UK pensions

[Eclipse]

I have to disagree suffering should not be blamed on exchange rates you should have planned a Thai retirement on a pound = baht equation the history and retirement situation has been place for many years.

I would take offence if someone accused me of gloating or mocking it's something l don't even think about let alone do.

So you are saying that retirees on a fixed income should have planned on the exchange rates dropping 35% with probably more to come.

When does it stop being our fault and start becoming just bad luck.

How can anyone plan for an extremely unlikely event that has just happened a month ago?

Not saying that you are taking delight in others misfortune but some of the nuckledraggers on this forum are.

[Kwasaki]

I have to disagree suffering should not be blamed on exchange rates you should have planned a Thai retirement on a pound = baht equation the history and retirement situation has been place for many years.

I would take offence if someone accused me of gloating or mocking it's something l don't even think about let alone do.

So you are saying that retirees on a fixed income should have planned on the exchange rates dropping 35% with probably more to come.

When does it stop being our fault and start becoming just bad luck.

How can anyone plan for an extremely unlikely event that has just happened a month ago?

Not saying that you are taking delight in others misfortune but some of the nuckledraggers on this forum are.

With respect, yes retirees planning retirement in Thailand should have researched and the event that has happen recently with exchange rates has happen before l would not call it unlikely or extreme as history has shown.

I genuinely feel sorry and regret any hardship this has caused it's no one's fault <deleted> happens in life wherever you live and there's sometimes nowt you can do about it.

[nong38]

When looking a possible move abroad it would be prudent to take a broad picture approach especially with exchange rates, whilst here in Thailand its good to work things out at 50bts to the £ as its nice and easy I always looked at rates down to 45. Anything over 50 would be a bonus. If things look tight at 45 and local prices go up then things begin to become difficult but it should not come as a surprise if you had made plans earlier for the possibility of a period of tough financial downturns. The current downturn was highly likely with the EU vote and should not have come as a shock, how long it will last is a guess but its probably gone past its worst now and hopefully things will be better by the spring, how much better is the question.

For those experiencing hard times, you do have my sympathy, you will just have to hang in there for the time being as the other option of returning to Blighty may not be the better solution.

I see that our one time Pensioner Champion has urged the HMG to end the triple lock pension increases to replace it with a double lock one to save money! Funny how she changed her tune when she entered the HMG and now that she is ejected by the new HMG she comes up with this splendid offer, dont think it could a bit spiteful do you?

[Eclipse]

Yes. Baroness Altman. Dreadful woman.

Not that it will affect me but, robbing pensioners is evil.

[Eclipse]

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Edited August 1, 2016 by Eclipse

[Eclipse]

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Edited August 1, 2016 by Eclipse

[Eclipse]

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Edited August 1, 2016 by Eclipse

[GuestHouse]

Baroness Altman is only voicing the opinions being expressed by many critics of the tripple lock, in particular those advocating a reballance of government spending in favour of the young.

This first challenge to the tripple lock has been kicked down the road (not absolutely defeated), it will return.

[Ricardo]

47 minutes ago, GuestHouse said:

Baroness Altman is only voicing the opinions being expressed by many critics of the tripple lock, in particular those advocating a reballance of government spending in favour of the young.

This first challenge to the tripple lock has been kicked down the road (not absolutely defeated), it will return.

"A Downing Street spokesperson said it was still committed to the policy.

"The manifesto contains a commitment to protect the triple lock. That commitment still stands," the spokesperson said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36937107

But as usual, nobody mentions those many pensioners overseas, including in Thailand,  who don't benefit from the triple-lock even now !

[i claudius]

17 hours ago, Ricardo said:

"A Downing Street spokesperson said it was still committed to the policy.

"The manifesto contains a commitment to protect the triple lock. That commitment still stands," the spokesperson said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36937107

But as usual, nobody mentions those many pensioners overseas, including in Thailand,  who don't benefit from the triple-lock even now !

Those "living in Britain do"

[GuestHouse]

17 hours ago, Ricardo said:

"A Downing Street spokesperson said it was still committed to the policy.

"The manifesto contains a commitment to protect the triple lock. That commitment still stands," the spokesperson said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36937107

But as usual, nobody mentions those many pensioners overseas, including in Thailand,  who don't benefit from the triple-lock even now !

Those who have not retired are currently watching the 'start' pension they will receive rise at a higher rate than wages, this is undoubtedly good news to the ears of people very near retirement, but not such good news for young people who are facing a growing gap between their income and the wealthier older generation. 

My bet is on the triple lock not contenting for much longer. 

[Ricardo]

14 minutes ago, i claudius said:

Those "living in Britain do"

a.k.a. "potential voters"  ...  not to be touched or worried, under any circumstances !

