Has everybody invested their ISA money?.

I know

Makes you feel bloody useless. I didn't even dare hold my DGD unless I was sitting down.

@Galen: Isn't it frustrating, I hope you're ok now

And just how was Frank supposed to know that peaches41?

Same here!i have to have a cleaner and Gardner. Last time I tried to plug the vacuum in I fell over and couldn't get up again. There was blood everywhere from where I had skinned my arm a d I was very shaken. (I also demolished a coffee table on the way down) and I HAD NOT HAD ANY WINE!

Well bully for you. Unfortunately I am disabled.

peaches41

I don't have a gardener, I wash my car and do my own cleaning.
It is a large house and garden.

Frank

Hear hear, agree with this Charleygirl

Frank that was so rude and intrusive. Women, as previously mentioned, were not always in a position to save each month. I think you will find that the vast majority of GNs did not have a charmed life, able to wine, dine, party and save towards a fabulous retirement.

I can remember when mortgages were 15% and it was a struggle to pay the money each month, never mind thinking about saving. We were not all in a position to get a reduced mortgage because we worked in a BS or bank.

I think that you should give some thought to those, for varying reasons, are less fortunate than yourself and do not have the London and state pensions as well as savings.

Granny23 - You have put down my thoughts exactly. Some of us are struggling with our pensions, watching our little bit of savings disappear. My son worked out how much I could spend each week without worrying and I have a certain sum to spend on shopping, car repairs, extras like the plumber, gardener, (can't manage it), entertainment (hah), etc. and believe me there is nothing left to buy ISA's with

In our case we had a good nursery looking after the children so my wife built up a good pension but the fees were high and she obviously took maternity leave.
My parents put her down as the beneficiary to their will if I had not been alive at the time and she was the beneficiary to her own parents estate.
She would have also got half my pension.
She would have had a lot more than the state pension but I don't think she would have got as much as me.

Frank

Lucky you Frank that you were able to work and pay in to a pension for 39 years. And your wife? Did she have the same option? Did she have to stop work to care for you children - or were you rich enough to employ a nanny? If things were to have been reversed and she were now a widow would she be as fortunate as you are now?

Ariadne

I think the 1 woman who worked in the office had the sense to know where the money was.
Just before Christmas we tended to bring our children for some food etc and I can remember her remarking that non of the men had a son and she had 2 boys.
Those 2 poor boys had a party with 17 girls.

Frank

I think it is called tunnel vision.

Can't imagine why women didn't want to work in Frank's office...

Is there a brick wall anywhere?

FlicketyB

I here what you are saying.
My father's ex complained she only had a small pension plus a small widows pension from her husband's employment and I was reminded of this several times by her supporters who kept on saying she should have the house.
As far as I am concerned I worked for my pension for 34 years in London and 5 years for the council in Birmingham and paid AVC'S and the house was willed to me and I had spent a lot of money on it.
Really I think she just wanted to sell the house to get the money.
The fact she may have not had a lot of money was not however my problem.
She did ask Dad if he would pay for them to go on cruises etc but Dad said no.

Frank

Are you listening Frank?

Many women now retired had fractured work histories, many with years spent at home with domestic responsibilities when they could not afford even to keep up voluntary contributions to the state scheme..

I worked for seven years before I had children and paid into pension schemes throughout those times, but I changed my job several times and, at that time, if you did not contribute into a scheme for 5 years when you left your contributions were returned, so I have no pension to show for those years. That rule has gone now but people like me still suffer from when it was in place.

When I came back to work I came back part time, as many women do, and was excluded from the company pension scheme because I was a part timer, again that has changed, but that is of no use to me or people like me who worked part time.

When I did go back to work full time I was fortunate, I worked at a senior level for a big company. I had a good salary and as well as paying into a well funded and managed scheme I was also able to afford to make substantial AVCs, which was fortunate, as I was made redundant in my early 50s and although I then continued to pay voluntary contributions to the state scheme when not working, I never again before reaching retirement age had any kind of work that provided an opportunity to pay into a pension scheme.

My employment history is not untypical of women who are now retired, I am fortunate that when I did return to work I was well paid and could make contributions, but relatively few women in my generation had that advantage.

That is why so many women have very small pensions and some justly feel aggrieved at how little they have to live on.

I don't complain that I don't get much pension. I resisted government encouragement to 'opt out' and pay the lower married woman's rate so get my full state pension. What I do complain about is men who think I could have paid into a private pension earlier than I did. Or that I was able to earn sufficient to make contributions worth while.

Perhaps when they were younger it was reasonable to expect the state pension to be adequate. It is only fairly recently that everyone has been urged to pay into separate schemes.

I know several women who complain that they are getting little more than the state pension and they think it is unfair.
When you ask them if they contributed to any sort of pension scheme you find they may have either not contributed to any scheme or they may have contributed for times like 2 years.
Surely they can tell themselves why they are not getting much pension.

Frank

And I believe statistics show (love that phrase) that women still earn less than men.

Thanks Granny23. I think a lot of older men don't realise the inequalities either!

I took advantage of the firms pensions I was eligible for when I returned to work post child rearing. Cashed the first in for just under £1000 (not transferrable) and bought a car and the second pays out the princely sum of £130 per quarter which I rebelliously squander.

Bumping this up absent in the hope of a response