Is living on the state pension really that bad?

[cateringday]

I mean, if you own your home then you’re getting around £250 a week just for bills and spends.
i have a tiny pension and DH has none. I am always worrying about this but then realised that we will have no rent or mortgage to pay.
im just wondering if it would be as awful as people make out? I hear stuff saying you need £300000 in pension pot to have a comfortable retirement, why would you need that much?

I agree with you. When I retired I was surprised that I won't get free dental check-ups twice a year. However, you can apply to get it paid by the state. You need to fill in a form including how much money you have saved. You get a document HC2 which you take with you to the dentist or the optician and then it's paid by the NHS.

I get the full state pension and don't have much money saved. I couldn't get pension credit which would have made it all free without an HC2. I do get housing benefit and council tax benefits.

Eye tests are free. Basic glasses will be paid for if you show them the HC2.

I have a good life, in a housing association flat. I don't have a car or travel abroad. I don't spend my time sitting in my living room watching TV.

You're right. But equally you don't know where the OP lives.
Food is expensive wherever you shop.

Council tax is unknown and yes, it varies.

There's nothing wrong in giving a break down of personal outgoings. That poster can challenge if she wants to.

This isn't only basic state pension. If she's getting help with council tax and heating costs she's on pension credit.

Also if her rent is fully paid chances are she's in social housing. That's going to become rarer as the younger people can't get into it now. If she was topping up her rent £200/month herself in a private rental or having to pay for her own repairs because she owned, she would feel a lot worse off.

I think there's a lot of people out there calling their collective income from various sources "the state pension" for convenience in conversation, when in reality it's more than that.

DH is retired and has a private pension and I have a small one too.Waiting for my State pension at 66.5.We have DD friend and DD here .Friend pays rent .I think we manage and seem better off than when DC were small! I dont see how you really need 40k really. Buy clothes from Ebay .(Monsoon ) Have lunch out a few times a month and coffee . Eat fairly well .days out ,run a car, have a dog.Holidays spent in the UK (too much to travel abroad while undergoing treatment.) Also hard going physically.

I think it all depends on your circumstances, we worked it out and came to the conclusion that on our state pensions, we would survive, with about £300 left out of both incomes for food and essentials.
But, if one of us died we would be screwed, with an income £3 over the limit to get pension credit.
So, we upped and came to Greece.
The bills are hugely different, my water bill in the UK was £70 a month, here I pay €10-12 per two months, my Council Tax was £1369 a year, here I pay €146 a year, my electricity over 12 months in Greece was €386, in the UK I was paying between £38-50 a week!.
Best thing we did and we don’t regret the move.

Many people just don’t earn enough to top up pensions,save etc .
Yes you could argue that in that case get a job that earns more ,but someone has to do the minimum pay jobs because if no one did ,how would society function? ie shop workers,care workers,hospital cleaners,cafes,restaurants,transport workers etc ,most jobs that provide a service!
The main problem is that the minimum wage is not enough and people should be earning more.

I guess get a housemate, like a younger person would have to do if they couldn't afford to live alone.

@My3dahliasarebloominlovely

Can I ask why you didn't sell your house and move somewhere more manageable and less remote. £30k is a huge outlay to spend on repairs in later life and with chronic health conditions. You say you'll need to pay for taxis when you can no longer drive or afford to run a car and the widowed partner will have to sell up anyway when the time comes. I'm nearly 70 myself by the way and I really couldn't cope with all of that.

So how do you think people on minimum wage can make provisions for their retirement?🤔Someone has to do the minimum pay low paid jobs!

This and an older friend had to have some emergency dental work recently: £500. Perhaps you get NHS if you’re only on state pension?
also new furniture (things break) being invited out for dinner—you have to go out sometimes or would end up going crazy !

Just retired early at 54 from a job where I earned £4k per month. Paid off my mortgage when I was 37. Live alone. Why would I suddenly be able to live my same lifestyle on £12k per year? If you are used to a certain amount you need and want that same amount to continue. Certainly whilst you are fit and active enough to enjoy life, holidays, own a car etc. When and if the SP comes when I’m 67 that’s a bonus.