[dick dasterdly]

On 8/1/2016 at 10:13 AM, nong38 said:

When looking a possible move abroad it would be prudent to take a broad picture approach especially with exchange rates, whilst here in Thailand its good to work things out at 50bts to the £ as its nice and easy I always looked at rates down to 45. Anything over 50 would be a bonus. If things look tight at 45 and local prices go up then things begin to become difficult but it should not come as a surprise if you had made plans earlier for the possibility of a period of tough financial downturns. The current downturn was highly likely with the EU vote and should not have come as a shock, how long it will last is a guess but its probably gone past its worst now and hopefully things will be better by the spring, how much better is the question.

For those experiencing hard times, you do have my sympathy, you will just have to hang in there for the time being as the other option of returning to Blighty may not be the better solution.

I see that our one time Pensioner Champion has urged the HMG to end the triple lock pension increases to replace it with a double lock one to save money! Funny how she changed her tune when she entered the HMG and now that she is ejected by the new HMG she comes up with this splendid offer, dont think it could a bit spiteful do you?

I agree.  When we first moved here we thought exchange rates would be around 70.  Times changed, exchange rates fell but we were lucky enough for it not to be a problem.

When (my) circumstances changed - and at the worst possible time from my perspective - exchange rates went down to around 44.   I thought I'd have to leave Thailand, and 'passported' the dogs in preparation.

My circumstances improved (as did exchange rates), but from then on I used 45 bht as the calculator.

I feel very, very sorry for those that are suffering from the 5 bht exchange drop - but its 'only' 10%.  The exchange rate is likely to improve IMO - if it gets worse, then its a problem for anyone trying to live with less than the amount stipulated for retirement income.

[billd766]

3 hours ago, GuestHouse said:

Those who have not retired are currently watching the 'start' pension they will receive rise at a higher rate than wages, this is undoubtedly good news to the ears of people very near retirement, but not such good news for young people who are facing a growing gap between their income and the wealthier older generation. 

My bet is on the triple lock not contenting for much longer. 

Strangely enough, even at 72, I can remember being one of the younger generation who was also facing a growing gap between my generation and the wealthier older generation. Given that was some 50 years ago, nothing much changes.

I was 40 in 1984 when I bought my first house using my gratuity from the RAF as a deposit.

I had been married 6 years by then with a 4 year old son.

We sold that house for twice what we paid for it and with the money bought another.

However to pay for the second house I was working a 60 hour week plus 2 weekends in 4.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, dick dasterdly said:

I agree.  When we first moved here we thought exchange rates would be around 70.  Times changed, exchange rates fell but we were lucky enough for it not to be a problem.

When (my) circumstances changed - and at the worst possible time from my perspective - exchange rates went down to around 44.   I thought I'd have to leave Thailand, and 'passported' the dogs in preparation.

My circumstances improved (as did exchange rates), but from then on I used 45 bht as the calculator.

I feel very, very sorry for those that are suffering from the 5 bht exchange drop - but its 'only' 10%.  The exchange rate is likely to improve IMO - if it gets worse, then its a problem for anyone trying to live with less than the amount stipulated for retirement income.

I did all my retirement planning in 2002 when the exchange rate was 72 baht and I still had a 7 year working life.

However I wasn't always in work during those last 7 years and the exchange rate slowly dropped so forward planning doesn't always work.

The difference between 72 baht and the current 45 baht made a large difference between being really well off and being sort of fairly comfortable which is where I am now.

[Rajab Al Zarahni]

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

I did all my retirement planning in 2002 when the exchange rate was 72 baht and I still had a 7 year working life.

However I wasn't always in work during those last 7 years and the exchange rate slowly dropped so forward planning doesn't always work.

The difference between 72 baht and the current 45 baht made a large difference between being really well off and being sort of fairly comfortable which is where I am now.

I am a great advocate in long term planning for retirement. I enjoyed relatively good health and I was surprisingly lucky in avoiding unemployment.  I was also fortunate in working for employers with generous index linked pension schemes. Some of this good fortune was about making wise decisions but a lot could be attributed to good luck. Once retired, you are completely at the mercy of good luck. You have no control over exchange rates and no control over government pension policy.  Forward planning doesn't always work but it's always better than no planning at all.

Edited August 2, 2016 by Rajab Al Zarahni

[Eclipse]

23 minutes ago, Rajab Al Zarahni said:

I am a great advocate in long term planning for retirement. I enjoyed relatively good health and I was surprisingly lucky in avoiding unemployment.  I was also fortunate in working for employers with generous index linked pension schemes. Some of this good fortune was about making wise decisions but a lot could be attributed to good luck. Once retired, you are completely at the mercy of good luck. You have no control over exchange rates and no control over government pension policy.  Forward planning doesn't always work but it's always better than no planning at all.

