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Legal, pensions and money

no income

(255 Posts)
Lilylavender Mon 26-Aug-19 18:54:13

I dont understand why I have no money of my own
My hubby is 70 amd gets state pension plus pension credit which apparently inlcudes a small amount for being married
as i am only 62 have to wait 4 years for my pension if it ever happens as they keep raising the age
We dont actually have enough pension for hubby to give me some for spending money as we have two sons at home who also,pay board which pays for broadband etc
I feel like I am a second class citizen. A woman who brought a family up and has to ask the husband for any pennies. In the case of his bday anniversary christmas etc I cant go and buy anything is secret.
I realize that most women my age with pension age husband maybe in the same boat. I brought up 5 children over 37 years so never had a private pension nor worked full time.
I feel left out. Surely we should be paid something.

Marydoll Tue 27-Aug-19 22:06:58

Lily Lavender, are you aware that if you are unable to work due to your ill health and deemed unfit to work by DWP, you may be entitled to NI credits up to State Pension age? That would help boost your state pension when the time comes.
This does not affect your PIP.
CAB should be able to help you.

suziewoozie Tue 27-Aug-19 22:04:09

Well Lily you have been far far from straight with us - I’m off this thread.

Glammy57 Tue 27-Aug-19 21:49:35

Lilylavender. You are not a second class citizen, so please don’t feel that you are.
Raising five children when you have health problems is not easy. Sometimes, we can only try our best.

Please speak to someone at CAB as I’m sure they can offer advice without criticism!
Wishing you good luck. ??

Lilylavender Tue 27-Aug-19 21:44:36

Well I have opened a can of worms. Thanks for the helpful and not so helpful comments. I think I may have been taken the wrong way.
My situation
I get pip having had dla for 20 years and had it removed on changeover somhad to wait almost a year with only hubbys pension of £173 weekly and my sons paid thenfull rent and council tax. I get £200 monthly from pip and £200 monthly from sons. I could ask for more but one is saving for a house.
My hsuband is the most hard working man I have ever known. He is my second husband and I had two daughter from first marriage and 3 sons from my current marriage. Yes a lot of children but I have 6 gorgeous Grandchildren so do not regret having my children. All the sons work one is self employed and they have never been unemployed on benefits. I worked part time most of the time while children were young then in 2000 when my you gest was 2 i suddenly lost my mum my baby was prem and he was botn 3 weeks before mums death. I then got RA and over the years other conditions surfaced so claimed dla which is now pip but got lower rate. I could not even hold a coin as I was a shop assistant and also worked for racecourses etc. I was fired feom a job as i could not bend and do the work
As for money. We used to get tax credits when the kids were younger as hubbys wages w ere not good. He used to work 12 hour days. We also had market stalls and shops. Did car boots allsorts so no I am not lazy
As for bank accounts i do have my own and we have a joint account. As i explained most of his pension goes on day to day stuff , running a car electeic and gas and water xomes straight out of his account so we are left with only enough for food usually. He does the shopping as I cant lift and carry so it gets paid i to his account. No he does not control me. We are equal partners and i never drove j til he had cancer a few years ago then i learned and passed as i had to take him for radiotherapy daily.
I only asked as a general thing why we do not get some. Sort of money of our own. I get pip for myself but if i did not get that would have nothing. He gives me anybting i want if we have it. So how dare anyone judge.

Doodledog Tue 27-Aug-19 21:44:35

Delila, I don't understand your point. Undeserving of what?

A lot of people have said that the money coming into the OPs house should belong to her as much as to her husband.

What people are also saying is that they have little sympathy with her not understanding why she has no money of her own when she has never worked.

Either she can get some from her husband, or someone has to give it to her. Given that all women of her age have had their pensions delayed, is it not understandable that those who have also brought up children, but have worked and contributed to pensions whilst doing so, should feel a bit taken aback that someone who has contributed nothing is asking to be 'paid something' because she feels 'left out'?

I think that the delay in the State Pension age has been very divisive, and have said more than once on this thread that it was grossly unfair to move the goalposts for women in the way that has happened. We all made choices based on the information we had at the time, and back then, pensions were paid to all women at 60, so IMO they should still be paid then.

However, given that they haven't, and given that everyone has had many years added to their State Pension age, it is perhaps a bit insensitive of someone in the OP's position to ask for 'stopgap money' and refuse to take any sort of job between now and getting her pension.

Hetty58 Tue 27-Aug-19 21:44:15

etheltbags1, I think Carer's allowance would be a better idea.

MissAdventure Tue 27-Aug-19 21:41:19

Childcare still does cancel out the benefit of going to work.

Nothing much has changed in that respect; just many empty promises and changing of benefit names.

etheltbags1 Tue 27-Aug-19 21:33:21

Can anyone suggest a training course for us over 60s to get a job/better job. It must be free and for me the job would need to be light as i cant lift, easy as i cant concentrate and fit in with looking after an 87 year old and many hospital appts. Also i cant walk far.

Hetty58 Tue 27-Aug-19 21:31:17

In reality, things can be complicated and often are.

For example, it's very difficult to organise work and childcare when your husband works shifts. There weren't any benefits such as Child and/or Working Tax Credit to help in the past so paying to have children looked after could easily cancel out any financial benefit from working.

