to be scared of the future? what will become of people like us?? pensions / housing related

[applejacket]

dh is 42, i am 34, we don't own our house, and never likely to (bad credit in past plus not high enough income for mortgage and barely any savings for deposit etc). we rent a council house atm

dh has worked FT consistently since 15 but he has only just started paying into his company pension as they have to now. but will probably be worth fuck all when he retires

i am a SAHM with 2 dcs, 4 and 7, and one on the way , i worked from 16 - 26 full time and last couple of years have done a bit of self employed cleaning work but hardly anything really and not doing it anymore now i am pg.

dh earns ok money but not enough to either get a mortgage, or save anything. we don't struggle day to day at all really, but dont really have anything to save. and recently i have been really worried about the future

i am intending to go back to work when the dcs are older but god knows who would employ me, i have no qualifications other than some average gcse's and a levels from nearly 20 years ago. and i can't afford to re train in anything either

what will happen to us when we are older?? when we are still renting and retired? will we be homeless? tbh its the fact we are renting that scares me the most, i would feel so much more secure if we owned our house.

i honestly sometimes feel that our only hope is a lottery win or something

there is no government or political party who would see pensioners homeless. absolutley no way. they may be callous and horribke, but tyey arent stupid. pensioners have a vote
you know and are a lot more likely to use it

Cheer up, OP, you have the makings of a good solution here.

You are lucky enough to rent from the council so you have protection from having to move every year. Yes, you might get challenged when the kids have left home and offered smaller accommodation if that is still policy. But still, it's better than renting privately.

You are also young, no, really :). The good thing about life expectancy is we can all work at a number of different careers over that time- a more physical job when we are young maybe and then a different job when we are older. At 34 you have another 34 years before state retirement age, probably. You can do this in 34 years, even allowing time for the new baby.

You probably have to decide which freaks you out more, pension or housing, and do one or the other. The right to buy is a great bit of luck for you, perhaps you should check out whether you would get a mortgage. You might get a nice surprise. OTOH there is a lot to be said for keeping or secure tenancy and investing in a private pension.

I think in future years, the rental sector will become more regulated and more a place people feel safe long term. I also think we may go back to having generations sharing a family home, so younger people buy with their elderly parents and provide some security and care for them while easing the financial problems.

If your private pension is contracted out of the state system you should know; it should not come as a shock. If it is not contracted out then you get the state pension as well. There may well, nay, I am sure there will be changes in pensions in the future, but they will all be well heralded. You shouldn't suddenly turn 68 and find whoops, we don't have a pension at all, unless you haven't been paying attention. (Or unless Robert Maxwell ran the scheme.)

I agree about multigenerational living maybe becoming more common.

If the worst really comes to the worst, those who have more children stand a better chance of having one who'll look after them in their old age

We could be back to the (fairly) recent phenomenon of the "spare" spinster dd, because it was usually a dd who stayed at home with her elderly parents.

Those of us with sons will be buggered. Better start brainwashing soft hearted ds1 .

I risk really inflaming things here but I have just done a a pension calculator on .gov.uk and it came out at £48 a week and I need to nake 13 years more contributions to make it full ( though I know you pay it until you retire) it says I can retire at 68 and DH at 67.

What surprised me is if we were pensioners now and with our mortgage paid off (we have 8 years left) in a full state pension of £110 each a week even after tax we would be in a very similar financial position as we are now.

"we don't struggle day to day at all really, but dont really have anything to save"

There's your problem OP - you need to struggle a little then to put savings away. DH and I are on average wage, we live in London and we have a below average house, however DH thinks we only just make ends meet each month as I put a quarter of our wages away in savings and once every six or so months I'll tell him what the figure is.

But we could live a different lifestyle but I don't want to be an OAP and worried about money. I had one set of GP who were poor because they never planned and another set who were really well off because they planned (and it wasn't much difference in the household wage). After seeing it I know which one I prefer to be.

And to those saying the Government won't see an OAP homeless - no they probably won't but it would be a shit existance if you end up living to 90 or so only having just enough to survive on - AND having worked in a nursing home I can tell you it doesn't matter a fuck how many DC you have, when you're old, forgetful, smell (incontinent) and are just a bugger to be around, good luck with finding those DC to look after you!

annie I think that is a little consfued.

Nobody is contracted completely out of the state pension.

Some schemes used to be contacted out of what was called the state second pension.

But the government has ended this scheme now and everyone will get the higher pension regardless of whether their scheme contracted out or not.

