To , just once ,ask is anyone else fed up of being the squeezed middle?

[Wildandallthatjazz]

Thats it really. !

Yes , on mn , its seen as a privilege to have a mortgage, a job etc .

But sometimes it feels hard and you just wish that you got a break . Recognition of the hard slog maybe .

I am not begrudging those on benefits who got the extra payment support, its more about just wanting to have a treat / a bonus/ etc .. a spare bit of money.. a boost .. the heating on … or maybe recognition that the middle can struggle too ?

I totally accept that people can struggle and need help , sort of also feel the struggling middle are invisible ? ( and not seen to have the’ right ‘to have a little moan as it does you good sometimes )

I do think we are incredibly lucky to live in a county with a welfare state, nhs, free gp care I really do .
But sometimes, it just would be nice not to feel you are paying taxes , working as much as possible, and to be able not to feel squeezed all the time and the need to just have a grump about it .

sometimes it is good to let of steam .. when you cant IRL

and then you move on in a more positive fashion .

Some of them. 20% of pensioners are living in poverty.

Define "doing better"?
I think you may find CEOs of top companies might beat them on rises in income, just for one example.

If that is your only income then presumably you would get pension credit too and I expect the applicable amounts for claiming that will rise.

@Babyroobs I have another small pension, DH only has the old basic state pension, so together we’re marginally over Pension Credit level. We’d probably qualify as ‘just about managing’. Lots of pensioners in our situation.

I'm sick of it. Me and my husband work full time. We bring in about 50k between us, have two kids, one at uni, and we are just about managing. it's unbelievable that things are going to get worse. I'm furious that services are set to be cut again while we are set to pay more. The inequality of it all stinks

Yes it's awful when you are just over the limit and miss out on all the extras that those claiming Pension credit receive. It's very unfair that having worked and saved towards a small pension penalises you in this way.

Having grown up as the poor, WC despite having 2 hard working parents I’m okay with being the ‘squeezed’ middle.
for my parents it was choosing between food, beating or new clothing.
for us it’s whether to stop private music lessons or get rid of the cleaner.

DHs health issues in his fifties destroyed our planned finances. DC were independent, he was self employed, just building a private pension, and then he was seriously unwell, and never returned to similar earnings.

The best laid plans etc!

You think people actually choose to starve and freeze? Are you incapable of basic human empathy or just completely thick?

Yes i must be think im the one earning a middle income, where do you sit oh so intelligent one?

Must be what? Stupid or no empathy?

Funny that fail to say where you sit in the equation, never mind I can guess 😂

Or they think that people that don't have "decent" jobs should not earn enough to eat, heat, and have a few treats.
Says a lot about them.

Well I certainly have human empathy, and I'm not thick (or think?) enough to believe people make a choice to not be able to feed themselves or heat their homes.

Not sure what you earning a middle income has to do with you being "think".

Wow a £900 cost of living payment for those on benefits.
Meanwhile the squeezed middle are working so much they are time and energy poor as well as money poor. There is an unfairness to it.

You realise many people of benefits are also working?

It doesn’t matter. Pensioners don’t need an extra £17 a week. They’re doing better, as a group, than any other demographic in the country

That's an extra £ 12 a week for me after tax and projected CT increase. But then this particular poster grudges anybody anything.

They seem to have name changed on the other thread, the posting style is instantly recognisable though.

Agreed.
All but the wealthiest suffer, especially under austerity and Tory policy.
Can understand venting, saying how close one is to losing it all, not being able to pay for basic services.

I don’t. I object to money being given to the wealthiest demographic in the country while the rest of us suffer. Why is that ‘begrudging’?

This. My eldest son wanted to go to a fee paying school and ten years ago we could have considered it but it would have been a squeeze. Not now. Of course... if you are in receipt of benefits etc their are fully funded scholarships. So unless you are very wealthy or benefits you miss out.

If its means tested, a great number of pensioners, older ones in particular, lose out. Those of us who, even as lowish earners, dutifully saved for a pension that puts us marginally over the cut off for Pension Credit. Makes me wonder why we bothered. We’re lumped together with the retired rich, with little opportunity, unlike those of working age, to improve our circumstances.

We didn’t work in an era where the state paid us benefits for working half a week. We expected a reasonable income in retirement, which compared to many developed countries we don’t have. DH hit the age for a free TV licence just as that was changed to benefits claimants only. So we are grateful for the extra.

You’re wasting your time @Seymour5. That poster hates anyone over 60 with a passion. They’re the most ageist poster on MN.

You didn’t need to be paid benefits because one full time wage (usually his) was sufficient for a basic standard of living. Now it isn’t.

I’m not ageist, I’m just absolutely tired of people who haven’t experienced working life in this current shit show trying to compare it to 15% interest on a £20 house in the 1980s, and then denying pensioners are a wealthy group when the statistics speak for themselves.

Nobody, absolutely nobody, has ever denied that there are wealthy pensioners. What you totally refuse to accept is that there are just as many who are just scraping by. And you are ageist.