Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

310 replies

applejacket · 09/12/2013 11:41

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. Hmm 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 Hmm

OP posts:
ziggiestardust · 09/12/2013 15:27

grumpyoldbat Shock

VivaLeBeaver · 09/12/2013 15:32

If you murder someone you'd be fed and housed. Or did an armed robbery and then you wouldn't have to kill anyone I guess.

Beastofburden · 09/12/2013 15:33

Grumpy, you may seriously have a case for mis selling. What you say can only be true if the scheme is charging far too much in fees.

grumpyoldbat · 09/12/2013 15:44

At least someone is raking it in :(. I have considered dropping paying and spending some to make life less stressful and saving some of it in a normal account. Seems better sometimes as I won't be retiring yet it seems very irresponsible at the same time.

YouAreMyFavouriteWasteOfTime · 09/12/2013 15:49

everything ActionA said.

OP you need to look in the mirror for your solution. pensions will be terrible when we are older.

you have had plenty of help. now you need to help you, your DP and your family. Oh and the rest of society by supporting yourself and even contributing outside your family.

SueDoku · 09/12/2013 15:53

Grennie and Grumpy - I do take your point about those younger than myself - but I worked until I was 65 in order to pay off my mortgage - and if necessary I would have worked for another 5 years. You make your own choices....up to a point. Hmm

grumpyoldbat · 09/12/2013 16:01

You're still missing our point a bit sue I and many others will never be accepted for mortgagee so our only option is to continue renting.

Secondly, even if we reach 70 we cannot retire. When we say work til we drop, I at least being literal. I will consider myself lucky to die while still working. The alternative is (if I become too infirm or can't get a new job) will be to chose between suicide or waiting to see if i succumb to the cold or starvation. Yes we all have choices but form some they choices aren't much of a choice at all.

YouAreMyFavouriteWasteOfTime · 09/12/2013 16:07

sue - old style works pensions were final salary. now they are contribution based because they are cheaper for the company i.e. worse for the person whose pension it is.

this is one of the reasons why older people are better off than younger people. the baby boomers are a blip when life expectancy increased but the cost of this change has only been lately understood. however its not your generation fault for being lucky in this particular area.

younger people benefit from less discrimination, longer lives, better medical treatment etc etc. so we have our own luck.

puddingsforsandy · 09/12/2013 16:18

What the actual f*! so this thread has got me scared and since turning thirty, I keep thinking I'm already in the scraps)
I have been in my current job for about two years and have checked my pension. A LOUSY £2,428.00 A YEAR? how am I going to survive on that crap?
The thought of getting old craps me out. The thought of old age AND poverty just terrifies me! I'm also petrified of death. Arghhhhhhh

Lillilly · 09/12/2013 16:20

Op, buy your house- I was out of the working world from age 20-35 SAHM then got divorced , but got a job, and was able to get a mortgage along with some deposit almost straight away- you don't have a deposit, but could probably get on the govts scheme for it. I was surprised at how easy it was.

Original poster
applejacket · 10/12/2013 08:19

oh god this thread took off didnt it

:( i just don't know what to do for the best. i would like to own our home....but then, imagine if dh lost his job (quite possible in this climate), we would lose the house then we would never get another council house so it would be back to private renting

and i don't mind paying into a private pension, we could even afford to do this now even without me working. but whats the bloody point when i am hearing stories about people paying in thousands and thousands and then ending up getting £9 a year??

and also i am sorry if someone has covered it and i have missed it, i also wanted to ask, if you have a private pension, do you still get a state one?

OP posts:
justtoomessy · 10/12/2013 08:30

Yes you still get a state pension as you have paid into the state pension via NI. I think thats right.

MidniteScribbler · 10/12/2013 09:06

So what are you going to do about it?

Sitting around sulking about how the difficult your life will be is a pointless exercise. Get off your arse, make some decisions and do something about it.

You don't like working? Boo-fucking-hoo. Do you think everyone loves having to work for a living? No, people do it because they're mature adults who understand that the world doesn't owe them anything and they just need to get on with it and take care of their family now and in the future.

Grow up.

soverylucky · 10/12/2013 09:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
applejacket · 10/12/2013 09:48

So what are you going to do about it?Sitting around sulking about how the difficult your life will be is a pointless exercise. Get off your arse, make some decisions and do something about it. You don't like working? Boo-fucking-hoo. Do you think everyone loves having to work for a living? No, people do it because they're mature adults who understand that the world doesn't owe them anything and they just need to get on with it and take care of their family now and in the future. Grow up.

