Pensions ,Prescriptions & Racheal Reeve’s

MaizieD

^Look at the source I posted.^

I can't. None of the links posted today on N & P are working for me🙁

Hmmm! No idea why not. They're working for me - I use a PC.

I have the old state pension, but I do work part time so my annual income is approximately £19,000
No private pension, no other income but I do own my house which I was able to do when my father died and left me some money so I manage quite well on the income I get
I don’t drink alcohol I don’t drive and I don’t smoke.(smoking and drinking I did do to excess up to my 30s.)
I am 71..

Wyllow3

OK, lets be clear about the "who started"the rumour

Its in the front page of the Telegraph today.

Everyday I player news shows the front pages and gives a summary so:

"The paper's top story says the government is looking at making cuts to the tax-free lump sum savers can withdraw from their pensions (per annum).

It says the government has asked one of the country's leading pension providers to assess the impact of cutting it from a maximum of £268,275 to £100,000."

so if all this actually comes to be as opposed to speculation then its not down to "being done away with"

but setting an amount as opposed to a percentage of non-tax withdrawals.

EVERY single day I’ve noticed The Telegraph “scaremongering”

Whilst I accept some of their “news” is accurate, much isn’t and just done to further smear the current govt.

Whilst I don’t mind that too much, it’s fair game, I truly object to the effect it has on some readers anxiety and mental health.

I’ve literally trained myself over the years not to worry about what “might” happen and concentrate on solutions for what is or has actually happened.

Look at the source I posted.

I can't. None of the links posted today on N & P are working for me🙁

Allira

£267 × 52 = £13,884

But £267pw isn't the average for all pensioners.

Look at the source I posted.

Casdon

I wonder how the pension credit is assimilated into pensioner income? My impression is that the people who are struggling the most aren’t those with the very lowest incomes, because they do get pension credit. It’s the people who get a little bit more than that, but who aren’t entitled to any help. That’s why raising the pension credit threshold and the personal allowance would make a big difference?

I agree. Raising the tax allowance to £20k and the PC threshold to £15k would keep those on PC out of tax, and stop the anomaly whereby those with a small pension do pay tax and end up worse off than if they hadn't got one and claimed PC.

I would also change the boundaries so there isn't one for those on £12.5k-£50kish, and then another for those on £50-£125k then a third one for anything over that. There is a huge variation within those bands, and it would be fairer to have steps rather than hills.

David49 you obviously live in a different part of the UK than I do,most pensioners here are on low incomes.We are in an area of deprivation after all the big ,wel paying businesses closed decades ago.Theres really only hospitality based jobs and supermarkets.The town centres have charity shops bookies and pubs that are only open two days a week.

In which case they will get the WFA, and I hope measures are taken to help those marginal pensioners who need help, but the principle remains, handouts should not given to those who don’t need it .

As for those on higher income they need to realize that the services they are using cost more than they have contributed and taxing “millionaires” won’t be enough, the burden needs to go across all incomes.

I wonder how the pension credit is assimilated into pensioner income? My impression is that the people who are struggling the most aren’t those with the very lowest incomes, because they do get pension credit. It’s the people who get a little bit more than that, but who aren’t entitled to any help. That’s why raising the pension credit threshold and the personal allowance would make a big difference?

£267 × 52 = £13,884

In FYE 2023, the average income for pensioner couples was £561 per week. This was more than twice that of single pensioners, who had an average income of £267 per week. This difference is statistically significant.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pensioners-incomes-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023/pensioners-incomes-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023#:~:text=In%20FYE%202023%2C%20the%20average,of%20%C2%A3267%20per%20week.

Allira

Dickens

Allira

What is the GN definition of wealthy please?

What income would a pensioner have to be receiving to be thought of by posters as a wealthy pensioner?

Apparently, younger people with an income of up to £100,000 are struggling and deserve help with childcare costs so what are the criteria?

I thought the term wealthy applied to those with income and assets in the millions or billions.

I thought the term wealthy applied to those with income and assets in the millions or billions.

That's what wealthy means to me.

