State Pension Forecast - A Warning

[Teddy Eagle]

Only if I can leave mine with you 😇

A change is a good as a rest I guess but mine probably won't go. Fair enough, after 30 years she's almost like one of the family.

 

[Tyke Exile]

I filled in everything to catch up on mine. I'm abroad and there's a deadline. Of course, although I did the correct procedure and even did it twice, I haven't heard anything back and the deadline's gone. I'll probably (almost definitely) never hear back. Oh well, here's to poverty in old age. Presumably government policy. "Don't want these bed blockers lasting too long".

You should also check if your pension if frozen. I live in Canada (a commonwealth country!) and my pension was frozen from the day I got it - I get no annual updates.

 

[becky]

oh no , not you also ?

Retirement & Pensions. I always had a fear of setting up a fantastic pension and then doing a James Gandalfini before i could enjoy my hard earned gains. After enjoying a Rock 'n Roll lifestyle for many decades, i will be mightily p1.s$ed off if i live to 87. I could even live long enough to see us getting a stadium worthy of an average Championship club.

Didn't do Keith Richards any harm - he just got himself a younger wife and had twins with her...... see, there is hope!

 

[beak]

State pension top-ups backlog is 'six to eight months'

Sharon Gray, pictured, a retired civil servant from Herefordshire who paid £6,000 in March, was informed that this was the current wait time by a DWP staff member.

www.thisismoney.co.uk

She should log it as a complaint,they soon get a shift on,they have very antiquaited computers and love a complaint to management.

 

[beak]

Didn't do Keith Richards any harm - he just got himself a younger wife and had twins with her...... see, there is hope!

Most billionaires have some sort of expectation. 😆

 

[Teddy Eagle]

Didn't do Keith Richards any harm - he just got himself a younger wife and had twins with her...... see, there is hope!

One of the great ironies that after the lifetime of physical Armageddon he's gone through that he got laid up after falling off a ladder in his library.

 

[chris123]

You've got a second contracted out pension though.

 

[PalazioVecchio]

You should also check if your pension if frozen. I live in Canada (a commonwealth country!) and my pension was frozen from the day I got it - I get no annual updates.

are you telling us you would get more pension money, from the UK government, if you actually lived in the UK ?
did they penalise you for living in Canada ?

 

[ASCPFC]

Didn't do Keith Richards any harm - he just got himself a younger wife and had twins with her...... see, there is hope!

That sounds tiring. But presumably less dangerous than a good book for him.

 

[ASCPFC]

are you telling us you would get more pension money, from the UK government, if you actually lived in the UK ?
did they penalise you for living in Canada ?

I think he means it's not index linked - it's a set amount - it doesn't rise. Which obviously has the issue of being worth f*** all. I think he's probably correct.
Other people here that sorted this before and are already retired are getting some hilarious amounts. My friend's parents get 20 and 78 respectively per week. But better than nothing and, at the end of the day, that was the deal of paying National Insurance.
Mine is supposed to be around 9k a year. Sounds alright but you know Irish prices. It'll be 9k each electricity bill by then.

 

[PalazioVecchio]

I think he means it's not index linked - it's a set amount - it doesn't rise. Which obviously has the issue of being worth f*** all. I think he's probably correct.
Other people here that sorted this before and are already retired are getting some hilarious amounts. My friend's parents get 20 and 78 respectively per week. But better than nothing and, at the end of the day, that was the deal of paying National Insurance.
Mine is supposed to be around 9k a year. Sounds alright but you know Irish prices. It'll be 9k each electricity bill by then.

you could always hop back and forth over the NI border.......pretend to be living in both countries ? if it will stop them freezing your pension......surely worth the effort ?

 

[cryrst]

So I just checked and I have paid 42 full years with another 9 years before I get my pension in march 2034. Ffs 51 years of payments but yay I’m on for a grand a month. Great !

 

[BromleyMonkey]

So I just checked and I have paid 42 full years with another 9 years before I get my pension in march 2034. Ffs 51 years of payments but yay I’m on for a grand a month. Great !

Pretty much the same as me mate, except I’m sept 2031, 50 years and a grand a month as well
Frightening where the years have gone to be honest

 

[PalazioVecchio]

I have paid 42 full years with another 9 years before I get my pension in march 2034. Ffs 51 years of payments

on top of your pension, you will deserve a medal for that.

 

[cryrst]

So if say 40 years is enough why not stop taking it the cheeky bstards.

 

[Tyke Exile]

are you telling us you would get more pension money, from the UK government, if you actually lived in the UK ?
did they penalise you for living in Canada ?

Yes. My pension was frozen at the amount I was awarded when my OAP started to be paid when I was 66 in 2021. I've missed out on 4 annual upratings so far. This link explains more - had I moved to Montenegro, North Macedonia, the Philippines, Serbia or Turkey then I would have got the increase!

Frozen state pension - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[orpingtoneagle]

I had a nasty shock this week so thought I would share with those who are close to retirement.

I unofficially retired about 13 years ago but my state pension age is 67.

I have always believed that I was 2 years short of the 35 years required for a full state pension. However this week I had a conversation with Future Pensions and they confirmed that I need 38 years of NI contributions for a full pension and not 35. Apparently this is because I opted out in the seventies so paid a reduced rate. I have already paid them for what I though was the missing 2 years.

Simply put I need to pay them almost another 3k for the 3 extra years I hadn't expected. I need to do my sums to decide if it is worth it of course the longer I live the better for me.

I am not looking for sympathy I just wanted to warn people that this much quoted 35 years for a full pension is simply not correct. I only have 2 years to make a decision, I wish I had known this earlier but I guess this is down to me not understanding the complexities.

Anyway please don't assume you are okay you need to check what your status is, the sooner the better.

Serious question, did you not realise you had opted out? Is this something that can happen without you kreally knowing you have done it or know the consequences?

As I am getting on a bit I am now thinking I really must check......

 

[beak]

The biggest problem in today's world is that people assume that current pension arrangements where you work for forty years and get a defined pension let's say two thirds of final salary ,this is now not the case.

 

[orpingtoneagle]

The biggest problem in today's world is that people assume that current pension arrangements where you work for forty years and get a defined pension let's say two thirds of final salary ,this is now not the case.

That's where I know I am lucky as majority of my pension is still final salary.

 

[PalazioVecchio]

The biggest problem in today's world is that people assume that current pension arrangements where you work for forty years and get a defined pension let's say two thirds of final salary ,this is now not the case.

perhaps the wealthy decadent West is wrong ? and the Third World is right ? ie. don't bother paying in to a Social Contract with 'The State'. Instead have twelve to sixteen kids. When you are old, the kids will mind you - and protect you from aggressive bullies on your doorstep. Better than any hi-tech camera-alarm system.

https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2023-03-07/bogus-charity-collector-who-violently-robbed-elderly-woman-on-doorstep-jailed