensioners a reasonable standard of living without having to top up with private pensions.

Some of us were able to make some provision for our retirement but many live from one wage packet to the next because of low pay - why should they then become second or third class citizens just because the only job they could get was poorly paid!

I'm pretty sure those people are not wondering why you're better off than they are now, Frank!

Anyway, if someone did only get £10 a week pension, the state would have to make up the shortfall with benefits of some kind.

absent

Ariadne Just as long as half of the house didn't already belong to him, it didn't employ social workers and, of course, there were no women only activities.

Hi Barrow

Probably charity collections should be set up for people who have not saved for retirement. I do not begrudge people getting some help if they are genuinely disabled from taxation.
I certainly begrudge some people getting help.
We were all on reasonably good salary's where I worked and some people senior to me admitted they were not saving for a pension.
They are now wondering why I am now better off than them in retirement.
I will not be helping them and I don't think I should help them through my taxes either.

Frank

I somehow think Frank would approve of workhouses!

Frank what do you propose for those who "only paid in enough for £10 per week", perhaps re-open workhouses?

There are many who would have not paid very much for various reasons, illness preventing them holding down a regular job, caring for relatives at home (thereby saving the state a great deal of money) or only being able to get low paid work. Where is your compassion Frank?

Have you tried living on £10 a week, Frank? I haven't and am very grateful for it. My occupational pension is not what it would have been if I had worked continuously full time in education, but I followed my ex-OH's career round the country, getting part-time work when I could. At that time, p-t work in further ed was not superannuable and I (perhaps naively) never expected to be divorced. However, I do have some teacher's pension (due to the first few and last fifteen years of my career) and a full state pension plus a small annuity. I still pay tax and do not begrudge that if it helps less fortunate people but I do begrudge its being spent on armaments like the intended Trident replacement.