Yes but how far can you see into the future?

I also came to Thailand when the rate was 72. 

What can you plan for? 60? 50? 45? 40? 35?

Surely it reaches a level when it beomes bad luck and not bad planning.

[Rajab Al Zarahni]

3 hours ago, Eclipse said:

Yes but how far can you see into the future?

I also came to Thailand when the rate was 72. 

What can you plan for? 60? 50? 45? 40? 35?

Surely it reaches a level when it beomes bad luck and not bad planning.

How right you are, but by careful long term planning and cautious decision making you will hopefully avoid a good measure of misfortune. What remains are things such as exchange rates, over which you can exert no control.

[nong38]

On 01/08/2016 at 8:39 AM, GuestHouse said:

Baroness Altman is only voicing the opinions being expressed by many critics of the tripple lock, in particular those advocating a reballance of government spending in favour of the young.

This first challenge to the tripple lock has been kicked down the road (not absolutely defeated), it will return.

I think its worth pointing out that since 2008 my income along with many others from savings was destroyed by the interest rate colapse, which seemed to be helping out a lot of young people to buy homes! In others words they were usung money that would have been mine in interest to fund the young. The young are now in debt and they wont be able to raise the interest rates to help us older prudent savers because the borrowers ( yes that includes the HMG) will find it very difficukt to repay.

It was tough when I was young and trying to buy but no one came to me with any help, no one suggested cutting pensioner income to fund me and I would not have expected them to, but then again maybe the powers that be are now looking at tax revenues abd think the young might be a better bet.

As far as the triple lock is concerned I am not surprised its being talked about, in the current climate it is good, but let us not forget the "allowance holiday" when we went several years of having no increases in that until the basic tax allowance caught up.

I dont think the pensioner has been treated that special over the last few years when you look at allowances, interest rates and the triple lock and that is particularly true if your pension is frozen.

[GuestHouse]

54 minutes ago, nong38 said:

I think its worth pointing out that since 2008 my income along with many others from savings was destroyed by the interest rate colapse, which seemed to be helping out a lot of young people to buy homes! In others words they were usung money that would have been mine in interest to fund the young. The young are now in debt and they wont be able to raise the interest rates to help us older prudent savers because the borrowers ( yes that includes the HMG) will find it very difficukt to repay.

It was tough when I was young and trying to buy but no one came to me with any help, no one suggested cutting pensioner income to fund me and I would not have expected them to, but then again maybe the powers that be are now looking at tax revenues abd think the young might be a better bet.

As far as the triple lock is concerned I am not surprised its being talked about, in the current climate it is good, but let us not forget the "allowance holiday" when we went several years of having no increases in that until the basic tax allowance caught up.

I dont think the pensioner has been treated that special over the last few years when you look at allowances, interest rates and the triple lock and that is particularly true if your pension is frozen.

If I had wanted to demonstrate how far out of touch pensioners are with the problems faced by the young, I could not have done a better job than your post.

Edited August 2, 2016 by GuestHouse

[i claudius]

The Young or generation snowflake do not know what it is like to do without , they think having it hard is not getting a new android phone every year , well if you think its hard now guys and gals wait until you get old ,there will be no old age pension and like us any savings you make will just be taken away from you , cutting interest rates right down is just giving people a false sense of security ,because when they go up ,and they will the shit is going to hit the fan for so many people who thought it would never happen , i remember the last time when interest rates rocketed and so many homes were reposesed , myself i made a killing , but as i didnt cause the problem i was not ashamed to do it , then as now it was the bankers and the traders  what did it ,people like me with a few bob to spare just swept up the crumbs ,nice as they were .

[evadgib]

The International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP)

4 August at 23:24 · 

ICBP's Chairman, John Markham writes in Money Observer about frozen British pensions:
http://www.moneyobserver.com/…/overseas-pensioners-left-lim…

[metisdead]

Quote

I think this topic needs vacuuming  again.  It's full of non-relevant posts.

 

A bunch of irrelevant posts and replies have been removed.  

[billd766]

On 8/7/2016 at 1:54 PM, evadgib said:

The International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP)

4 August at 23:24 · 

ICBP's Chairman, John Markham writes in Money Observer about frozen British pensions:
http://www.moneyobserver.com/…/overseas-pensioners-left-lim…

 

The stupid thing is that the government (and all the previous governments going back to the 1950s) keep saying that there is no extra money available yet if I were to move to the Philippines for example or any other country where my pension is not frozen the government will quite happily update my pension and pay the extra money.

