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?

Just beware that if youre getting the full state pension £230pw, you dont also get pension credit. PC is to top up income thats below £223pw:
https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/eligibility

And for the six months a year that it's cold or wet and they need to run their heating all day?
Or the days when rheumatism is playing up and walking is a misery?

I agree, you need a huge amount of money to pay for elder care needs these days, way beyond a standard private pension pot.

My mum has advanced dementia and currently pays £4000 per month for 3 X carer visits per day. My parents are fortunate to have inheritance which was invested wisely but with the cost of living going up and issues such as DC living at home later in life (so downsizing and investing not as easy as with last generations) many people going forward into older age are going to have to rely on state funded care if they are living simply on a basic pension.

And as someone who is currently spending time viewing private care homes (most £6k+ per month), I find the prospect of ending up in a state funded care home absolutely terrifying tbh (We have also viewed many that except state funded care and lets just say I'm glad my mum has sayings).

Nobody is saying that the state should pay for luxuries. People are pointing out that if one does want more than the basics in retirement one needs to make additional provision through pensions and/or investments.

Not everyone gets the £250 if you were born before 53 it’s the old rate which isn’t that amount it’s less than £200
so how could the 90 year old draw £250 every week and get everything paid for as well rubbish just an assumption

Prob doable
Biggest issue though is lack of resilience. Car repairs, house repairs, boiler etc.

I think people should take responsibility for their own pensions if they can.
However what you have written is plain nasty.

Then she wears a woolly hat and a raincoat.

Very good point!

Think it depends on your circumstances. My exMIL has never really worked when FIL died she started with widows allowance and rent paid on council house. Thirty plus years on she is still on benefits but now in rent paid assisted flat with so much money in the bank - exDH and his wife have to keep drawing cash out so she doesn't exceed limit that will affect her benefits!! So obviously some people can manage it!
But I imagine if rent/mortgage are not a factor then a couple of hundred quid a week should be a reasonable amount to live on.

And when they were working and paying into it, state pensions were much less generous than they are now, and they were supporting far fewer pensioners. (No triple lock back then.) Now that they’re drawing state pensions, they want today’s workers to support far more pensioners, much more generously. Doesn’t seem quite fair to me.

You don't though, as the state won't fund high quality care. Groups such as Barchester will only take residents if you can prove you have liquid assets of approx £150 - £200k. Local authorities will not pay in the region of £6k per month. Family run care homes may take a mix of state & self funded residents, but others simply don't need to. That is what I mean by choice.

I don’t know what amount it is, I just copied the op, I just know she buys pointless trinkets and stuffs all the leftover notes under her mattress every week. My only point was she is not struggling.

@thedevilinablackdress yes I realise what pension credit is - but it means that it’s more than the state pension. Top up payments plus access to free things mean she is getting more than the basic pension amount. That’s what makes it possible to live off.

I live at a distance to my mum, and am faced every day with small issues she can’t manage alone. Her phone, WiFi, printer… if a visitor or workman leaves a window open, she can’t close it. She can’t reach anything stored above her head. She’s 86 and in excellent health but every day brings challenges.

Through national insurance contributions but it’s not an exclusive pension pot. Some people haven’t paid and will get the equivalent on pension credit.

You may want to retire before 67, or not be able to work up to that age. It also depends on your situation in life. A state pension income of around 12 K would not support a middle class lifestyle, even if you own your home. A pension fund of 300k, if cautiously invested, might bring an an annual return of 20k or so, over time to supplement your income. HTH.

That's what I said.

Only the very rich can afford to be in care homes that don't t take any state funded people.

The vast majority end up side by side with people paying privately until their funds run out and the state takes over.

Lower cost care does not mean low quality care.

Says someone who obviously hasn't a clue about rheumatism. ( Not just a disease of the elderly either if it was that age group you wanted to pop at)

I grew up very poor and so the people around me growing up were all poor. They're now pensioners living in council properties on state pensions and top up benefits. They have more spare money now than they ever had in their working age lives when on minimum wage jobs and state benefits. I bet they'd be described in the media as the pensioners living in poverty but they knew much worse poverty when they were actually working and with children to look after.
This isn't a criticism btw, I'm glad they're not living in such poverty anymore.

Love it. There was no keeping my grandma in until the day she died.
Snow, get the snow boots out, rain, get one of her 300 brollies out, bad back, get the wheelchair out!

That all depends on where you live, to an extent. In London I can't afford the theatre except on very rare occasions and holidays are a complete non starter. I do go out for coffee with friends and belong to a book club and bridge classes (which are free) but I live on a tight budget. As a result I spend a lot of days at home.

It depends on your age.
And you're talking about TWO state pensions = £25K.

If you are in your 90s, don't drive, don't go on holidays, don't buy many clothes etc, then you could JUST about manage.

But AS A SINGLE PERSON out of the £12K state pension, £3K could go on council tax, £1.5K on utilities. £1K on water rates, then there is house insurance, car running costs, food, clothes, gifts for family, etc etc.

I think you're confusing things when you talk about a £300,000K pension pot. That equates to a monthly income, although some people take it as a lump sum.

For example, a pension pot of £1.2million might give an annual pension of £40-60K, with or without taking a lump sum up to £250K.

If as a couple you will have 2 state pensions = £25K a year you could survive but it would be tight.

The issue will be if you are widowed and have only your own pensions.

You won't get the state pension until you reach pension age so if that's all you've got early retirement isn't an option. There's been an issue in Ireland where some jobs have 65 as retirement age but state pension doesn't kick in until 66 leaving people having to go on job seekers allowance to bridge the gab and also means they have to prove they're actively seeking work in that year as well.

Spot on. This is my experience too.