Is living on the state pension really that bad?

Im not pension age but have noticed from those around me that older age brings its own higher costs ie having to pay people to do jobs you can no longer do yourself like walking a dog or cutting lawn. Also health associated costs such as frequently having to pay for glasses due to eye deterioration. These costs are on top of normal daily living fees so no I don’t think the state pension provides a good standard a living.

My experience with elderly relatives, is that they can live on the state pension but it does not allow for extravagance or costly unplanned expenses e.g. new boilers, roof repairs.

Those that were retirement ready fared much better e.g. downsized, decluttered, re-decorated adding appropriate home adaptions.

The majority had some savings and some sort of pension (even small ones).

Elderly care has been privatised and is very costly. If you have savings you will have to use all of it (bar last 23K), so the idea is to have 200K set aside for 2 years of private care or have no more than 23K and use state provision.

That being said everyone is different and you need to work out what you want your retirement to look like expensive long haul holidays, cruises, your own allotment, garden

This site is quite helpful for giving guidance.

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/taking-your-pension/checklist-things-to-do-as-retirement-approaches

Not sure how your bills AND food for two people would be just £800 a month, most people pay at least £200 a month in council tax, at least another £100 per month in gas and electricity (and that's pretty low usage) and a further £50 in water. That's before any car insurance, home insurance, TV licence, and fuel costs of driving a car, any home maintenance costs like boiler servicing, replacing windows when needed, other maintenance work. Then even if you allow only £300 a month for food, what about things like hair cuts, dental and optical appointments, birthday and Christmas presents for loved ones?

@ginasevern my DH insists on staying here, Covid and the COL crisis decimated my small business.... Frankly he's likely to kark it before me and this place will be straight on the market.

If he or she got pension credit then it should be free. If on state pension but can't get pension credit it should be paid for if he or she can get an HC2 form.

My dad was on a state pension and died with 10k in the bank. He had a cheap holiday abroad every year, bought nice clothes from charity shops and had heating and food. Don’t forget, a lot of the elderly will likely be getting health related benefits too

Just retired early at 54 from a job where I earned £4k per month. Paid off my mortgage when I was 37. Live alone. Why would I suddenly be able to live my same lifestyle on £12k per year? If you are used to a certain amount you need and want that same amount to continue. Certainly whilst you are fit and active enough to enjoy life, holidays, own a car etc. When and if the SP comes when I’m 67 that’s a bonus.

This and an older friend had to have some emergency dental work recently: £500. Perhaps you get NHS if you’re only on state pension?
also new furniture (things break) being invited out for dinner—you have to go out sometimes or would end up going crazy !

So how do you think people on minimum wage can make provisions for their retirement?🤔Someone has to do the minimum pay low paid jobs!

@My3dahliasarebloominlovely

Can I ask why you didn't sell your house and move somewhere more manageable and less remote. £30k is a huge outlay to spend on repairs in later life and with chronic health conditions. You say you'll need to pay for taxis when you can no longer drive or afford to run a car and the widowed partner will have to sell up anyway when the time comes. I'm nearly 70 myself by the way and I really couldn't cope with all of that.

I guess get a housemate, like a younger person would have to do if they couldn't afford to live alone.

Many people just don’t earn enough to top up pensions,save etc .
Yes you could argue that in that case get a job that earns more ,but someone has to do the minimum pay jobs because if no one did ,how would society function? ie shop workers,care workers,hospital cleaners,cafes,restaurants,transport workers etc ,most jobs that provide a service!
The main problem is that the minimum wage is not enough and people should be earning more.

I think it all depends on your circumstances, we worked it out and came to the conclusion that on our state pensions, we would survive, with about £300 left out of both incomes for food and essentials.
But, if one of us died we would be screwed, with an income £3 over the limit to get pension credit.
So, we upped and came to Greece.
The bills are hugely different, my water bill in the UK was £70 a month, here I pay €10-12 per two months, my Council Tax was £1369 a year, here I pay €146 a year, my electricity over 12 months in Greece was €386, in the UK I was paying between £38-50 a week!.
Best thing we did and we don’t regret the move.

