Surviving on a UK Pension

[Chancer]

And the concept of self service saves the stores money but we the punter still pay the same inflated prices whether they are weighed at the till or we have to do it ourselves.

I personally find the machines difficult to use, I have a habit of resting my left hand just beneath the weighing platform whilst trying to decipher and enter the correct code but this can play havoc with the accuracy [6]

[Sprogster]

Inflation, inflation, inflation, this is what now really matters.

We have just had one of the longest periods of stable low inflation in modern history which has probably lulled many people into a false sense of security, believing that a modest pension provision can probably see them out. Not any longer, with escalating food and enegy costs, many people are just not going to be able to afford to retire, as few if any pension arrangements can keep up with the current levels of inflation.

If you can only just afford to live on your pension now, how are you going to manage in five years time if food and energy costs have doubled, but your retirement income has onl;y increased by 20%?

[andyh4]

quote user="woolybanana'sbrother"

TV programmes this week are suggesting that the average French shopping basket may be as much as 30% cheaper in Germany. Why?

unquote

Because it's sensational, that's why.  Is it true?  I don't think so from my experience but I guess it depends what the mythical average shopping basket contains and if the comparison is like for like.

[krusty]

[quote user="Sprogster"]

If you can only just afford to live on your pension now, how are you going to manage in five years time if food and energy costs have doubled, but your retirement income has onl;y increased by 20%?

[/quote]

awh Sprogster , you are making my rose tinted go pale [:P][Www]

[Sprogster]

Apologies krusty, if my post came across as depressing, but it was mainly aimed at those in their forties and fifties, who are looking to take early retirement without a realistic understanding of the significant amount of capital you need behind you to finance an acceptable level of income for another possible thirty to forty years. In that one overlooks the erroding effects of inflation and that the UK State pension is being allowed to fall well behind the average annual increase in earnings.

[krusty]

It gets worse , I am in my fifties , I have taken early retirement [:-))] .

I hope I have got my sums correct , time will tell , but so far going ok [:)].

[Sprogster]

Apologies again!

[Bannon]

Out of interest, did anybody pick up on a BBC news item this morning that people over 60 now outnumber children for the first time, with Help the Aged saying that the older population would require social care reform and the end of "arbitary" retirement ages. More telling was a statement by a Mervyn Kohler from the same source.... "The days of assuming older people are dependants must now come to an end".

Looks like those of us who do not have a generous pension will have to keep working - and put our fluffy slippers in the bin!

 

 

 

[Blitzen]

Yes I heard that one.  We're moving down here permanently mid September; from Germany and I do find it more expensive here than in Germany, but not as expensive as the UK!!  Looks like a potager is going to be the first thing to be got up and running, along with getting our firewood from the community forest each autumn.

[Tony F Dordogne]

A couple of members here are also members of a great gardening forum in the UK for grow your own stuff, allotmenteering etc and there are regular but not frequent reports on there of allotments being raided.  Recent change is that it's not now the mindless vandalism and theft of tools that's happening, people are now having THEIR food stolen out of the ground.

It's the brass neck that annoys me and the fact that the growers have spent so much time and energy growing stuff to feed their families which is then stolen - if people want the food, get a bloody allotment themselves and do what are literally the hard yards.

As for us, the potager supplements our income but no potager is wholly cost effective even with saved rainwater, I'm putting in even more raised beds next year and have just completed two fruit tunnels for the climbing fruit and squashes but then that's why we bought the house, so we could have the garden as we are changing it, the economic situation just makes us feel better having such a big potager - think 3 allotments plots atm and still growing.

And I scrounge pots, trays, pallets etc, buy industrial quantities of organic seeds from the UK where they're much cheaper, bottle, pickle and make jams for the next winter and year etc etc - it costs for the initial investment but the return is quick.

[mint]

Tony, am I allowed to say I admire you for your hardwork and resourcefulness?[:D]

Beats the sort of posts that just moan about the cost of things and make no suggestions about how it is possible to counter some of the effects of rising costs.

[Bannon]

Point taken Sweet 17, but I don't think anybody on this thread is moaning about the cost of things and making no suggestions. For example, I mentioned that we had a little Gite (and as it happens a slightly larger veg garden but as said, they do bring their own problems)

The main focus would seem to be looking towards retirement with enough to live on after a lifetime of work. Running a Gite, having a veg garden or even doing odd jobs should be a matter choice and not obligation.

Just a thought.

[mint]

Bannon, I wasn't even remotely pointing a finger at anyone in particular when I said there were some moaning about things and not making positive suggestions.  It's a regular thing on the forum, people moan, possibly just to let off steam and also it's because we are all more or less in all this together.