Employers used to get a lower national insurance rate for contracted out staff. That's ending now, so most pension schemes will be putting up the contribution rates, or reducing the benefits, to take account of that.

The UK has one of the worst pensions in the developed worls I believe. The UK is a prosperous country and should therefore be able to provide OAP's with a liveable pension amt.

In my wilder imaginings, I tend to think that voluntary euthanasia will be much, much easier to access a few decades from now, and there will be all sorts of moral pressure to Do the Unselfish Thing. We might be able to eke out a few years extra while we do childcare for our grandchildren.

Try to get back to work asap , work around your partner's hours to save on childcare if you can.

This thread is a bit much. I'm all for a generous welfare state (more than we have now), and concerned about the levels of inequality in society. However, the OP has made a decision to have more children than most people do, has been provided with cheap housing by the state, and doesn't want to work. Moaning about whether she will have as comfortable an old age as she would like is just a bit irritating.

She will have 3 children action hardly an extravagance.

Not saying it's an extravagance. Just pointing out that she made that choice, already gets more help than most, and is unwilling to get a job to get herself out of the problems she envisages. All this doesn't make her a bad person, but the self pity does grate a bit.

Take comfort in the fact you won't be alone. I've worked since I was 18, paid into a pension since I was 21 (it's worthless despite paying in 1000s), I'm educated too but retirement will never be an option. You just work on until your body gives up or your employer chucks you on the scrap heap. If the latter just pray someone else will give you a chance. Otherwise you just wait for the end, shouldn't take too long without money for food or shelter.

Todays pensioners are keen to protect their free TV licence, winter fuel allowance and bus passes. Perhaps they should be means tested and only given to the poorest. My Mum ceertainly does not need them, her pensions are more than my monthly salary!

Cheer up, action, most of the thread is actually people telling her she ought to get a job :)

OP I have had no inheritance and was not on a huge wage, but it is possible to have a comfortable retirement. I retired this year, and I get the works pension that I paid into for 23 years, plus the full State Pension (I'd worked and paid NI for 8 years before having kids, so qualified for a full pension). I'd also saved a little regularly into an ISA, which paid out a lump sum when I retired - this gives me a cushion of 'rainy day money' that is very comforting.

Having brought up my DC on very, very little money, when I went back into work, I made saving for old age my priority - when my marriage broke up I bought a (small) house and scrimped to paid off the mortgage, so now I don't have to find money for rent or rely on benefits that might be cut...

As many people have said, you can find ways of saving - but you will need to cut back on your lifestyle; there have been some really good suggestions on this thread (WhataSook and beast are right). Have a good, hard look at every aspect of your spending and start putting money away, and you will be able to see the results sooner than you think

The other - unexpected - benefit is having children who know the value of money, how to budget and how to save; in adulthood, they have all said that they are glad that we were broke, as they learned that you can have a happy childhood even if you don't have everything that you want - they remember the camping holidays, and they know how to make money go as far as possible (an invaluable skill...!)

As others have said you makes your choice.

Instead of having the happiest days of my life since DD was born, Ive had really tough years trying to hold finances, childcare and work together so in long run we will be comfortable. I also choose to have one bio child so I could provide for her the best that I can.

It would have been nice to have more children and stay home with them but I chose long term financial safety for us instead.

So I have a pension, life insurances and mortgage that will paid off in 7 years I think.

In the mean time we have not had holidays, have an old car, old ktchen bathroom etc. No ipads etc.

Like I said you make your choice.

Sue, those younger than you will be in a very different position. I would have a reasonable pension with my private pension and the full state pension. But I will already have to wait till 67 years of age for it, and I suspect this may rise.

I'm with action. only it is very grating

sue you are in a very different position from those of us under 50. I rent and will never own a property as I got a bad credit record and lost my savings when my husband left me and I lost my job in a 6 month period. Our pensions have been hit harder than the pension of those retiring now and over the next few years.

So far I've paid over £14000 into my pension. My pension statement says if I continue to pay at my current rate at ny current salary (8%) I can retire at 70 on £9 per year. Hopefully I'll manage to increase my salary a bit and I'm working hard to do that but I can't see how I'd earn enough to save for a living pension. Especially as even if I live to 100 I'll only get back in pension 0.7% of what I have paid in.

£9 a year?!

Not sure how it is possible to afford a third child, yet not afford to save or retrain? Saving, getting training and getting back to work sooner might have gone some way to alleviate your financial insecurities? But the horse has bolted so no point closing the door is there?

Yes notyo £9/ year. I'd be financially better off if I'd stuffed my contributions in a mattress.