OT - of interest to senior members

[bert]

In message , Mark writes

Just to come vaguely back onto group topic, pensioners have to hire people to do more jobs for them which younger people can DIY

Bus passes (outside metropolitan areas) are generally self regulating. If you can afford a car you have one.

Places like London receive such a bias in their per capita grant that they can afford to go well above the statutory minimum

Things like winter fuel allowance etc are all headline grabbing gimmicks introduced by various governments to avoid paying a decent state pension. Pensioners are means tested at £7400 per annum. Child benefit is means tested at £40-£60k

[bert]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

No you stay at home and have to heat your house all day - and you still have to eat. It is more difficult for many to get to supermarkets and so shopping is more expensive.

Funny, no-one was commenting about pensioners when things were going well and they were only getting increases at inflation whereas wages were increasing more rapidly

[bert]

In message , Mark writes

By the time you've covered all the buying and selling costs there's not a lot of difference, unless you happen to lived in an affluent area in the south east and are prepared to relocate away from family and friends up to the frozen north

Savings rates are non-existent and the older you are the less you can risk the ups and downs of the stock market.

By the governments policy of artificially low interest rates we are seeing a massive transfer of wealth from savers (older people) to borrowers (mortgage holders). I forget the figures but it is measured in billions

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That may be the case at some point, but you don't automatically become decrepit the second you get an OAP.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The extra cost of heating the house all day is pretty small compared to a mortgage - or the cost of bringing up kids. And are you really saying it costs you the same to eat at home as eating out?

Maybe. There aren't really any corner shops round here so it's just as easy to go to a supermarket. Or have things delivered from one each week?

Well, when I started work many years ago, the hope was near everyone would be in some form of pension scheme as well as the state one. But it's now far more important that the rich get even richer.

[Mark]

And some people who are below state pension age cannot DIY.

[Broadback]

As an OAP I find it odd that as, on average, high savings accounts,we are penalised by inflation eating the value away while interest rates are kept low so that the provenders can have it relatively easy. Who is subsidising whom?

[Bill Taylor]

You seem to be assuming that everyone has chidren and a mortgage. There are many people who don't have children, or whose children have stopped being a financial burden many years before they receive a pension. If you've had a mortgage for many years, without moving, the mortgage payments will be trivial, and may well have been paid off years before pension age. Many people don't have the option of a mortgage and live in rented accomodation; that expense isn't suddenly going to disappear when they retire.

Yes. Years ago saving in a pension was a sensible thing to do. Since all the financial institutions have followed the government in seeing this huge pot of money as something they can put their sticky fingers into without most people noticing, it's pretty silly to save into a private pension scheme.

[Mark]

Inflation affects everyone. Many working people have had little or no pay rises (and some have had pay cuts) over the last few years.

The poor subsidise the rich. Borrowers always pay higher interest rates than savers get.

Anyway low interest rates are essential in preventing the financial crisis being much worse.

[Bill Taylor]

Thats' deliberate. Inflation is the economists way of getting rid of (national) debt that the country can't repay. Expect it to get worse.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

None of these things suddenly happen. A sensible individual will have done some planning before they retire.

Well, if you intend relying on the state to provide for you in retirement, all I can say is good luck.

If you are so poor during your working life you can't make any provision for retirement, you may not notice much different. But if you live a high lifestyle while working with no thoughts about retirement, it's down to you.

[harry]

Very true. If you've got any money, you need t be thinking of an inflation proof investment. eg PV panels. I'll get what I'm owed in one form or another.

[harry]

Low interest rates will destroy the economy.

[bert]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

No but you have to generalise.

[bert]

In message , Mark writes

But the law of diminishing returns applies. Businesses always moan about interest rates just as farmers always complain about the weather.

The one financial institution which isn't restricting its lending hand has been unaffected by any crisis has very high interest rates - the credit card companies.

[bert]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

It used to be compulsory with any large company to join the pension scheme after 1 or 2 years. But then the twittering classes said that wasn't "fair" and so few opted in and the schemes have died.

[Huge]

Utter crap.

[Andy Champ]

That's not why the schemes have died.

People tended not to die so soon, so costs went up. Then we went through a phase where the returns on the investments were really good, and companies realised it was cheaper to pension off their older staff rather than make people redundant (cost to pension fund, not to company, and it was overfunded so WTH). Then the returns went back to normal leaving funds underfunded... so Blair and Brown came along and made a "minor change" (about 5 billion a year) to the way pension funds were taxed, and suddenly they were unaffordable.

Except to those paid by the taxpayer, not private sector companies.

Andy

[bert]

Ooh what an intelligent contribution

[bert]

Yes another contributing factor. At the same time they also raided the NI pension contributions as I have explained in a previous post.

I don't see why the state should pay more in pension to its own employees than to the other pensioners.