DH is retired and has a private pension and I have a small one too.Waiting for my State pension at 66.5.We have DD friend and DD here .Friend pays rent .I think we manage and seem better off than when DC were small! I dont see how you really need 40k really. Buy clothes from Ebay .(Monsoon ) Have lunch out a few times a month and coffee . Eat fairly well .days out ,run a car, have a dog.Holidays spent in the UK (too much to travel abroad while undergoing treatment.) Also hard going physically.

This isn't only basic state pension. If she's getting help with council tax and heating costs she's on pension credit.

Also if her rent is fully paid chances are she's in social housing. That's going to become rarer as the younger people can't get into it now. If she was topping up her rent £200/month herself in a private rental or having to pay for her own repairs because she owned, she would feel a lot worse off.

I think there's a lot of people out there calling their collective income from various sources "the state pension" for convenience in conversation, when in reality it's more than that.

You're right. But equally you don't know where the OP lives.
Food is expensive wherever you shop.

Council tax is unknown and yes, it varies.

There's nothing wrong in giving a break down of personal outgoings. That poster can challenge if she wants to.

I agree with you. When I retired I was surprised that I won't get free dental check-ups twice a year. However, you can apply to get it paid by the state. You need to fill in a form including how much money you have saved. You get a document HC2 which you take with you to the dentist or the optician and then it's paid by the NHS.

I get the full state pension and don't have much money saved. I couldn't get pension credit which would have made it all free without an HC2. I do get housing benefit and council tax benefits.

Eye tests are free. Basic glasses will be paid for if you show them the HC2.

I have a good life, in a housing association flat. I don't have a car or travel abroad. I don't spend my time sitting in my living room watching TV.

Obviously everyone's food and council tax are going to be different. Some will shop at Aldi, some will do their food shop at M&S. Some will have low council tax and some extortionate. It doesn't take much working out that some people can live more cheaply than others surely ?

I am living on my state pension and a proportion of my late husband's private pension

That's not living on a state pension though - although op said she will have a tiny pension of her own. Depends how much or little the private pension is, I suppose.

Several people have mentioned downsizing, but sometimes it's not realistic i.e going from a two bedroom house to a one bed flat which means that some bills would be less but you'd have ground rent and service charges to pay for so you may not be financially better off. Also fees and stamp duty to factor in.

@Kookykoala Would your food and bills really only be £800 a month?

We're mortgage free and our food bill is easily £100+ a week and that's without wine ( we don't drink) or anything extravagent.

Our council tax will be around £80 a week and I've not even started to include gas/ electric, water rates, (house insurance £700 a year) and other things like running a car.

That brings it to over £250 a week for basics.

I think you've not done the maths. Even on 2 state pensions there won't be much wriggle room.

They say the minimum amount needed for a reasonable but not flash retirement is £30K a year.

have you got an emergency fund? Are you still able to treat your kids/GC …go on holidays days out with them….go theatre or whatever with your friends? ….this is my bar for whether I can afford reftirement or not…I’m 61 …retired and returned on 2 days nhs ….got good savings ( I think!) and an nhs pension of 1400 a month …but I couldn’t do the above on that money….I take my 3 GC to festivals ….for days out….trips to London…I go on holiday with my kids and GC once a year ….I go theatre and meal every month with friends….I would rather continue to work 2 days a week than give all that up….or run my savings down doing it

Sorry for offending anyone with my comment but this thread explains why the UK is in such crisis in many ways. If you expect people to plan and save for themselves you’re seen as cruel and oblivious to poverty. Everyone is entitled to a great life with some luxuries even if you’ve never saved a penny towards it. People encouraged to stop saving so they’ll be entitled to pension credit and all the benefits that come with. In 10-15 years it’s going to become even clearer the state cannot afford the benefits, pension, SEND, social care bills despite all of these people needing this support as there just won’t be enough tax payers paying in enough tax to support this. Is they then means test the state pension of make the tax burden higher more and more tax payers will move to places they feel are fairer and the issues with compound and compound. I don’t know what the solution is but criticising anyone who says it’s completely unsustainable certainly isn’t helping.

It’s very expensive! Hence my comments about extras coming out of other pensions/inheritance , wouldn’t be able to visit on a state pension.
For the two us ( with a few older age type minor health issues) we paid £400 travel insurance for both of us to go to the far east for 2 weeks last year to visit one adult child and family.
Its just something we have to use savings for.
Having said that long haul fancy trips weren’t something we could afford to do when we were younger, with a mortgage and children!

One post and the OP disappears.