AIBU to wonder why a pensioner struggling financially would not use housing equity?

only 36% of the cohort born between 1937-1946 were in FT work for more than 75% of their adult lives.

That will be because a lot of them are dead, particularly those who were miners (remember them?) and other manual workers and women live longer than men so are over represented in that cohort. Women frequently worked part time

Current pensioners were predominantly born between 1945 and 1960, do you have corresponding figures covering that age group?

Is that an inference that we have never supported society.

Come on why don't you tell us how old you are, what you earn, how much tax you pay and how much you have had in UC/free childcare/tax credits, etc. How much you are paying into your pension and how old you were when you started.

Just pull up the ladder behind you and be done with it.

Respectfully, our tax bill last year exceedes £100k, from about 2009 to 2016 it exceeded £250k. I think we have more than paid our way. We certainly have nothing to be ashamed of.

And that’s where you fall down: the assumption that I’m that selfish.

You want the taxpayer to prop you up so that you can hoard as much wealth as possible so that your children benefit? That says it all, and I think the previous generations would be ashamed of that viewpoint, just as the generations that come after you are. I’m certainly ashamed.

But I bet if you were our child, you'd be pissed off. Mum and dad, bloody boomers, having loads more luxury and comfort.

IHT on unused pensions: does not affect pensioners, it affects their beneficiaries.

IHT thresholds frozen: as above

Tax allowances frozen: welcome to the world the rest of us inhabit

House sale funds: what do you mean by “effectively”? It either is or it isn’t, where’s your evidence?

Proposed council tax changes: “proposed” is the operative word here, and again, welcome to the world the rest of us inhabit

PPT or LTV: again, “mooted”, and again, that would affect everybody

Retirement ages change: I doubt the current cohort of pensioners need to worry about that, do you?

Is the above literally all you could come up with? Some policies that make absolutely no difference to pensioners, but affect their beneficiaries. Policies that do and will affect us all, and a change in retirement age that will have absolutely no impact on the current cohort of pensioners?

Give me a break. Was perpetual victim hood taught in schools or something?

The only statistical fact that has so far been provided on this thread was by me: only 36% of the cohort born between 1937-1946 were in FT work for more than 75% of their adult lives. That’s it. So all this guff about current pensioners having worked all hours and poured blood, sweat and tears is nonsense. As a cohort, you most certainly didn’t. And seeing as we can’t make policy decisions based on Sally next door, we need to make them based on trends.

Now I appreciate that is difficult to swallow because for some reason so many of today’s pensioners act like they were on the front line or something, but these are the facts.

Good. That’s the whole point of it.

Care to tell us what you think the solution is?

I mean... you should be spending your pension pot, that is literally what it is for, not hoarding money for your children.

@StealMySunshining the IHT levy on pensions is going to affect us dramatically. We are going to spend it - and that's the purpose of it.

IHT on unused pensions: does not affect pensioners, it affects their beneficiaries.

IHT thresholds frozen: as above

Tax allowances frozen: welcome to the world the rest of us inhabit

House sale funds: what do you mean by “effectively”? It either is or it isn’t, where’s your evidence?

Proposed council tax changes: “proposed” is the operative word here, and again, welcome to the world the rest of us inhabit

PPT or LTV: again, “mooted”, and again, that would affect everybody

Retirement ages change: I doubt the current cohort of pensioners need to worry about that, do you?

Is the above literally all you could come up with? Some policies that make absolutely no difference to pensioners, but affect their beneficiaries. Policies that do and will affect us all, and a change in retirement age that will have absolutely no impact on the current cohort of pensioners?

Give me a break. Was perpetual victim hood taught in schools or something?

The only statistical fact that has so far been provided on this thread was by me: only 36% of the cohort born between 1937-1946 were in FT work for more than 75% of their adult lives. That’s it. So all this guff about current pensioners having worked all hours and poured blood, sweat and tears is nonsense. As a cohort, you most certainly didn’t. And seeing as we can’t make policy decisions based on Sally next door, we need to make them based on trends.

Now I appreciate that is difficult to swallow because for some reason so many of today’s pensioners act like they were on the front line or something, but these are the facts.

IHT on unused pensions
IHT thresholds frozen
Tax allowances frozen
House sale funds being used to effectively cross subsidise the care costs of those without a house of savings. What are we paying tax, NI and council tax for?
Proposed council tax changes
Mooted PPT or LVT changes
Mooted changes to retirement ages

Who are the "old" and do they all equally benefit?

Of course we need growth

And yet it does not seem a priory.

About 10 years older.

How old do you think she is?

Exactly. She was on Good Morning a few years back. She was called Elsie then. She was filmed stirring a pan of soup and was saying that because she couldn't afford to heat her home she spent all day travelling on buses in the winter. Starmer even talked about it. It was a load of bollox and did no favours to other pensioners and if she's 77 I'll eat my hat.

I can’t direct quote sections of your post on the app, but the bit where you say if someone’s home needs to be sold to pay for their care (or indeed anything else, in my view), the proceeds should be used exclusively for them - yes, that’s exactly what I think should happen.

No supplementary benefits until personal assets are used for personal needs. I’m not talking about redistribution at all, I’m talking about personal responsibility. So we appear to be in agreement.

In case people have forgotten. The original point of this thread was that a person was claiming to be living in poverty and unable to have a hot meal while spending £50 a week on petrol to take friends and neighbours on shopping trips. It later turned out that the person is a media regular with a different story every time.

In case people have forgotten. The original point of this thread was that a person was claiming to be living in poverty and unable to have a hot meal while spending £50 a week on petrol to take friends and neighbours on shopping trips. It later turned out that the person is a media regular with a different story every time.

The emotive language is just constant on these threads isn’t it? As if we are big, bad wolves for suggesting we’d rather more of taxpayers’ money went to support children than pensioners.

It’s so boring, yet another thread about pensions that could have been an interesting discussion and it descends into this.