StainlessSteelCat Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 I think most olds are not living it up as you imply. most young people will not be able to 'live it up' when they get old either it is the rich 'old' who have the good life the rest of us struggle on and will never be a 'well-heeled' old Not implying owt. But thanks for replying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyguy Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 I think most olds are not living it up as you imply. most young people will not be able to 'live it up' when they get old either it is the rich 'old' who have the good life the rest of us struggle on and will never be a 'well-heeled' old Nope. I disagree. Strongly. MY mum and Dad are 10 years into there retirement. My Dad made Andy Cap look like a salary man - out of his 50 possible years of work, he only worked 20, most of those grudengly. MY Mum did the odd part-time job. At the moment, with their pensions, updated recently, tax credits to make up for my Dad not working, free TV, free bus passes, winter fuel allowance etc they are whooping up it up. Show me a little old lady living in penury and Ill show you a stupid bint who's direct debitted her income to a donkey sanctuary or dog home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olliegog Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 (edited) Nope. I disagree. Strongly. MY mum and Dad are 10 years into there retirement. My Dad made Andy Cap look like a salary man - out of his 50 possible years of work, he only worked 20, most of those grudengly. MY Mum did the odd part-time job. At the moment, with their pensions, updated recently, tax credits to make up for my Dad not working, free TV, free bus passes, winter fuel allowance etc they are whooping up it up. Show me a little old lady living in penury and Ill show you a stupid bint who's direct debitted her income to a donkey sanctuary or dog home. it is not tax credits if they are pensioners but pension credit the tv LICENCE is not free unless one of them is over 75 winter fuel allowance is £200 pa for them both they would get rent, council tax, cold weather payments, help with fuel bills - because they are on £225 pw pension credit (regardless of what they have paid in) they pay no tax the 'olds' who are not living it up (one anecdote does not a age group average make) are single pensioners who are not eligible for pension credit because they paid into a small private pension and may be 1 or 2 pounds over the £145 pension credit level I could quote you the statistics but this constant harping on how well off over 65s are based on someone you know is misleading and plain wrong. sorry it is the Guardian but read this: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/jun/05/retirement-income-less-working-wage Edited July 10, 2014 by olliegog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Bear Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Nope. I disagree. Strongly. MY mum and Dad are 10 years into there retirement. My Dad made Andy Cap look like a salary man - out of his 50 possible years of work, he only worked 20, most of those grudengly. MY Mum did the odd part-time job. At the moment, with their pensions, updated recently, tax credits to make up for my Dad not working, free TV, free bus passes, winter fuel allowance etc they are whooping up it up. Show me a little old lady living in penury and Ill show you a stupid bint who's direct debitted her income to a donkey sanctuary or dog home. You might be surprised. I used to help with a sort of free taxi service for the (mostly) elderly who were not mobile enough to use public transport to hospital /GP appts etc. often I would go in to wait while they got ready and it was frequently like going back in time - many of them I swear were barely getting by. And yet it was those who were apparently poorest who would be scrabbling around in their purses, wanting to give me a pound for my petrol. These people mostly lived only a mile or two from me, but I think they are largely invisible to us most of the time. Similar experience back when kids were at school - their school and the boys' one next door used to put on a big Christmas party for about 200 elderly - nearly all hard up - from the local areas. They were all taken and fetched by parents. I was detailed to take an old couple from a small council flat - it was so humbling to see how happy they were to be going on an outing. The old lady said, as I was driving them there, 'it's such a treat to have a ride in a car.' Again, I think so many of these people are 'invisible' to many of us much of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElPapasito Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 You might be surprised. I used to help with a sort of free taxi service for the (mostly) elderly who were not mobile enough to use public transport to hospital /GP appts etc. often I would go in to wait while they got ready and it was frequently like going back in time - many of them I swear were barely getting by. And yet it was those who were apparently poorest who would be scrabbling around in their purses, wanting to give me a pound for my petrol. These people mostly lived only a mile or two from me, but I think they are largely invisible to us most of the time. Similar experience back when kids were at school - their school and the boys' one next door used to put on a big Christmas party for about 200 elderly - nearly all hard up - from the local areas. They were all taken and fetched by parents. I was detailed to take an old couple from a small council flat - it was so humbling to see how happy they were to be going on an outing. The old lady said, as I was driving them there, 'it's such a treat to have a ride in a car.' Again, I think so many of these people are 'invisible' to many of us much of the time. Top post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jie Bie Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Top post Yup. My gran (who died a couple of years back aged 86) lived a fairly meagre existence for most of her days. Thinking back her and my grandpa did get to go a few nice holidays over the course of their retirement (the only times they ever left the UK), but other than that they never had any luxuries to speak of. Neither of them owned a car at any point in their lives, and when they were both gone the only thing left behind was their terraced house, which was worth less than 100k. It was hardly a retirement living it up in the costa del sol where they were spending money like no tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Knimbies who say No Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Think there is a distinction to be made here. My grandparents were poor in retirement, born interwar and served. I don't think their lifestyle is in any way comparable with their children's, the boomers. I see my own lifestyle as much more inkeeping with my grandparents than my parents. Might sound silly on some levels but it has some parallels. Very selected amounts of quality kit for proper hobbies/pursuits, and a minimisation of everything else. The people I see of in my parent's peer group have an attritional attitude to acquiring and generally wasting decent quality goods in a greater volume than they could ever hope to make good use of. Pointless consumption in the main. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyguy Posted July 10, 2014 Author Share Posted July 10, 2014 You might be surprised. I used to help with a sort of free taxi service for the (mostly) elderly who were not mobile enough to use public transport to hospital /GP appts etc. often I would go in to wait while they got ready and it was frequently like going back in time - many of them I swear were barely getting by. And yet it was those who were apparently poorest who would be scrabbling around in their purses, wanting to give me a pound for my petrol. These people mostly lived only a mile or two from me, but I think they are largely invisible to us most of the time. Similar experience back when kids were at school - their school and the boys' one next door used to put on a big Christmas party for about 200 elderly - nearly all hard up - from the local areas. They were all taken and fetched by parents. I was detailed to take an old couple from a small council flat - it was so humbling to see how happy they were to be going on an outing. The old lady said, as I was driving them there, 'it's such a treat to have a ride in a car.' Again, I think so many of these people are 'invisible' to many of us much of the time. The system is very complex. There are a lot of hoops to be jumped thru. A lot of people, esp. OAPs cannot handle the paper work - Gorddy wanted everybody to jump for his free money. Its sad how the world changes around a lot of OAPs. I had an Aunty in Wakefield. When she moved into her estate it was a really nice area filled with miners - this was one of the brave new world estates built during the 60s. Over the years the mines shutdown, the houses transfered from the NCB to the council. Over the housing policy was change from 'miners needing to be near work' to 'needs based' which is another way of saying 'the more dysfunctional you are, the more points you get'. The estate turned into a fkcing sh1thole full junkies and single mums. You ended up with OAPS - who tended to be at least OK if not nice - surrounded by scum. OAPs tend to depression. You do need someone t go and organise stuff and keep them active. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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