Debt in retirement

I do think the rise in divorce rates play a significant part in money problems as posters have shown.

I often feel judged for my situation. Like I have deliberately put myself into this situation or I haven’t worked hard enough. When infact the opposite is true. I hate having to rely on credit cards and short of some minor miracle can’t see a way out either.

Like Charleygirl I've never been in debt or owned a credit card in my life; apart from a mortgage, paid up long ago. My state pension age has been deferred by 5 and a half years and so I still have another year and a half to work before I get it assuming they don't defer it again. I still work part time and I'm fortunate that I'm well paid, but I have no private pension to look forward to and so I save as much as I can every month. My health has taken a bit of a knock this past few months and I'm no longer certain that I'll be able to work to state retirement age. I'm hoping that my savings will support me and eke out my state pension when I do eventually get it. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to save.

Sorry for the rant. As I’m not officially retired, nor is OH, my comments don’t count. Apologies.

I had a very short first marriage and a very long time as a single parent working basic income jobs and not making ends meet so no pension. Then the government decided I could wait another seven years for what little pension They would give me. I hit my 50s when the last financial collapse happened and found myself out of work. I had just got married for a second time and it seems that all my contributions meant nothing to the government - I had a husband and I was his responsibility.

The poor chap had lost much of his own pension pot and property in divorce and was starting again when we met. Weve struggled and are managing but the future isn’t assured nor do we have much spare for holidays and all the wonderful things that the youngsters think we have. In fact my son is better off than us so it looks like we will be eating into our equity to float along in our old age rather than leaving everything to him. It makes me furious when the press generalises about the older generation having it all and squandering the inheritance of those coming behind.

Hard work counts for nothing anymore it’s all about being in the right job in order to eventually get the right pension .

There was a time when the future looked okay for us. We had a nice house, a lovely static caravan and little pension pots of our own. Now sadly all gone . If DH and I had our time again we would never run our own business but it was kind of forced on us due to very ill health . Please don’t judge anyone for having debt until you know the facts .

I had to retire early on ill health grounds and only have a small occupational pension for income, as I won't receive my state pension for another 4 years.
The whole system is totally unfair. I have two friends, just a couple of years older than me, who are already receiving their state pension as well as an occupational one and are quite comfortably off. Those of us in our early sixties, who were looking forward to retirement have been penalised through no fault of our own.
Thank goodness my husband has a good occupational pension, in addition to his state pension or I would have been in financial straits. We have no debts and pay off our credit card at the end of each month. We get airmiles with it, which we put towards a holiday.
In hindsight, the one thing I would have changed, is that when I was working, I had saved more. We still have a comfortable life, but just cut our cloth to suit.
The things that do cost us a lot are fuel and Council tax. Our fuel bills are high, as due to my ill health, the central heating is always one.
I'm an expert at findings bargains. Where possible, I never pay full price for holidays, food shopping, clothes etc. I'm always looking for money off vouchers, free delivery and have store points cards.
I do realise that compared to many we are very fortunate to be debt free and still manage to go on holiday and have the occasional meal out. I remember my parents struggling with money, when the were pensioners.
I'm always nagging my children to think of the future buy have decent pension plans and saving for the future.

I have no debt but have no pension either.

Its lucky DH has a good one. A combination of the government moving the retirement goalposts and early retirement due to ill health have financially disabled a lot of women my age. I cannot imagine how I would cope if I had to continue working now until my pensionable age.

I live alone after divorce. The divorce expenses took the whole of the lump sum payment with my first small pension. I have two very small private pensions and received the state pension in August last year. I work part time, but think I would never manage financially if I didn't. I love the work I do so its not a hardship but wonder how I will manage in the future when I might not be well enough to continue. I have some debt which I am paying off and have enough money to live reasonably but not enough for a lot of luxuries. I am happy though

There are many like you gilly who through no fault of their own, find themselves struggling.
Illness, redundancy, breakdown of marriages when assets have to be divided, all lead to enormous difficulty.

We have all those in our family and we find ourselves supporting others financially because we personally had none of those during our working lives.
We had the breaks, a lot don't.
They will have inherited by the time they retire, unless, and it is a huge worry to me, it all goes in care home fees.

Same as Charleygirl basically. H took early retirement/redundancy 10 yrs ago. We were lucky to have a fair pot left after paying of our small mortgage. We have helped our daughter out a lot
I think the very low interest rate at the moment does not help. In our parents day if you had saved you had a reasonable income from the interest with which to replace the broken washing machine etc.
I'm scared that our pot will not last our life time as it is fast deminishing, despite the fact H does seasonal gardening jobs and has a good works pension. (I have no income)
Holidays are a weekend away in the UK and my car is '07 plate, we don't drink except on special occasions and neither of us smoke but we have to be fairly careful with money.
Having said that I realise that there are a lot of people far worse off. I do count my blessings and would say we are 'comfortable'

We will probably never be able to retire properly. DH is 66 and working longer hours than he ever has. I’m 56 so another 12 years at least for my state pension . We have no savings and a mortgage, loan and credit card debts. This is because we don’t have a steady monthly income and often rely on CC’s to just get by. I certainly don’t have luxurious holidays etc. And have already downsized so no property wealth to fall back on either. I just hope and pray we are able to clear our debts before we die. All in all the future looks very uncertain .

I have never been in debt in my life, discounting having a mortgage. I paid off my mortgage when I retired using my lump sum. Living in London on my own is not easy so after retirement I found myself 3 part time casual jobs to top up the coffers. Having surgery following a # ankle stopped that.

If I cannot afford it I do not buy it and that would include expensive holidays- I prefer my home.