Scared about lack of pension contributions. Is there anything I can do?

Many do unpaid work, never pay tax or NI - as such have no state pension. I'm 77 and have no state pension. Can happen.

I can remember the change to the married woman's national insurance being discussed at work in the late 1970s.
The older women were advised they wouldn't get the benefit of changing to the full stamp.

Us two younger ones, in our very early 20s, were told we should do so.
I think I just shrugged and went along with what I was told to do. Forty+ years ahead seemed unimaginable at that age ?

Oh, and I have a dressmaking one somewhere. I can't thread a sewing machine, but it must have been bought with hope rather than expectation.

We had a 1960s medical book (with less terrifying cures than leeches ), a DIY book with stepladders on the cover, a consumer rights one that my dad was found of quoting, and a gardening one. There may have been others, but those ones spring to mind.

We had medical books that recommended leeches to let blood, and putting a spoon in someone's mouth if they had a seizure.

Doodledog

They had books giving sound advice on everything. Do they still publish now, or has Google done for them?

We have loads of those lovely Readers' Digest books.
MIL used to buy them! Lots of them ?

Readers' Digest started in 1922 apparently, a few years after Enquire Within.

They must have updated Enquire Within regularly, I can't imagine that questions about how corsets are constructed, why is arsenic beneficial, are gaslights safe in the home etc remained relevant.

The married women's stamp was abolished in 1977. That is 45 years ago, I doubt there are many not yet retired women who pad that for more than a handful of years, if at all.

I certainly didn't and was determined not to. I can remember the discusssions at work every time a woman married as to what she should do. I always wanted financial independence, married or single.

I've just looked it up.
Readers Digest is £22 odd per year for delivery of the magazines.

I've no idea.

I only read them in the doctors, and can't get an appointment these days.

They had books giving sound advice on everything. Do they still publish now, or has Google done for them?

I used to love a good readers digest.

MissAdventure

Do you think every hone had one of those books?
I'm sure ours might have.

Probably published by Readers' Digest

Do you think every hone had one of those books?
I'm sure ours might have.

Callistemon21

MissAdventure

My Dad had that book! I don't know if it was any use ?

But I bet it didn't advise against the Married Women's Stamp!

MissAdventure

My Dad had that book! I don't know if it was any use ?

We're experts on everything ?

Enquire Within Upon Everything
First published in 1856

Delila

Thanks for coming back BlushingSheep, sorry you’re feeling got at & can understand why. Hope you get things sorted.

And if you need more advice, our friendly team are at the ready.

It's true that the admins/algorithms initially thought I might have been someone else who had been banned in the past, however, I spoke in private with them and we sorted things out. I am not this previously banned person

How very odd.
That's worrying, it could happen to any of us, I suppose.

I realised well before the age the OP is, Doodledog but it's never too late to do something about it.

You just have to get on and do it.

Well, perhaps never is a bit of an exaggeration!

Thanks for coming back BlushingSheep, sorry you’re feeling got at & can understand why. Hope you get things sorted.

Callistemon21

^Not everyone does - it's not unusual for people not to pay in - particularly married women^

I think most people are more aware now and there is a wealth of information available on the internet.

Married women were persuaded to opt for the Married Women's Stamp years ago and were assured they would still receive a pension based on their husband's contributions.
Naïve? Perhaps, but it was reputable organisations which gave out this information, together with the paperwork ready for women to sign. I worked for the NHS; they did this.
It was misselling.
Presumably the employers saved by not having to pay a stamp for those employees as well.

Exactly my point! It is not at all unusual for women to sleepwalk into pension poverty - I don't think that makes them stupid or incompetent by any means.

OK, I wasn't going to come back to this thread. As far as I was concerned it was done. I'd had all the advice and information I needed to move forward, so I suggested that the thread no longer needed to be active. That's all.
This constant and persistent sniping about the fact that I might be a troll, or not who I say I am is getting wearing now.
There are so many things going on in my life right now, I really don't need this. I posted, for the first time ever, in Gransnet for advice on something that I was panicking about, and lots of people gave me kind advice. It's true that the admins/algorithms initially thought I might have been someone else who had been banned in the past, however, I spoke in private with them and we sorted things out. I am not this previously banned person and I am new to Gransnet although not new to message boards.
I am feeling bullied and 'got at' and this is not what I expected from a forum of mature over 50-year-old women, but here we are.
I was asking for advice, some of which I knew I needed to do but just because I don't want to, doesn't mean I won't. It's a lot to take in on top of all the other things going on in my life right now, such as grieving for a parent, and so I'll need some time to adjust and get my ducks in a row.

I'm sure that some will say that I 'write too well', to be new, or lacking in self-confidence about the jobs I can do, well there's nothing I can do about that. That's how I type.

Those who believe that I'm fake will always believe that, and there's nothing I can do to change that, but for those of you who believed in me and gave me good advice and support. Thank you.

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