To wonder if you know anyone who has never really worked?

[doitanyways]

If so, how did their life pan out?

In particular, what did they do after retirement age?

[Pyjamaface]

A relatives girlfriend. She left school after GCSE and has never worked a day. She is now 32 and has 1 child in reception. My relative has had numerous jobs that he never keeps so they flit on and off benefits. I honestly think the idea of working has never occurred to her

[AgentCooper]

My granny was an anti-aircraft gunner (on the ground in Liverpool) in WW2. That's the only job she ever had as she married my grandad at the end of the war and was just out of school when it started.

[StellaAlpina]

Child benefit counts as NI contributions for a state pension...my mum worked from age 17-31 (when she had me) then got child benefit and now I think she's going to make up the shortfall as a lump sum to get her state pension in a few years (but she's only worked in Italy so she is 'taking' her Italian contributions and bringing them here which adds an extra complication)

I know lots of women of my grandmas generation who only worked until they got married...usually in their early 20s...then might have had the odd 'pin money' job once the children were older. I assume they share their DHs pensions.

[Bailey101]

I have a friend who had her first child at 18 and has had several more since then. She's never had a full time job and a couple of pt jobs that have lasted a month or two - if she was to replace her benefits with a job, she'd need to earn at least £25k to have the same income (rent is expensive round here so her housing benefit is fairly substantial) and that doesn't include childcare.

She has some nice things in her home that she saves for, but no holidays or a car or anything like that.

I would imagine that when she reaches retirement age, if she hasn't been working and built up a bit of pension, she would get a pensioner age version of income support - enough to pay for the essentials but no more.

[Needtobebetter]

Loads of people around me and they either live off benefits or off parents, despite being married or living with partners. An elderly relative gets by through claiming for sickness and gets benefits. I have no idea which ones exactly but she always claims to be skint yet buys whatever she wants, she also rents a lovely house and has a dog so I can't see how she's as skint as she makes out.

[doitanyways]

Bish, not lazy exactly, although I think at that stage now where working seems a huge, huge effort.

Autism, but refuses to accept this so ... Stuck.

At the moment the future looks very, very bleak.

[AlpacaLypse]

Like several pps I know of a number of women who have not worked for a wage for many years as their partners earn more than enough to support a comfortable lifestyle, but they most of them haven't been sitting on their arses - mentally I call them the Memsahibs, as they tend to run everything! Scary bunch but the mainstay of loads of charities, boards of governors, etc etc.

I did know one young man who thanks to his parent's early death, inherited a massive trust fund when he was only eighteen, and never did anything productive. He died of alcohol and drug abuse at 37.

[ExConstance]

An old university friend (male) of mine married someone who has never had a job. She would now be about 60. She is quite proud of it and usually raises it in conversation when she meets someone new. They are quite well off and she spends her life going shopping and on holiday etc. They have children s I suppose she was SAHM for some years.

I don't think it is what the OP was asking but in my family I am the only family member to have a job - all my relations on my side of the family are self employed and seem to have been since the dawn of time.

[PeaceLoveAndMincePies]

I forgot to mention that my DH supports us and we don't get any benefits except CB.

[AlpacaLypse]

Sorry, massive xposting - thread's moved on miles while I've been doing stuff in kitchen!

[absolutelynotfabulous]

Back in the day when I were a lass very few women worked. I suppose they must've married young, had dc, and that was that.

My mother worked (school hours) from when I was about 8.

She was quite unusual, in hindsight.

I have a cousin who hasn't worked for 40 years. He's talking about "retiring"! Wtf!

[AlpacaLypse]

I'm sorry OP, I'm afraid I agree, the way things are currently looking going forward I fear your friend/family member is looking at a very parsimonious future.

[Schwabischeweihnachtskanne]

My paternal grandmother only worked for a very short time between leaving school and marrying my grandfather. She never worked again after marriage and only had one child. They were not rich but not poor either. She was a widow for almost 40 years and got my grandfather's pension after he died, as well as eventually selling their bungalow, investing some of the proceeds in new accommodation but still having a good lump sum to spend when she needed something bigger.

