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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Please tell me I am not the only oldish person without a pension plan

579 replies

QuentinLettsisAbitofAtool · 19/11/2018 17:45

Not a TAAT well it is a bit but sod it

I'm having a bit of a panic attack brought on by the MN survey about pensions. I don't have one, have a big mortgage, not due any parental inheritances and am in my 50s.

Please tell me I'm not alone as that might make me feel less dumb!

Oh and I put "oldish" in the thread title because I mean old in terms of a pension. Twenty somethings who don't have a pension don't fit my criteria!

OP posts:
Wordthe · 22/11/2018 13:25

I am not suggesting there is no need for a rental sector, the housing market needs to be properly regulated

AnElderlyLadyOfMediumHeight · 22/11/2018 13:26

I very much doubt that my politics align with Craft's, but she's not wrong when she says that everyone (most people, anyway) lives off someone else's money.

No, landlords are not providing a social service, but to declare all landlords as greedy profiteers because they are landlords seems to me to be sweeping at the least. (And I'm a tenant).

The idea of home ownership needs to be less fetishised emotionalised in the UK, and tenants need proper, fair protections and non-time-limited contracts (with limited and monitored permissible reasons for eviction).

ATailofTwoKitties · 22/11/2018 13:26

A new roof every 20 years, new flooring every 10 years, new kitchen after 15-20 years, appliances every 5 years or so and a boiler replacement every 10-15 years

That's what would worry me most about going into retirement with a (very probably ) small pension and a home that we own. You can budget carefully for the small, regular things in life. But in the past month, we've had to fix a broken boiler, duff cooker and leaky roof - total cost over £1000.

Renting, and getting the landlord to mop up those costs instead, would at least make the expense more predictable.

Craft1905 · 22/11/2018 13:27

Why do people try to stifle debate by calling other people bitter or jealous when they have a different view to you?

Because when it comes to money, people's views on those with more than they have are often clouded by jealousy, bitterness and resentment. They try and disguise this by dressing it up as some kind of social justice crusade.

I prefer it when people are just honest, like the previous poster who called everyone in their 20s with a pension "bastards". At least she was being honest. She wasn't trying to hide her jealousy under some cloak of concern, she was just plain bitter. I quite admire that.

Wordthe · 22/11/2018 13:28

Yes tenants need proper fair protections, I totally agree 👍

Wordthe · 22/11/2018 13:30

It's perfectly natural and part of human nature to object and try to rectify the situation when things are set up unfairly
Large inequalities are harmful to society as a whole

Storm4star · 22/11/2018 14:05

Because when it comes to money, people's views on those with more than they have are often clouded by jealousy, bitterness and resentment

That may be true for "some" people. Yes we would all like bundles of money in the bank but that doesn't mean you are necessarily jealous if you don't. I came from nothing, extreme poverty. So I have been there. I was lucky enough to get a decent career which provides me with a good standard of living. I was lucky enough to get a lovely housing association home at a relatively cheap rent. I don't spend my time wishing I had more. I am more than happy with what I have. I am very lucky. I wish other people who have been in my previous situation could have the opportunities I have had. So yes I do care about people who are living in poverty, who are struggling to pay spiraling rent costs. I do wish that they had affordable housing and jobs that paid for all necessary expenses. I feel sad when I read on here that someone is having to feed their whole family on £50 a week. It may be an alien concept to you, but some people do care.

CondomsLubricantAndFlapjack · 22/11/2018 14:44

Utter rubbish. If it weren't for the rental market there would be far more homeless. MN hates anyone who is a LL, or has worked hard for success. In the real world thing are different.

And LLs don't provide a service, pay the rent or look for somewhere else. Have the tenants all got £20k depositfor a mortgage?

Craft1905 · 22/11/2018 15:09

Mumsnet economics innit.

Anyone on £30K a year or more is some kind of Roman Abramovic figure. Anyone who spends £10K or more on a car is a billionaire. All landlords, even the responsible ones, are greedy spongers who are exploiting the vulnerable.

Craft1905 · 22/11/2018 15:32

I was lucky enough to get a decent career which provides me with a good standard of living.

Great...so long as the company you work for isn't involved in providing goods or a service for a profit. Otherwise it would be a bit hypocritical.

