SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON CONTROVERSAL NEWS TOPICS

TODAYS TOPIC the British Governments changes to pensions and how it will effect you. Have your say or moan here and share your thoughts with others.

    Each day where possible I will put my point of view on the subject chosen for the day, please feel free to enter any other topic for discussion you wish to, or disagree with my opinions.

     Pensions and retirement are very personal to me at the moment as I applied for my state pension on the 21st February 2011, I’ve just been paid 2 weeks pension backdated to the 21st.Iv’e deffered my pension by 2 years to 67 . There’s a saying about being paid peanuts, well this monkey knows what the saying means! How anybody can be expected to live on the basic state pension is beyond my comprehension ! 

     I spent 14 years in the RAF from the age of 16 to the age 30, at that age 16, pension provision for old age was the last thing on my and my comrades minds! We were institutionalised  for the next 14 years and nobody in an official capacity gave us any advice on financial planning , savings ,or any other financial advice. Even if they had, Service pay was so low compared with civilian wages, I could not of afforded any pension planning in the most important early years of any pension planning!  I left the RAF in 1974 at the age of 30 after 14 years with the massive lump sum payment of £150. At the age of 16 this was the amount I was tempted with to sign up for 12 years instead of 9 years which had no lump sum payment at termination of service.At 16 it sounded a lot of money  14 years later it was an insult! If I had been an officer I would of received thousands of pounds after only 3-5 years of service! To add insult to injury beside no future pension earned for my 14 years service, one year after termination of my service, the dear Government of the day changed the pension rules and granted even short term service in the forces a future pension! I’m sure you can understand just how I felt, I don’t need to express it in words. Ex service members have tried to fight for pension payments pre this 1974 date without succcess.

     On leaving the RAF my pension savings continued to be non existant!  I was married with a daughter aged 2 and a son just about to be born. My wife was suffering from an illness for about 18 months which effected her balance, so although I started working as a self employed salesman I had a lot of time not working looking after my wife and children,as I was on commission only  times  were hard also with a mortgage to pay. My wife committed suicide in 1976 as she could not cope with her illness after a number of unsuccessful attempts over 2 years. I was left to care for a daughter of 5 years and a son of 2 years of age. In those days there was not much help offered to single fathers, just a health visitor, any child minders had to be paid by me so work was spasmodic.

      I will keep the rest of my life story short but over the years as the children grew up I had a succession of house keepers,au pairs, and parents and in laws looking after the children so I could do some work. I have had numerous jobs over the years having to give up jobs when child minding ceased at many times.

    The reason I have gone into so much detail about my past is that I am now being paid a reduced pension, as over past years  my national insurance payments are insufficient for a full state pension, also I have just missed out on the new reduced number of nat. ins. contribution years needed for a full pension.  I have no company pension,so I will have to keeep working till I drop. To cap it all I was diagnosed with prostate cancer 4 years ago and currently under treatment . 

    This morning listning to the news and radio 5 phone in chat show, I started to feel so sad for some hard done by public service workers and some private  company workers complaining they may have to work a few more years or pay a bit more into their pension pots and that wasn’t in their original contract! Join the club! a large amount of private company workers took a cut in wages and worked longer hours for no overtime pay for a long time now. I took a 30% drop in my commissions and had my bonuses cut my in half  last year to help keep the company afloat and I paid my own expenses which escalated  dramatically with the cost of fuel. So stop your moaning those who are on expenses especially public servants on your high petrol milage allowances for using your own cars for work!  I was having to spend about £100 a week on fuel last year out of my pocket to carry out my work and some weeks on commission only I earnt no money! 

    I rest my case come on argue with me, put your point, all above comments are said without malice as I’m sure we all feel hard done by at times. I look forward to your comments on this or other topics, as this is the first day of my new blog please help me get it up and running and hopefully between us we can get a blog successfully running to air our views and have a moan. 

   Till tomorrow or soon God willing and another subject and maybe a continuation of todays topic.

Take care, Dave