Not a couple living in London with kids on £100k. They might be financially OK-ish, but childcare costs, mortgages, rents, hmm.

I don't have that kind of income - but I still don' t consider such families to be wealthy.

I guess it's subjective.

To me, the wealthy are those who are very very wealthy, who siphon money out of the economy into their offshore bank accounts, property, investments, etc - or who have inherited wealth - those who buy yachts / super yachts, even have their own jets, etc, have homes in various countries. That is what I consider to be real wealth.

That would be my definition too.

Comfortably off is not wealthy so would that be the term for those in the band between being eligible for Pension Credit (is that £11,364 pa and an income over £68,400 pa (after taxes), which is considered wealthy, apparently?

An income of £12,000 is not comfortably off yet a single person with that income has lost the WFA.

There is quite a difference between those two incomes, depending too, on other outgoings such as rent.

^The UK government’s data for 2023 shows the average weekly income for pensioners to be £267. This works out at around £13,884 per year.^

Just a slight correction. The government's figures show that the average weekly income for all pensioners was £387 in 2023.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pensioners-incomes-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023/pensioners-incomes-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023#:~:text=Average%20weekly%20income%20of%20pensioners%20(%20AHC%20)%20by%20gender%20in%20FYE,This%20difference%20is%20statistically%20significant.

growstuff

PS. I didn't use the term 'wealthy' for any group.

No, I realise that, my post was a general observation on many posts on GN. It's a term often used.

BevSec

There does seem to be a lot of Guardian quotes on here, not a newspaper I ever read, I think the articles are rather weird.

Where?

There does seem to be a lot of Guardian quotes on here, not a newspaper I ever read, I think the articles are rather weird.

PS. I didn't use the term 'wealthy' for any group.

Allira Somebody with an income of only £12,000 and almost no savings, who pays rent, will be eligible for housing benefit.

As I wrote above, 'wealthy' is a subjective and fairly meaningless word. However, somebody with a post-tax income of £68,400 will be in the top fifth of earners and will have considerably broader financial shoulders than somebody in the bottom fifth.

Dickens

Allira

What is the GN definition of wealthy please?

What income would a pensioner have to be receiving to be thought of by posters as a wealthy pensioner?

Apparently, younger people with an income of up to £100,000 are struggling and deserve help with childcare costs so what are the criteria?

I thought the term wealthy applied to those with income and assets in the millions or billions.

I thought the term wealthy applied to those with income and assets in the millions or billions.

That's what wealthy means to me.

Not a couple living in London with kids on £100k. They might be financially OK-ish, but childcare costs, mortgages, rents, hmm.

I don't have that kind of income - but I still don' t consider such families to be wealthy.

I guess it's subjective.

To me, the wealthy are those who are very very wealthy, who siphon money out of the economy into their offshore bank accounts, property, investments, etc - or who have inherited wealth - those who buy yachts / super yachts, even have their own jets, etc, have homes in various countries. That is what I consider to be real wealth.

That would be my definition too.

Comfortably off is not wealthy so would that be the term for those in the band between being eligible for Pension Credit (is that £11,364 pa and an income over £68,400 pa (after taxes), which is considered wealthy, apparently?

An income of £12,000 is not comfortably off yet a single person with that income has lost the WFA.

There is quite a difference between those two incomes, depending too, on other outgoings such as rent.

The UK government’s data for 2023 shows the average weekly income for pensioners to be £267. This works out at around £13,884 per year.

Just more Tory press scaremongering. Next story: Labour to abolish teddy bears! All to be handed in to your local police station.

escaped

I agree with the final paragraph of Dicken's post.
"Wealthy", in my opinion, applies to the super rich who for want of a better word, are loaded. Chase after them first.

DH turned 65 years last week and drew down a substantial sum from his pension in order to avoid any potential taxation. Probably around £40k could have been taken from us by the government. It took very little time to action, the pension company was certainly on the ball. Unfortunately the new car he ordered is taking much longer, 6 months, due to a shortage of semi conductor chips, whatever that means!