 

So, YES, the money is available. It is just that the mean hearted skinflint barstewards that are in government simply don't care about frozen pensions or even frozen pensioners.

 

Is Madame Guillotine being sharpened yet, and are the tumbrils getting a major overhaul?

[Rajab Al Zarahni]

19 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

The stupid thing is that the government (and all the previous governments going back to the 1950s) keep saying that there is no extra money available yet if I were to move to the Philippines for example or any other country where my pension is not frozen the government will quite happily update my pension and pay the extra money.

 

So, YES, the money is available. It is just that the mean hearted skinflint barstewards that are in government simply don't care about frozen pensions or even frozen pensioners.

 

Is Madame Guillotine being sharpened yet, and are the tumbrils getting a major overhaul?

Extra money is not required. Apparently  £13 billion of welfare payments, including pensions, go unclaimed every year,  so there is plenty of slack in the system to make the payments.

[Ricardo]

11 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

The stupid thing is that the government (and all the previous governments going back to the 1950s) keep saying that there is no extra money available yet if I were to move to the Philippines for example or any other country where my pension is not frozen the government will quite happily update my pension and pay the extra money.

 

So, YES, the money is available. It is just that the mean hearted skinflint barstewards that are in government simply don't care about frozen pensions or even frozen pensioners.

 

Is Madame Guillotine being sharpened yet, and are the tumbrils getting a major overhaul?

 

But there's still plenty of money for a new fleet of four nuclear-submarines, costing GBP30-billion  ...  says it all, really.

 

Meanwhile, on page 35 of the latest (issue 1423) of Private Eye, I read that "In the last two weeks nine US-made Poseidon P-8A maritime patrol aircraft have been bought for $4bn, even though the Americans have managed to buy 12 of the aircraft for only $2bn. It's now a "done deal", despite the cheeky price inflation added to the UK contract."

 

Now I'm not saying that these (and other) toys aren't needed or justifiable, but if the UK can afford to over-pay for them, then how can they not also afford to give many pensioners overseas the equal-pensions, which they have already paid-for over so many years ?

 

 

[sandyf]

12 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

The stupid thing is that the government (and all the previous governments going back to the 1950s) keep saying that there is no extra money available yet if I were to move to the Philippines for example or any other country where my pension is not frozen the government will quite happily update my pension and pay the extra money.

 

So, YES, the money is available. It is just that the mean hearted skinflint barstewards that are in government simply don't care about frozen pensions or even frozen pensioners.

 

Is Madame Guillotine being sharpened yet, and are the tumbrils getting a major overhaul?

Quite right Bill. If we all went back to the UK the additional pension would be provided and also the additional NHS resources would be financed. It really is a question of penalising the minority to safeguard votes.

 

Before anyone goes off on a tangent the point on the NHS was about finance, nothing to do with entitlement etc etc.

[gmac]

On 2 August 2016 at 2:49 PM, Eclipse said:

Yes but how far can you see into the future?

I also came to Thailand when the rate was 72. 

What can you plan for? 60? 50? 45? 40? 35?

Surely it reaches a level when it beomes bad luck and not bad planning.

 

On 2 August 2016 at 6:33 PM, Rajab Al Zarahni said:

How right you are, but by careful long term planning and cautious decision making you will hopefully avoid a good measure of misfortune. What remains are things such as exchange rates, over which you can exert no control.

 

Terrorism, Bankers and Governments have no respect for any amount of careful long term planning.  I came here in early 2001 at an exchange rate around 64,  5 years ahead of my earliest company pension age, and saw my investment income wiped out at a stroke by 9/11.  Recovering from that, the bankers came along in 2008 and decimated my new structured plan.  Now we have Brexit and the pound at 45 so, plan all you like but make sure you are loaded when you start out.  I fear, nay expect, that when I'm due to start receiving my UK Government pension in 5 years time that people living outside the UK will no longer be eligible.

[billd766]

I got my state pension today and the exchange rate was 47.566 but the forex rate at KBank was 44.99376.

 

I get 2 pensions and the state pension always gets the best rate followed by my company pension and lastly by my military pension. There is usually a 2 baht spread between the 3 of them for some reason.

[NoshowJones]

On 8/1/2016 at 0:47 PM, Eclipse said:

Yes. Baroness Altman. Dreadful woman.

Not that it will affect me but, robbing pensioners is evil.

That's true, how much power does a prime minister have over their government robbing state pensioners by refusing

to give them the annual increases that they are entitled to? Has anyone ever known of any British prime minister condemning

the refusal of these annual pension increases?