The battle has started

[M.P]

I'm in the works pension and have my top up pension per month, i pay the full permitted amout.

 

Will i be penalised when i retire for thinking of the future for my family and myself, one word.

 

YES as will everyone else with a private pension.

 

My dear dad has a war pension, and he's penalised for having it, he's over the limitby a QUID, one lousy queens pound, he's stopped from getting help with the Council Tax, etc, makes you wonder if its worth "looking after" yourself for the futue,

 

 

Of course it's worth it Andy.

What a wonderful feeling of pure satisfaction of total independence and not needing to feed or live off benefits.

 

Apart from sickness, i would abolish the lot. We all have about 50 years to work and save for our future, a mere £20 per week invested over that period would give a nice little income.

 

Do i hear people yelling they can't afford £20 per week, RUBBISH, it's a matter of getting priorities right, less spent on booze/fags/sport/ flash cars + other money wasting luxury's and more living within your means, could cover your future for a rainy day.

 

Sit back and work it out, just how much money most people waste throughout their lives in poorly invested spending, wasteful spending, credit card spending etc.

I believe in the the old sayings my parents drummed into me, Never spend more then you earn and look after your pennies, the pounds will look after themselves.

 

Well it worked for me. No debts, No mortgage, No credit cards. I'm far from rich but after paying our bills etc, i have just over £300 every 4 weeks which i can now waste/blow down the bookies/spend on my boat or fishing gear etc etc for the rest of my life and my wife's life.

My wife still got a part time job brings in another £400 + a month, gives us just over £735 per month pocket money between us to do whatever we like with.

Also still treading with a little caution a little nest egg earning it's nuts off just in case i overlooked something.

 

Personally at 60 ive never enjoyed life so much and at the end of the day, all the saving and investing has been so easy i have never had to go without a few nice things such as new cars, new bikes, nice boat, a couple of houses etc, just had to keep myself ticking over with an income, keep away from loans or credit cards etc and only bought what i could pay for before i had it. Apart from my first mortgage of

£15000, which i paid off after 5 years. From there on everything was roses.

[Andrew]

Thanks for that M.P

 

I dont smoke, very seldom do i frequent public houses, dont gamble, never owned a credit card, dont own a motor car,

 

I have always lived by my means, had a private pension for some 20odd years, had a works pension for 19 years.

But after all these years of investing my hard earned money, why is it that i keep getting told that the pension funds are getting low ??????

 

I would hazard a guess and say its the people who took early retirement, fat cat pay bosses who are raking in a couple of thousand a month. I know of one highpowered boss on 80k a year took early retire ment, aged 55, health reasons so we were told,

 

Sorry but i will take a little bit more persuading that the private pension fund is a good thing now. Maybe it will when i cock my toes and the Mrs is ok

[DavyR]

Apart from my first mortgage of £15000, which i paid off after 5 years. From there on everything was roses.

 

And that's exactly why most young people starting off now are unlikely to be able to do what you've done - they're leaving university with an average debt of £12K, and then being faced with soaring property prices.

[Andrew]

And the average house price is in excess off £100k !!!!!!!!

[Ken Davison South Wales]

Yes Property prices have soared but so have incomes, my son and his wife have a joint income of £36000, my daughter and parter have a joint income of £49000.

 

When I got married I had an income of £4500 and my wife only worked on for a year then she looked after the children etc.

 

Times have changed but the same rules apply the main problem is with younsters they spend to much time trying to keep up with the Becs.

[gozzer]

Yes Property prices have soared but so have incomes, my son and his wife have a joint income of £36000, my daughter and parter have a joint income of £49000.

 

When I got married I had an income of £4500 and my wife only worked on for a year then she looked after the children etc.

 

Times have changed but the same rules apply the main problem is with younsters they spend to much time trying to keep up with the Becs.

 

When did you get married Ken? I bet your annual income wasn't far off the price of a house. Try getting one now for £36,000 or £49,000. Well done to your kids, but I don't know many people on that money, in fact half that would be a decent wage for most of the young couples I know.

[Andrew]

My daughter and husband pay out a thousand pound a month before they have a meal on the dinner table !!!!!!!!!! put that with

 

gas

electric

telephone

water rates

council tax

 

£20a week is a lot

Edited June 1, 2006 by Andrew

[M.P]

DavyR.

 

Very true that property has increased 10 fold. Thanks to that i made the right choice at the right time and earned a nice little profit.

 

But all is not lost for those that look hard enough and prepared to do a little DIY work.

Better still try to find a relation that occupies a council house. Last year i gave my mother 33000K to buy her home where she has lived 28 years, She received a huge discount, a great investment and the market value today is around the 100,000K and going up, another nice little earner.

 

Mum is 86 years old and everything will be left to me one day. There's no hurry the investment is fool proof.

 

I have been looking to see if i have any other elderly relations that have been long term council tenants, but it seems all have already purchased them.

 

Can't understand why anyone that's occupied a council house for years don't either buy it or someone in the family buys it for an investment.

[snotty]

My word!

Some of you fellows should re-read your posts, so much contradiction its unbeleivable.

 

For starters, in the real world to my knowledge, average earnings of the young people I know, some with good degrees, are considerably under £13000 p.a.

If anyone here can save up for a deposit on a house, pay horrendous public transport costs on the train to get to work, (a car is totally out of the question) pay rent, taxes, fuel bills, etc...etc.. and still have 4% left over for a retirement fund they will never see, they are going well. My daughter will have to earn £7000 p.a. more than at present before she actually starts to pay off more than the accruing interest on her student loan. Try renting a bog standard terrace up in t'grim north for less than £350 per month, anywhere's decent is well over £400 p.m. that would make a hefty dent in your spending money M.P.

 

Buy your council house...? assuming you can qualify to get on the list and wait two years or more to actually get a place, where will the £33,000 quid come from? how are you fixed for a loan M.P. ( 0% over 25 years?)

 

Savings...? last time I looked interest rates were still appallingly low compared to a decade ago, when some of you were cashing in your endowments and annuities. For some £20 per week represents a sizeable chunk of their weekly take home pay, and if you think all the low paid are on benefits... think again, its not so.

 

Anyone who thinks they will be able to take the 25% tax free cash lump sum had better retire soon before the canny scot abolishes that little ruse.

 

The prospects in store for todays young'uns are grim but they will probably all be frozen to death, drown or bake before they reach old age. I only hope they can keep their health, in future the sick and old will go to the wall.

[snotty]

Just one more thing M.P.

How do you feel regarding the moral standpoint of buying a £100K house for £33K (that's one hell of a discount) a place that's been built and maintained over at least 28 years paid for with public (council) funds.

 

Don't get me wrong I would have done the same mate in your position (which I'm not) but when the government is bemoaning lack of funding across the board, it seems a little undervalued don't you think?