...due to a shortage of semi conductor chips, whatever that means!

In simple terms, supply can't keep up with demand - demand which is increasing because automation in the car industry, and electric vehicles, require more chips.

And the demand for work-from-home technology competing for semi-conductor capacity.

I think most of the chips are produced in south / south east Asia which was badly affected by the DELTA variant of COVID and, well, you can imagine the effect on the workforce, as chip packaging and testing is labour intensive.

mr Escaped will have to cool his heels! Las year, JP Morgan Research thought the problem was all but over - so, it could have been an even longer wait...

(I'm a mine of fairly useless and obscure information - my disabled OH sits long hours at his computer and keeps me up to date on all sorts of stuff that I have little interest in. I dread the "that's interesting, did you know that xyz..." from him )

Well, if the rumours are true and this comes to pass, I’ll be interested to hear the reasons behind the decision.

If it’s to stop people from leaving themselves short in later life it makes sense to stop that (as we see on here, not everyone is financially savvy with things like pensions).

If it’s to make the tax breaks fairer, that is also fair enough - it’s those on low incomes who need tax breaks, not the better off, but I would like to see whatever happens (*if anything*) be phased in over a few years, as I think it would be wrong to scupper people’s plans on the eve of the retirement they may have planned for years.

We only have a couple of weeks left before we find out what’s happening, thank goodness.

I agree with the final paragraph of Dicken's post.
"Wealthy", in my opinion, applies to the super rich who for want of a better word, are loaded. Chase after them first.

DH turned 65 years last week and drew down a substantial sum from his pension in order to avoid any potential taxation. Probably around £40k could have been taken from us by the government. It took very little time to action, the pension company was certainly on the ball. Unfortunately the new car he ordered is taking much longer, 6 months, due to a shortage of semi conductor chips, whatever that means!

In a graph of income distribution, there is a very long "tail" at the top end with only a few households earning over £100,000. The median disposable income for the top fifth after direct taxes was £68,400 in 2023. This compares with the median disposable income for all households of £34,500 and the median disposable income for the poorest fifth of households of £16,400.

"Wealthy" is a subjective, meaningless term but any household with an income over £68,400 (after taxes) is one of the fifth of wealthiest households in the UK.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposableincomeandinequality/financialyearending2023

Allira

What is the GN definition of wealthy please?

What income would a pensioner have to be receiving to be thought of by posters as a wealthy pensioner?

Apparently, younger people with an income of up to £100,000 are struggling and deserve help with childcare costs so what are the criteria?

I thought the term wealthy applied to those with income and assets in the millions or billions.

I thought the term wealthy applied to those with income and assets in the millions or billions.

That's what wealthy means to me.

Not a couple living in London with kids on £100k. They might be financially OK-ish, but childcare costs, mortgages, rents, hmm.

I don't have that kind of income - but I still don' t consider such families to be wealthy.

I guess it's subjective.

To me, the wealthy are those who are very very wealthy, who siphon money out of the economy into their offshore bank accounts, property, investments, etc - or who have inherited wealth - those who buy yachts / super yachts, even have their own jets, etc, have homes in various countries. That is what I consider to be real wealth.

Allira

What is the GN definition of wealthy please?

What income would a pensioner have to be receiving to be thought of by posters as a wealthy pensioner?

Apparently, younger people with an income of up to £100,000 are struggling and deserve help with childcare costs so what are the criteria?

I thought the term wealthy applied to those with income and assets in the millions or billions.

Here’s one definition.
news.sky.com/story/money-blog-how-much-you-need-per-month-for-the-happiest-retirement-13040934

8Allira* I think one of my friends is quite comfortably off. She has a nice detached house, with the mortgage paid off long ago. She inherited her mother's house, which she rents out, has a good occupational pension and also a nice parcel of shares in the company she used to work for.
I have another friend with a very nice house in Surbiton, purchased in 1970, so again mortgage paid off. He had a large extension added to the house a couple of years ago so I don't think he's short of cash. I don't know if these two would count as wealthy, but they are certainly quite comfortable!