Those of us who did continue our careers had the great advantage of progression and higher earnings too. I know a woman who had two sets of twins and didn't work for fifteen years as her husband didn't want the family income to reduce. She then had training to 'catch up' with the many changes in her work during that time and still went back at a lower level than when she left.

If the OP can't work due to ill health then, logically, she should be entitled to some disability payments - but we all know that often that just isn't the case and people fall through the net. There's no need for smugness from those of us who didn't.

Daisymae Tue 27-Aug-19 21:23:33

The adult children living at home should b contributing at least £100 per week. Try renting a room for less!

suziewoozie Tue 27-Aug-19 21:06:19

And I’ve seen posts suggesting that stay at home mothers are better for family life and that that job is mutually exclusive with also earning a living

Delila Tue 27-Aug-19 21:03:50

I've read this thread pretty thoroughly and haven't seen remarks suggesting people who pay their own way are mugs, but I've seen several implying that a person who has no money of her own is undeserving.

suziewoozie Tue 27-Aug-19 20:58:36

The arrogance of those stay at home mothers towards those of us who worked, paid taxes, contributed to society in a myriad of ways through our jobs and brought up healthy, well balanced children whilst subsidising those women who seem to think they have a right to have as many children as they want over as long a period as they want and then have a pension and criticise us. Flipping cheek

Doodledog Tue 27-Aug-19 20:35:43

I agree that the money coming into the OPs house is hers as well as her husband's. Whether they deal with that by having a joint bank account is up to them; but she shouldn't be having to ask for pennies.

Gonegirl, I don't think that anyone is saying that there is anything wrong with you and your husband choosing your lifestyle - just that there would be nothing wrong with me choosing to have a mansion on Lake Geneva. Brilliant, if you can afford to do it, and I'd be off to Switzerland like a shot, if I could afford it.

But I can't, so I don't, and I don't expect anyone else to fund my lifestyle, now or when my State Pension eventually kicks in.

It's generous of you to feel sorry for those of us who have worked to subsidise yours, though. I think it's that sort of comment that brings out the worst in people. On the whole, the comments to the OP have been constructive, and she has been given a lot of advice that has not been acknowledged. Where people have been more direct, it has usually been in response to remarks that suggest they have been mugs to pay their way.

paperbackbutterfly Tue 27-Aug-19 19:53:51

I'm sorry not to be more sympathetic but I've raised children,looked after a home and still worked. Guess what? I'm not getting a state pension until I'm 66. Basically it's hard luck, get a job. That's what I have to do.

4allweknow Tue 27-Aug-19 19:44:23

Sister worked before marriage, then break for 7 years for children. Worked 30 years full time. On retiral 7 years ago a pittance of a pension.

Diane227 Tue 27-Aug-19 19:43:21

Etheltbags.
Have you ever thought of doing some training so you dont have to do a poorly paid job ?
I expect you have reasons for not doing that , just as this OP had her reasons for staying at home.
Enough said.

sodapop Tue 27-Aug-19 19:42:47

I agree that being at home caring for five children is very hard. This was the choice the poster and her husband made though. Nobody could have forseen how times would change in regard to State Pensions. I was caught in the Married Women's payment trap, nobody told me how much this would reduce my pension. It was a shock but I had the benefit of reduced payments at the time so have to bite the bullet now.

Delila Tue 27-Aug-19 19:21:12

I have been thinking all day about Lily's situation and the responses she has received. I, too, am shocked at the lack of support and human kindness on offer here. None of us know Lily's circumstances, yet many have gone out of their way to make her feel lazy and inadequate, and worse. This should not happen here.

MamaCaz Tue 27-Aug-19 19:16:41

If the OP were to get a job, however part time, it would impact on the Pension Credit that is currently being received in the husband's name. In fact, it would constitute a Change of Circumstances, which under the latest changes would invalidate all eligibility for Pension Credit until the OP reaches state pension age.
The couple would be moved to Universal Credit in the wife's name. She would be treated like any other job seeker of working age, expected to seek full time work and only eligible for minimal benefits in the meantime. Her husband would be relegated to the status of her dependant and, despite his age, would no longer be entitled to any of the benefits that a single man of his age and income would get, such as free dental care.
Their joint income would fall dramatically, probably to a level below that that her husband would enjoy if he was single or they were to divorce.

Food for thought!

paddyann Tue 27-Aug-19 19:02:44

I never understood what women did all day when their children were at school....a house isn't that big a job and sometimes husbands even help around it ...not mine because eh worked longer hours than I did .My children are well adjusted ,hard working ,good hearted and great parents .This "in spite" of me working all their lives .

glammagran Tue 27-Aug-19 18:50:23

I think NI payments are only made to the parent of child up to age 12.

PamelaJ1 Tue 27-Aug-19 18:42:21

The OP has said, I think, that she is unable to work due to health issues.

Hetty58 Tue 27-Aug-19 18:40:15

Another thought, if you are of working age and looking for a job, maybe you'd be entitled to some benefit (what used to be job seeker's allowance, perhaps) so a visit to CAB to check might be worthwhile.

Hetty58 Tue 27-Aug-19 18:35:10

I agree that the sons should pay their fair share. Make a list of all the expenditure and bills (even small things) then make sure that they pay half between them.

So many parents provide almost free board and lodging. If they object, show them rental rates for rooms in your area - they soon change their tunes!