Prescription Charges

[Cyril Haearn]

I found it easy, just got a new passport

Maybe one may still get the info by *letter post*, just like applying for a passport

[Bonefishblues]

[
It's an easy check to make though - a minute or so if you have a Govt Gateway login, slightly longer if you have to register first.

AFAIK this Government Gateway malarkey is quite a recent thing. If you find it easy and fruitful can I assume you have a passport or maybe a picture driving licence? Without something like this you’re a nobody and every attempt you try to make sense of it all can leave you in a foetal position groaning in agony.

Get up off the floor right this minute!

https://www.experian.co.uk/identity-and ... erify.html

[al_yrpal]

I get a pension paynent once a year for all my private pension payments up to the age of 46. Its £11.75!
But, despite that we enjoy a decent retirement income due to the fact that I always paid into the state pension and my Mrs got an NHS one. These are of course nominally inflation proof and pretty secure. In addition we saved very hard and invested everything possible. . A lot of effort doing this was well worthwhile.

Financial advisors, especially those directing you to invest in funds can seriously damage your wealth by creaming off seemingly tiny charges - these charges compound up over the years to rob you blind and line their pockets. I found that putting your savings be they cash or shares into ISAs yourself avoids this. Any dividends and capital gains become tax free.

Its worthwhile becoming as financially expert as possible, that way you avoid all those sharks.

As for retired peoples freebies and reductions these are a great perk.

Al

[Cyril Haearn]

Like medicine, one can learn for oneself without much need for experts

[meic]

[
It's an easy check to make though - a minute or so if you have a Govt Gateway login, slightly longer if you have to register first.

AFAIK this Government Gateway malarkey is quite a recent thing. If you find it easy and fruitful can I assume you have a passport or maybe a picture driving licence? Without something like this you’re a nobody and every attempt you try to make sense of it all can leave you in a foetal position groaning in agony.

Or that you fill in Inland Revenue Self assessment returns and pay self-employed NI contributions.

[Mick F]

............ And any one of those checks would have highlighted the pension age checks.

Exactly the point again.

They moved the goal-posts and millions of people didn't know and weren't kept informed of the rules being changed.

[Bonefishblues]

............ And any one of those checks would have highlighted the pension age checks.

Exactly the point again.

They moved the goal-posts and millions of people didn't know and weren't kept informed of the rules being changed, and were immune to the many, many references in the meeja, both written, sound-based, and utilising moving pictures*.

Edited for greater accuracy. (I know this technique is much frowned-upon here, but may I be granted this small indulgence?)

Seriously, there has been a huge amount about this over recent years, such that people would have almost had to actively ignore it!

*and I know you don't, Mick

[Cyril Haearn]

Younger people don't think much about retirement, it seems far away
I think one should plan ones life early on the back of an envelope as Mr Heseltine did.. make a few million, *eventually Prime Minister*, things might have been different then

Paulatic is an exception, Plus One

"Your pension? We are talking telephone numbers here" gasped the financial advisor
..
Looks like an international telephone number, starts with several zeros

[Psamathe]

............ And any one of those checks would have highlighted the pension age checks.

Exactly the point again.

They moved the goal-posts and millions of people didn't know and weren't kept informed of the rules being changed.

What I can't understand is that so many are saying the change (or their not knowing about the change) has messed-up their retirement planning, but even cursory "planning" would have highlighted the change. Minimal planning and you can't avoid finding out. So I suspect for many it has messed-up their "assumptions" rather than their "planning".

The government is continually making changes to all sorts of things. e.g. I never got told about the changes to the NI contribution requirement and SERPS changes, but minimal financial management made me aware of those changes and how they impact me.

Government is continually changing all sorts of things that they never tell me about - up to me to make myself aware of those changes. I lost out when the new sterling notes changed or rather when the old ones became void. Government never wrote to me telling me about that change.....

Ian

[Bonefishblues]

Younger people don't think much about retirement, it seems far away
(

I'm not sure that's as true as perhaps it may have been in the past - I'm meeting a good number who are very aware that if they don't provide for themselves, nobody will. Only last week I was asked what my thought was as to whether the State Pension would still be available when he retired - by a 19 year-old!

I was of little help, I suspect, when I said that his guess was as good as mine, but I wouldn't be placing a bet on it.

[pete75]

I agree with you but sadly devolution was limited to certain areas only.

Yeah but you'd be paying a lot more tax to keep the same services if the subsidy from England went.

[pete75]

My comment is completely true. I received letters from the government, I received information from my employer. I received information from my private pension company. When I make plans for my future I check on variables rather than make assumptions.

This is exactly the point.

We received no notice about Mrs Mick F having to wait until 66. We knew that they were bringing the pension ages male/female together, but it didn't affect Mrs Mick F too much as it was well in the future. We knew that it would affect us a bit, and we took notice of it.

We have received no letters from anyone that they brought all this forward.
Millions(?) of others are like us.
We had no idea about her having to wait much beyond 60 to perhaps 62 .............. but now it's 66.

First we heard about this fiasco was about a year ago when chatting to a similarly affected lady.

Ken Clark introduced it when he was chancellor and it was announced in about 1994. It was well publicised that women's state pension age was to be increased to the same as that for . It's not the fault of the government that people didn't take steps to find out exactly how it would affect them.
I can remember my wife mentioning it at the time and her saying she was increasing her monthly private pension payment quite substantially just in case she did want to retire at 60. Now she can't put anything else into her pension pot because she's reached the lifetime limit but, oddly you may think, has no intention of retiring for some years after she's 60.

It's odd that women's retirement age was ever lower than men's given they have a longer life expectancy though perhaps that's because they did retire five years earlier.

[Cunobelin]

[
It's an easy check to make though - a minute or so if you have a Govt Gateway login, slightly longer if you have to register first.

AFAIK this Government Gateway malarkey is quite a recent thing. If you find it easy and fruitful can I assume you have a passport or maybe a picture driving licence? Without something like this you’re a nobody and every attempt you try to make sense of it all can leave you in a foetal position groaning in agony.

Get up off the floor right this minute!

https://www.experian.co.uk/identity-and ... erify.html

My MiL had a parcel to pick up from a Courier.

Can I have your driving licence?...... Nope she is 92, visually impaired and hearing impaired - doesn't have one.

Can I have her Passport then?..... Nope she is 92, visually impaired and hearing impaired and hasn't travelled abroad for over 20 years - doesn't have one.

But you must have one of these. ... Nope we have bills, proof of her address, credit cards etc, all of which prove her addresss

No - you cannot have the parcel unless you have a driving license or passport as ID........ Well in that case we will need to contact the Company and cancel the order as we cannot collect it


... then they suggested that in future she arranged to have items delivered to someone who holds a passport or driving license.

Original Company was appalled, and redelivered by Royal Mail, arrived following day .... sorted

[Bonefishblues]

Sometimes stupid people do stupid things* and you really can't account for stupidity

*and sometimes hide behind policy and procedures

[pete75]

Sometimes stupid people do stupid things* and you really can't account for stupidity

*and sometimes hide behind policy and procedures

And sometimes people at the bottom get sacked if they don't stick to policy and procedures. When they say it's more than my jobs worth they're often speaking the truth.