I do hope very much that you can manage to retire OK in France.  We ourselves have found that we needed a major mind shift to adjust to having no income from work.  My OH is in his late 70s and he's worked till last year when we came here to live. 

It wasn't so much that he needed the money from work (although who could say they don't need any more money), he loved his work and found it difficult to give up.

Now, we have scaled down on everything but feel very rich in the enjoyment of life and leisure time to spend as we wish to in France.  Also, we live in the countryside so, apart from food, bills etc to stay alive, there isn't all that much temptation to spend money!

Strange as it may seem, I feel more contentment than I ever did whilst I was trying to juggle home and work back in the UK.  As long as you can manage to pay your way, I don't think money is the big deal that it's sometimes made out to be.

Good Luck in your retirement, Bannon.  No point worrying about the future; it won't alter anything.  Constructively thinking your way through the problems is a good thing to do, however, and I believe you are already doing that.[:D] 

[krusty]

I know my wife would agree with you sweet 17 on contentment , she always says we do not need to win the lottery , we have everything we need. [:D] 

[mint]

Krusty, your wife is definitely a preson after my own heart.  Would there were more people like her![kiss]

[Bannon]

Your comments well put sweet 17 and warm thanks for your encouragement. As you suggest, moaners and groaners seem to be everywhere at times. We love France and would hate to have move back to the UK from our little hamlet here in the countryside where the weather is warm (well, sometimes anyway) and the lifestyle no less than superb.

Off now to chase the chicks out of the veg garden..... again.

Cheers guys.

[krusty]

I followed the link on page 1 and applied for a forecast for my wife for next year . The result came back today , so it took 4 weeks , just  posting for info for anybody thinking of applying.

[Madeira Jon]

I simply hate to bring this up but one must.  Here goes.......

Has the OP taken the actual costs of his/her funeral into the equation?  I ask this as both my wife and I are over 70 and recently paid for our funeral so that the costs wouldn't fall on our only child as he has his own family.

Total costs for the 2 of us, e.g.  funeral service, one hearse, burial in one grave, £5,500! (The grave digging alone is £560 each time!!!)

Has the OP deducted that from the pot of savings?

This is Teesdale, County Durham.

I hasten to say that we have no inclination of popping off just yet! :-)

[Logan]

You will find cremation much cheaper. Here in France cremation and all the attendant fees comes to about 3000 Euros each. Burial is more expensive than your UK quotation.

For those in France who are worried about these costs an insurance named Contract Obseques is usually the way most people meet the expense. They can be obtained at low cost from most France insurance companies.

[Ron Avery]

"You will find cremation much cheaper in France"

Be interested to know on what you base your opinion of "cheaper".  As we don't know where in France you are Logan or even if you live in France, its difficult to know if you are talking about urban or rural living or from experience recent or past.

Although there are cemeteries in every village in France crematoriums are few and far apart, they tend to be only in the very large towns, so  its often necessary to travel long distances if a cremation is required in a rural area.  That not only puts up the cost it also requires permissions from every department that the body  passes through.  A friend here in 12 who lost her husband had to go to Toulouse for a cremation and that meant not only a very long journey but also permissions and fees to be paid to each department en route.

[Logan]

Perigueux Crematorium.

The price I mentioned was a whole cost, extras included 2 years ago. My experience also involved travel across two departments.

[Anton Redman]

About 17% of the dead are now cremated rather than buried in France and there are almost 100 crematoria.

http://www.afif.asso.fr/english/cremation.htm

[Val_2]

Yes and cemetary concessions are beginning to go up in price.We are having to re-think the fees for our village shortly as they go in blocks of 25years at a time so the ongoing relatives continue to pay. However no one has said about what happens when the family stops paying, suppose they just get dug up and the cave is rented out again.

[BJSLIV]

However no one has said about what happens when the family stops paying

That's exactly what does happen. Notices were recently posted in the local bulletin notifying which plots were due to be cleared for reuse this year.

[Kate]

Blimey! Are you telling me that if I pop my clogs in France, I'll be dug up again after 25 years if there's no one to pay for my last resting place? I'm divorced (so the ex won't pay!) and my nearest relative is my first cousin. I can't expect her to pay. What happens to my remains once I'm dug up, anyway? Actually, I wanted to be cremated, but even that looks like a costly option. Maybe I should just slink off into the woods when the time comes...

 

(When I say I wanted to be cremated, I'm not looking for that any time soon.)