Storm4star · 22/11/2018 15:44

No, I work in the public sector and actually work with homeless people and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Because I wanted a career that helped people.

Oliversmumsarmy · 22/11/2018 15:56

Landlords divert public money into thier private pockets
because rents are so high compared to wages many people have to claim housing benefit even though they are working

You obviously have no idea about renting from a private LL.

If you are on HB the chances of getting a private LL who has a mortgage or has rental insurance on the property are slim to none existent.

You can't rent to those in receipt of housing benefit because your mortgage company forbids you.

Equally rental insurance wouldn't cover tenants who are in receipt of HB.

As for the poster who said they would rather pay out to a LL each month rather than pay for repairs to their own home every so often.

You do realise that you would be paying for the repairs through your rent. It wont stay the same and will go up.

Craft1905 · 22/11/2018 16:00

No, I work in the public sector and actually work with homeless people and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Because I wanted a career that helped people.

Okaaaay.... and public sector wages are plucked from the magic money tree, and not funded by taxpayers who pay taxes after making money from businesses you don't approve of.

Oliversmumsarmy · 22/11/2018 16:01

Storm

Can you not see the hypocrisy that you work with the homeless in a good career but you live in a HA place.

Wouldn't you be better getting a place of your own and letting someone else who is in greater need than you have the HA place.

Storm4star · 22/11/2018 16:03

And how would I get a place of my own exactly? I don't earn enough to buy somewhere in my area by myself (no partner to contribute) and I can't afford "market rent", as I said before. So where do I get this place from?

Storm4star · 22/11/2018 16:05

It's not hypocritical at all. You are just clutching at straws to try prove your strange point, not even sure what that point is?

CondomsLubricantAndFlapjack · 22/11/2018 16:18

Because I wanted a career that helped people.

But not one that provided you with a good standard of living? Hmm...... Go you.

Storm4star · 22/11/2018 16:22

I do have a good standard of living. But certain circumstances meant I didn't start that career until a bit later in life and I didn't get on the housing ladder. You don't need to own your own home to have a good standard of living. It's not the only criteria. And the reason I couldn't afford market rent is because I live in an extremely expensive area. Not because my wages are low.

Wordthe · 22/11/2018 16:29

ta career that helps people is a good thing, here we have someone who wants to add value to society

Landlords do not add value to society

they siphon money away from people who add value to society

Storm4star · 22/11/2018 16:33

TBh I think Craft and Condoms are just trying to be goady for the sake of it now and this thread wasn't about private landlords. That was just one aspect of the conversation, on which I don't think much more needs to be said anyway.

Wordthe · 22/11/2018 16:39

@Storm4star, if anyone has a claim to philanthropy it is you, not the landlords trying to spin a tale where they save the fallen and prop up the needy
LL's don't provide homes they procure them, elbow their way in ahead of families who need secure and affordable homes

DianaT1969 · 22/11/2018 17:01

I used to work in Turkey in my twenties. The Turkish friends I worked with then have been receiving a state pension since they passed 40 or 45. Similar to our state pension in terms of comparable cost of living. Strange that a 'rich' country such as the UK makes its people work until they're 67. Workers here pay high tax too.

KhaleesiTheDeadWalker · 22/11/2018 17:02

Yeah this worries me a little...

I'm 40, no pension, no partner and I rent so therefore no equity in a house... I'll have to work until the day I die Sad

Wordthe · 22/11/2018 17:16

the deeper problem is that we have come to see homes as a good and appropriate investment vehicles.
In order for something to be a good investment it has to appreciate at a rate greater than inflation.

If housing appreciates at a rate greater than inflation it becomes increasingly un-affordable and unable to fulfill it's proper function in society

flirtygirl · 22/11/2018 17:22

I have no pension and I'm not worried.

Will have savings and a house I will downsize when necessary. I may invest in stocks and shares when able to afford it but I don't like the way pensions are run and the charges. I looked into a sipp last month and the best rated one on money saving expert with the lowest fees and charges, gave me a quote of pay in 100 per month and in 25 years I will actually get back less than I had paid in.

Crazy albeit this is with no employers contribution as I plan to be self employed.

I looked into a Lisa but didn't like that it was counted if to you need benefits so you get penalised for having saved it at all. You also lose out on the bonus quite easily.