How much £ is enough?

Old Jan 12th 2016, 5:20 pm
  #91  
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

Originally Posted by Editha
A lot of the energy saving measures have been withdrawn. It wouldn't be so easy to get a free boiler, double glazing, etc. now. The article you linked to in This is Money is two years old and out of date.
still available

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Old Jan 12th 2016, 5:24 pm
  #92  
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

Originally Posted by Editha
A lot of the energy saving measures have been withdrawn. It wouldn't be so easy to get a free boiler, double glazing, etc. now. The article you linked to in This is Money is two years old and out of date.
When pensioners in social housing ask on benefit forums about buying their council house, as their children want it left to them in their will to sell and divide up, they are quickly told that any repairs when they own the house will be theirs to pay. Remain as social tenants and the landlord will be the one to pay for any repairs.

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Old Jan 12th 2016, 5:29 pm
  #93  
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

Originally Posted by Editha
A lot of the energy saving measures have been withdrawn. It wouldn't be so easy to get a free boiler, double glazing, etc. now. The article you linked to in This is Money is two years old and out of date.
When my furnaces needed replacing I contacted my state government energy efficiency office to see if there were discounts for converting from oil to gas heat. I got $600 off each furnace and was asked my income and then directed to the fuel subsidy division. They got me a 25% discount on my gas bill and offered to put me on a program to see if the furnaces could be installed free of charge and my house weatherized and insulated. I don't mind taking some money from the gas utility, but I didn't want to take such large subsidies from the public purse. Being low income and actually needing the subsidies don't necessarily go together.

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Old Jan 12th 2016, 5:41 pm
  #94  
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

Originally Posted by formula
I thought I read that if they are on PC then they are exempt from paying CT? A perk that will be lost under the new state pension amount. While the other pensioners pay in full, unless they claim some Housing benefit?

The having to pay a percentage of their Council Tax, is for those on income based benefits who are below UK state pension age .i.e someone on £72(?) a week JSA will still have to pay a % or their council tax from their JSA. That % paid is set by each council.

It's interesting to see that the free TV licences will no longer be paid for by the state and instead will come out of the money the BBC take from licence payers.
OK, I was wrong about that. It was a perk of pension credit I wasn't aware of.
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Old Jan 12th 2016, 5:45 pm
  #95  
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

I discovered recently that someone who is diagnosed with dementia can can a full discount on council tax. This doesn't seem to be widely known. I'm hoping to get the exemption for my mother, since it will free up a £1,000 or so a year to help pay for her care.
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Old Jan 12th 2016, 6:23 pm
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

Originally Posted by formula
When pensioners in social housing ask on benefit forums about buying their council house, as their children want it left to them in their will to sell and divide up, they are quickly told that any repairs when they own the house will be theirs to pay. Remain as social tenants and the landlord will be the one to pay for any repairs.
I met a couple a few years ago, locally in NC, who as part of their retirement planning/ strategy were going to sell their home and move into a rented house, so as to (among other things) avoid the risk of having to pay for a new roof, heating system, etc.
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Old Jan 12th 2016, 6:31 pm
  #97  
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

Originally Posted by nun
It's not what you earn that matters it's what you spend. That level of spending expressed as a fraction of median income where you are currently living can be used to estimate what you might spend in another country to get a similar lifestyle if you know the median income there.
How can a post-retirement lifestyle be similar to a pre-retirement lifestyle?

What's the point in retiring in the first place?
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Old Jan 12th 2016, 6:45 pm
  #98  
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

Originally Posted by Editha
The second is dental work. Of course, some people reach 90 with all their own teeth, but if you are like me, with ageing bridgework and crowns, you need a reserve of maybe £20,000 for implants and other work over the course of your retirement. Although, theoretically, you can get crowns done on the NHS, your chances of finding a dentist offering NHS treatment for this level of work is roughly on a par with the chances of winning the lottery.
A reserve of £20,000?!? Good grief. I haven't even got a reserve of £2000 so I guess I'm scuppered. But my NHS dentist specially mentions on their website that they cover 'bridges and crowns', so hopefully my chances are better than winning the lottery (although if I did that, I'd just go private).

Originally Posted by Editha
Thirdly, if you want to keep pets: Our two cats' food and vet's fees in 2015 came to £1,700. Dogs cost more.
We have 3 cats and didn't spend anywhere near that amount on them last year. Their food is £5.50 a month, and insurance around £500 for the year. Add on a bit extra for worming tablets etc, their annual boosters at £25 each, and that's perhaps £650 for the three of them. Our dog costs a lot less (as he's the only canine in the house!), less than half that. I'll have to tot it up, but even with all of our other animals (including a pony and pigs), I'd be surprised if we spent the same amount as you last year on the lot of them - clearly you've got very pampered felines and mine should be jealous!

