Interest rates

[j.sabourn]

It’s when you come to the stage of nursing homes that your term deposits will vanish quickly Vernon . I know of a sad case where a friend or should I say 2 friends of mine have had to divorce .He took his bothers wife in when he died and became her carer , she became blind and he wasn’t physically fit enough to look after her. He had too much money in the bank so was being charged approx. $5000 per month plus food and medicines , so had to divorce her to get the benefits of goverment money down to just under $1000 per month which she could pay herself. Myself when I lost my licence by a cock up of the doctor had to apply for taxi chits which pay half, otherwise whatever I have would have soon be had. Money doesn’t go very far if you have too much , which one can never have unless you are a tycoon. Cheers JS.

[j.sabourn]

Elderly out here Rodney is when you are over 55 as regards retirement villages and that would be the best time to go in one in my estimation. I save without trying at least $2000 dollars a month out of the pensions , and before was struggling trying to keep up with the Jones even with no mortgage to pay. Mind we both had our own cars and were living off the top of the hog. But for a more sedate lifestyle and trying to hang on to life in general it’s the place to be. What we had and what we have now are two different parts of our life cycle. And both should be appreciated for what they were worth at the time. Saying that it is again Happy hour at 1600 hrs today which lasts for two hours , everything in moderation , but it is a new world meeting others who have been through the same aspects of life as oneself. Cheers JS….

[Doc Vernon]

It’s when you come to the stage of nursing homes that your term deposits will vanish quickly Vernon . I know of a sad case where a friend or should I say 2 friends of mine have had to divorce .He took his bothers wife in when he died and became her carer , she became blind and he wasn’t physically fit enough to look after her. He had too much money in the bank so was being charged approx. $5000 per month plus food and medicines , so had to divorce her to get the benefits of goverment money down to just under $1000 per month which she could pay herself. Myself when I lost my licence by a cock up of the doctor had to apply for taxi chits which pay half, otherwise whatever I have would have soon be had. Money doesn’t go very far if you have too much , which one can never have unless you are a tycoon. Cheers JS.

Hi JS
Fully understand what you say, but we do not have mega Bucks , and should anything like you say happen (God Forbid) if i am left alone or whatever, which i doubt, as i am sure i wil be gone firsr, anyway whatever as long as we can survive i dont give a Shite, Money is necessary Yes, but its not my one and all for sure! There are always options in life! Remember too that we have the House which is a big backup! Should it come down to that! So no wucking furries nmate all,s good in Heaven ! LOL

[Keith Tindell]

I think , here in the UK at least, people do not worry about a pension, until they are too old to put enough money in the pot.Also, if the money was taken from your wages, there would be a pension worth having on retirement, but when the kids are small, wanting shoes etc, there was never enough put by. not because I was clever, but by luck,when taking my AB ticket, we had to do a course at a fire station in London, and the guy said they would take the whole room of us. That stuck in my mind for future use, and that is what I did. The pension in the fire service was brilliant, 11% contribution, retire after 30 years service service, on two thirds final salary, indexed linked to inflation, widow gets half of the final pension, index linked. Last year for eg 10%, and next year will be 7%. My wife has a local gov pension from working in education, also index linked, plus we both have senior old age pension. That does not make me wealthy, but comfortable. As I retired at 54, I had 11 years to practice retirement before my old age pension. I have now been retired 31 years, and hope to get a few more.I am very lucky, not had a mortgage since the day I retired, as we could commute part of the pension for cash, I was able to walk in the mortgage company off ice and write a small check, and walk out , debt free, and stayed that way ever since.

[j.sabourn]

#14 Good for you Keith. I would have been similar but for the MN disappearance , and the absence of some of the shipowners lack of loyalty to men who retired even after serving during the war years , having to scrape the barrel. I too am debt free , think the banks have given up on me asking if I want my credit limit raised , Any debt incurred is paid off at the end of the month without charges . Neither a lender or a Borrower be . Cheers JS

[James Curry]

#10 Like you years ago I told a so called financial advisor to sling his hook. Bricks & Motar so bought a few do you uppers and rented them out. Then the government started to move the goal posts and started giving tenants more and more so called rights. A lot of which the property owner had no option but to comply.
I think it was 2018 the government introduced a ruling that if a property had and energy rating EPC below E the tenant could insist on a new boiler. In one case I did replace a the boiler , top of my head I think it was £2500. The rent I was receiving was £550 a month. Now that was not what upset me.This tenant was becoming a problem upsetting neighbours who were also tenants. As the land lord I had the right to gain entry to the property by giving the tenant 24 hours notice. They at first objected but consented in the end. The place was a mess, but what really pissed me off was the new boiler was no longer installed. They had removed it and flogged it. The threat of prosecution was all that was required and they moved on, needless to say I did not refund the deposit.
I sold off my properties over a period of 4 years yes there was CGT to pay but it did get rid of what was becoming a headache I no longer needed.
I never had a mortgage on any property after clearing my own mortgage on my home. One of the reasons a lot of land lords who buy their properties (Buy to Let) are being forced to increase rents is because of increasing mortgage rates. I vicious circle the tenant has to either pay the rent increase or move on. A lot of people only rent so they can save enough towards the deposit for their own home.
The UK property market has crashed over this last 18 months or so. A lot of London money are buying properties on the cheap and sitting on them as the market will eventually rise again.

[Keith Tindell]

I had an Auntie some years ag who had lived in Oz most of her married life, she came back to the UK to finish her days. Her Oz old age pension was brilliant compared to UK, and think that probably still is the case. The Uk old age pension is rubbish, you could not live on just the OAP, only if you are able to claim other benefits can it be a little better, but still not good. At present our old age pension is linked to inflation, wage rises or i thinks 2.5 percent, either way is not good.

[j.sabourn]

The uk pension I get barely pays for the grocery’s every week , in fact some weeks it doesn’t . And don’t forget I paid into it plus extra , and not a free loader like most of the illegals. JS

[Johnny Kieran]

Interest rates are governed by the fatcats. When they see lots of people retiring and getting interest on the results of decent payoffs, they decide to drop the rates, because those people are using the interest gained, for their holidays and cars, plus other luxuries.
The fatcats only like it when people spend their savings, so they drop the rates, forcing people to spend their money, so their accounts dwindle. Multi millionaires will get by on a 1% rate for a while, so it doesn't hurt them.
The rates are not too bad in the UK now with an election looming, so anyone with Premium Bonds, ISAs, or other accounts or investments, will benefit for a while. It may not last long though.
We must remember when we spend our money, it always ends up in a fatcats account.

[Keith Tindell]

I think the ex pats system for old age pension is very unfair, in Oz it is frozen at the same amount from when you leave i believe, but in the states i have read that they get the yearly pension rises from the uk pension ?, perhaps Rodney could inform us if that is so. My brother-in-law complains bitterly how much his tap pension pension has lost in the 20 years he has been there, and as you say, paid full whack in to it, very unfair.