She lived til just a month or two before her 100th birthday and only did a couple of years paid work and raised one child. I does make me a bit when people talk as if all pensions "worked hard all their lives" by default!

[SkibadeeDoodle]

Most of the girls I grew up with (rough housing estate in London). They had babies at 16 or 17, then went on to have 3/4/5 more kids, and have never worked or done any further education.

They're all mid-late thirties now, and interestingly, just as their kids are all grown up - 4 out of 5 of them have gone and had another baby. I wonder if it is to avoid the world of work? Not being mean, but it must be disconcerting and intimidating to be approaching 40 and never had a job before.

I also have a friend who has never worked due to a disability.

[Schwabischeweihnachtskanne]

*pensioners not pensions

[ExplodingCarrots]

Can I ask how fit and well people manage to stay on benefits for 10 + years? When my parents were made redundant the job centre were constantly on their backs to get jobs and it wore them down (jobs were few and far between and sadly they were overlooked because of age). Are these people surviving on job seekers allowance?

[doitanyways]

He's not on benefits

[grannytomine]

Yes and she is a spoilt selfish madam. Her parents indulge her constantly, she gets everything she wants and her siblings get the crumbs. I can never get my head round how they treat one child so differently to the others.

[specialsubject]

no-one in either side of my family has never worked; and my researches go back nearly a century, everyone of both genders always did at least some paid work.

those now in 70s/80s also worked before and after marriage. The women did take a break for kids but went back afterwards.

[InionEile]

I know lots of people who've never worked either due to choice or social reasons. Some older women relatives on DH's side whose fathers made sure they were 'looked after' Victorian novel style with annuities and property so they never needed to work or even marry.

On my side, a male relative who is mid-40s and has never worked. He studied, dropped out of a PhD, then moved back in with parents and never worked again. In his case I think he has mental health issues, depression or anxiety. He refuses to get help though so not much anyone can do. No idea what will happen on retirement. He will presumably inherit parents house which is not worth a lot so won't be subject to inheritance tax. No idea regarding pension.

Most people I know who have never worked either don't need to financially or have some mental or physical health issues.

[ImtheChristmasCarcass]

I wouldn't say my brother never worked, but he was a musician most of his life so he never made enough money to do more than subsist. Paid in cash mostly. But when he turned about 45 he looked around and realized he didn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of as far as retirement went.

So he got off his arse and took a training course, got himself a job with a city that had an excellent pension plan. He lived extremely frugally, saved every penny he could and eventually used that money to 'buy back' years of service and retired with a pension after working about 7 years. He had just enough to rent a small flat, eat, and pay his bills. He recently started working part time at a DIY store for the extra money so he can do more than just pay his bills.

He says he did enjoy his 'music years' as he was following his dream and not many people really do that. But he says if he had to do it again, he'd have completed the training course as a young man and worked at it between gigs to build more financial security.

[notquitehuman]

I know a couple. One is a sort of stereotype you might read about in the mail. Had 5 kids starting at 15 and lives in a massive council house. She's literally never worked a day in her life and boasts about it. I don't envy her though. I suspect she has MH issues and tends to constantly be in and out of terrible, abusive relationships. A couple of her kids also have severe autism or similar conditions to the degree where she'll probably be a lifelong carer for one of them. Other than moderating a Facebook selling group and shit stirring online, she does nothing with her life, and I can't imagine living like that.

The other person claims to be severely agoraphobic and somehow manages to live alone in a 3 bed council house despite the kids having moved out years ago. She also gets all sorts of disability benefits. Fuck knows how. Doesn't stop her from owning a holiday chalet and spending half her time in some grotty seaside town though. I know she's an exceptional case however, and most people on benefits aren't like her.

[DinosaursRoar]

There's 2 bits of the state pension - the basic and the 2nd one, the basic everyone gets, the 2nd I believe you need to have paid NI for 30+ years to get it.

I know someone who has never worked, school, uni, marriage and DCs straight away. Wealthy enough DH to not need to. Assume the wealthy DH would mean lack of top up pension won't really matter.