I think that people can spent lots of things, or be very frugal - what one person spends isn't necessarily what another will chose to (or be able to afford to) spend on the same thing.
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Old Jan 12th 2016, 6:52 pm
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

Originally Posted by Editha
.... The second is dental work. Of course, some people reach 90 with all their own teeth, but if you are like me, with ageing bridgework and crowns, you need a reserve of maybe £20,000 for implants and other work over the course of your retirement. Although, theoretically, you can get crowns done on the NHS, your chances of finding a dentist offering NHS treatment for this level of work is roughly on a par with the chances of winning the lottery.

Secondly, you need an income above £12,000 to run a car, and unless you live in a city or sizeable town, not having a car is going to be really inconvenient. The running costs of our Fiat 500 in 2015 were £1,500.

.....

Fifth, for your care needs in old age. Your previous post referred to Attendance Allowance, but you'll only be given that if you have needs due to disability, and the fact is that the allowance probably won't cover all the help you need at that stage. My mother, aged 90, gets the attendance allowance of £4276, but her gardener, cleaner and carer cost us more than £6,000.
£20,000 for dental work, and £6,000pa for a cleaner and gardener?

If you're talking about subsisting on £12,000 and scraping up £1,500 to run a car I have no idea why you're talking about £20,000 for repairing bridges and crowns!
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Old Jan 12th 2016, 7:22 pm
  #100  
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

One of our cats is 22 years old. We feed her 'prescription' cat food for her arthritis, and it does cost a bomb. Our other cat is only 8, but he sicks up anything other than 'sensitive stomach' formula. Both cats had operations last year. The 22 year old had a cyst removed on her neck. That cost £300. The other one had a couple of teeth out, at about the same cost.

If you feed 3 cats for £5.50 a month, what on earth are you feeding them on? That's two boxes of Go Cat biscuits from Tesco's - less than an ounce of food per day per cat.

Our cats aren't insured.

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Old Jan 12th 2016, 7:24 pm
  #101  
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

Originally Posted by Pulaski
£20,000 for dental work, and £6,000pa for a cleaner and gardener?

If you're talking about subsisting on £12,000 and scraping up £1,500 to run a car I have no idea why you're talking about £20,000 for repairing bridges and crowns!
Pulaski, I wasn't talking about living on £12,000 a year. So that answers your question.
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Old Jan 12th 2016, 7:31 pm
  #102  
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

Originally Posted by Novocastrian
How can a post-retirement lifestyle be similar to a pre-retirement lifestyle?

What's the point in retiring in the first place?
"Standard of living" might be better than lifestyle. Sensible accommodations need to be made for changes in spending when you retire. In the US the big one is health care if you leave work before you are eligible for Medicare. But there are savings like less commuting, although other travel might increase, and of course you should be able to stop having to save for retirement.
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Old Jan 12th 2016, 7:34 pm
  #103  
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

On the dentistry, I note that you don't say that your dentist has actually done bridgework for any member of your family on the NHS. If you ever ask him or her to do so you may be in for a surprise: The truth about NHS dentistry | Moneywise
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Old Jan 12th 2016, 7:35 pm
  #104  
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

Originally Posted by Editha
If you feed 3 cats for £5.50 a month, what on earth are you feeding them on? That's two boxes of Go Cat biscuits from Tesco's - less than an ounce of food per day per cat.
No chance of Go Cat - the pets aren't having branded if I don't, far too posh for them

They get a huge bag of dry food from Costco or the country store which does them 3-4 months. W just leave it out for them and they eat what they want, plus they hunt as we live rurally.

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Old Jan 12th 2016, 7:41 pm
  #105  
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Default Re: How much £ is enough?

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNH...n-the-NHS.aspx

Help with dental charges - Health costs - NHS Choices

from that link

you do not have to pay for NHS dental treatment if, when the treatment starts, you are:

aged under 18

under 19 and receiving full-time education
pregnant or have had a baby in the previous 12 months
staying in an NHS hospital and your treatment is carried out by the hospital dentist
an NHS hospital dental service outpatient (however, you may have to pay for your dentures or bridges).

You do not have to pay if, during the course of treatment, you or your partner, receive:
Income Support
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Pension Credit guarantee credit
Universal Credit and meet the criteria

or

you are named on a valid NHS tax credit exemption certificate or you are entitled to an NHS tax credit exemption certificate
you are named on a valid HC2 certificate

Last edited by not2old; Jan 12th 2016 at 7:52 pm. Reason: added a link
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