Confused

erm i am not "sulking" about anything, i posted this thread as i wanted to know how things like pensions and housing etc work when you are older, and i said i am sure i am not the only one who doesn't like working, i also said i am willing to work, i never said the world "owed me" anything, and i am "taking care of my family" now and will continue to do so in the future.

calm down dear. Biscuit

OP posts:
ophelia275 · 10/12/2013 10:01

The government of the day will just have a really really high housing benefit bill or lots of riots. But before that happens they are going to start taxing the fuck out of anyone who owns a house as it is the easiest way to get money (seeing as the rest of the economy is in dire straights and they have decided to base the whole economy on house prices). Nobody can take their house abroad so I expect to see huge tax rises on properties over the next few decades, especially if Labour get in, hopefully they'll start seriously thinking about land value tax and stop letting land hoarders and landlords get away with taking everyone else's money from them. The alternative is riots and social breakdown.

Joysmum · 10/12/2013 11:19

This thread goes to show how people expect the government to keep them. In years gone by it wasn't normal to own a house, Maggie Thatcher changed our expectations on home ownership.

Life expectation weren't as high either.

Of course I'm worried about the future, I'm a SAHM and in my 40's too. Hubby and I made our choices and decided we could afford for me to remain at home but could only afford to stick at having one child, if we were that concerned I would have gone back to work.

grumpyoldbat · 10/12/2013 11:28

joy lots of people on this thread are talking about trying to save and literally working until we drop. How is that expecting the Government to keep us?

Lazysuzanne · 10/12/2013 11:48

I don't expect the government to keep me, I do expect them to run the country in a fair and efficient manner.

We live in a country which is technologically and culturally advanced, there is enough to go round, we should have a market system which distributes resources fairly.

No one should have to go without basic necessities.

Yes I am oversimplifying, but governments ought to correct inequalities and corruption.

Lazysuzanne · 10/12/2013 11:51

I would suggest that it's in the interests of the government to have us all worried about the future...a fearful population is a compliant population

grumpyoldbat · 10/12/2013 11:58

I agree Suzanne the current Government are also into decide and conquer in a big way. This is why there are people who think I'm lazy, stupid and not a proper human being because I'm not a higher rate tax payer. All in this together, yeah right!

MILLYMOLLYMANDYMAX · 10/12/2013 11:59

I think you are being held back by over thinking things. You say you want to get a mortgage and buy your own home but are scared if dh loses his job you won't get a council house and you would
be back in private rental.
You seem to be lost in the inertia that you might lose your rented house if you stepped off the rental ladder and onto the property ladder.
My friend and I moved into our current homes 15 years ago. She has a council house and apart from a period of time when we first moved in her rent has always exceeded our mortgage.

The more I look at rented council houses the more I think it is not the cheap housing that everyone thinks it is. We on the other hand are planning on selling our house and because of dds school change in the next 2 years, we are moving to a cheaper area where we will be mortgage and rent free. Df will be still paying her rent every month for the rest of her life and in 8 years time will be probably be removed from her home to a small flat to make way for another family.

The fact you have enough money to live on without you going to work means you have enough money to save some. Start the new year with a plan to clear up your credit file, pay off any debts and raise money for a deposit so that when you get the oportunity to buy the council house you are in you can sieze it. Then later on you can sell it and buy another with a smaller mortgage or mort

MILLYMOLLYMANDYMAX · 10/12/2013 11:59

Mortgage free

MILLYMOLLYMANDYMAX · 10/12/2013 12:12

Orphelia you are seriously missing the point how everything works. If Landlords get taxed by the government for owning a rental property then that tax will be passed on to the tenants making rents even higher.

And no I agree you cannot take a property abroad but you sure as hell can sell the property, pocket the cash and get on a plane out of here. Remember what happened in the 70's under Labour. They started off with huge spending plans and a giggle that they were going to pay for it from higher rate tax payers at 97.5% tax. The thing they for got was the higher rate tax payers could afford to buy a plane ticket out of here leaving the middle and lower income people left to pick up the bill.

ActionA · 10/12/2013 12:14

I think people are a bit annoyed, OP, at your self pitying tone when you are choosing not to work and enjoy the luxury many could never contemplate of raising a large ish family as a SAHP paid for in part by the state.

I do support a decent welfare state, and I think there is a problem with the cost of living/inequality in this country, but am actually quite shocked at the extent to which people don't think it is remotely their responsibility to contribute to society rather than be a constant drain. If you CAN'T contribute, then fine. If you WON'T, moaning about your future security will irritate some people.

Swipe left for the next trending thread