My dad was on a state pension and died with 10k in the bank. He had a cheap holiday abroad every year, bought nice clothes from charity shops and had heating and food. Don’t forget, a lot of the elderly will likely be getting health related benefits too

If he or she got pension credit then it should be free. If on state pension but can't get pension credit it should be paid for if he or she can get an HC2 form.

@ginasevern my DH insists on staying here, Covid and the COL crisis decimated my small business.... Frankly he's likely to kark it before me and this place will be straight on the market.

Not sure how your bills AND food for two people would be just £800 a month, most people pay at least £200 a month in council tax, at least another £100 per month in gas and electricity (and that's pretty low usage) and a further £50 in water. That's before any car insurance, home insurance, TV licence, and fuel costs of driving a car, any home maintenance costs like boiler servicing, replacing windows when needed, other maintenance work. Then even if you allow only £300 a month for food, what about things like hair cuts, dental and optical appointments, birthday and Christmas presents for loved ones?

My experience with elderly relatives, is that they can live on the state pension but it does not allow for extravagance or costly unplanned expenses e.g. new boilers, roof repairs.

Those that were retirement ready fared much better e.g. downsized, decluttered, re-decorated adding appropriate home adaptions.

The majority had some savings and some sort of pension (even small ones).

Elderly care has been privatised and is very costly. If you have savings you will have to use all of it (bar last 23K), so the idea is to have 200K set aside for 2 years of private care or have no more than 23K and use state provision.

That being said everyone is different and you need to work out what you want your retirement to look like expensive long haul holidays, cruises, your own allotment, garden

This site is quite helpful for giving guidance.

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/taking-your-pension/checklist-things-to-do-as-retirement-approaches

Im not pension age but have noticed from those around me that older age brings its own higher costs ie having to pay people to do jobs you can no longer do yourself like walking a dog or cutting lawn. Also health associated costs such as frequently having to pay for glasses due to eye deterioration. These costs are on top of normal daily living fees so no I don’t think the state pension provides a good standard a living.

Journalist? Its getting towards April when the pension rises will take effect.

I live on very slightly over the state pension. My private pension amounts to just over £100 each month. I live pretty frugally. Eat very little meat and cook mostly from scratch using an air fryer and a single plate plug in induction hob. One main extravagance, I love red wine and that costs a few quid a month (inexpensive wines though, drunk at home and using special offers when possible). I have no mortgage on a small, modern, well insulated home, and low income means I get a big reduction in council tax.
I run a car. I manage to get 2 budget foreign holidays a year; staying in budget hotels. I'm happy with the hotel being dated but check reviews for staff being good.
I manage to save a small amount each month and am perfectly content with that. However I would love to have more expensive holidays but they are out of the question.
So, I guess it depends on your required lifestyle but it's certainly possible.

Ah, I feel for you. I've got a cousin in the same boat with her husband and I wondered if that might be the case.

My dad has retired and only has state pension he leads a fairly low cost life, his bills are less than £400 per month and his food shopping /spends is around £200 he transfers £3k once or twice a year to an ISA .
if you take away your mortgage could you live on that per month?

How old are you? And what options do you have before you reach state pension age to change your current situation?

As an estimate, I think bills and food will take up 50% of my state pension and that is if I am still living with a second person. We don’t know what the future holds. Having £500 left wouldn’t give me the lifestyle I want with all that free time. I don’t want to be sat at home watching tv every day

At 37 I realised my savings and pension pot were poor. I started to upskill to be able to financially change this. I am now working towards either retirement at 60 or part time by 55. I will reassess this in 10 years when I’m 50

It's not just water/electric/gas/council tax though, is it. I personally have tons more - pet insurance, house insurance, petrol, car insurance and tax, car servicing/MOT, road breakdown service, dental insurance, tv/broadband package, mobile phone, Netflix and a few other small charges. With my utilities it all comes to more than £1000 per month, and I have groceries on top of that. I also need a bit in reserve for DIY/emergencies. Any holidays, days out, hair cuts or fun spends would also be additional. The state pension won't cover it.

I disagree. I have one grandmother who lived to 102 and needed care right at the end but everyone else in my family managed alone until they died. I have a friend who is in her eighties and lives alone and goes out for a walk most days. She also lives pretty well on her state pension to the point where she can help her daughter out with money occasionally.

This is an argument the Tories have been making for as long as I have followed politics and nothing has been done. You have to adapt to the circumstances you find yourself in.