What is poverty nowadays?

[SARF]

Yawn.. same as every generation,it’s tough to be young and buy a house.. in my time early 90 s it was me and my wife working flat out to buy a three bed end of terrace 60,s thing on a very average area ./
we had a kid she went straight back to work to help pay off the mortgage car and furniture (remember them) loans ..My house didn’t regain its purchase price for 8 years. Despite inflation.. obviously I demanded my parents and their generation pay for this .. oh how they laughed..

work harder young people. Moan less as you are very boring... buy fewer 200 quid trainers and 600mquid phones at 45 pound a month. And get your arse out of bed and get into work before your boss. It’s not rocket science

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Originally Posted by SARF

Yawn.. same as every generation,it’s tough to be young and buy a house.. in my time ...

I borrowed the deposit from my Grandma, lied to the building society about it (you were supposed to pay the deposit with your own cash, not borrow it - FFS, whoever had that much cash??), then rented out two of the three bedrooms (against the terms of the mortgage, of course).

That's what most people seemed to do then.

[krismiler]

US retirement sums would need to account for sky high medical costs whereas the UK has the NHS. Your retirement money goes a lot further in SE Asia, Central America and Eastern Europe if these are possible options for you.

[tdracer]

Originally Posted by krismiler

US retirement sums would need to account for sky high medical costs whereas the UK has the NHS. Your retirement money goes a lot further in SE Asia, Central America and Eastern Europe if these are possible options for you.

Actually no, in the US anyone 65 or older is covered by Medicare. It doesn't cover 100%, but it covers the vast majority of the medical costs. The big shortcoming is the prescription drug coverage is much worse than what I currently have - but when I turn 65 I won't have a choice.

Cavorting, in many ways I have more disposable income now that I did when I was working, while at the same time my expenses are significantly lower (no commuting costs, no more social security taxes, etc.). Assuming you pay off all your debt before you retire, it's rather surprising how little it actually costs to live a decent lifestyle.

[Blossy]

Originally Posted by Gertrude the Wombat

I borrowed the deposit from my Grandma, lied to the building society about it (you were supposed to pay the deposit with your own cash, not borrow it - FFS, whoever had that much cash??), then rented out two of the three bedrooms (against the terms of the mortgage, of course).

That's what most people seemed to do then.

So those are your principles? They are not praiseworthy in the eyes of most people and yet you habitually lecture us on political ethics. Couldn't make it up!

[SARF]

Sounds pretty good to me.. first class. First world economics. By all means sit on your hands and wait for an in. Or find one

[hiflymk3]

Originally Posted by Blossy

So those are your principles? They are not praiseworthy in the eyes of most people and yet you habitually lecture us on political ethics. Couldn't make it up!

Both parties are happy, the borrower and the lender. What's your problem with that?

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Originally Posted by hiflymk3

Both parties are happy, the borrower and the lender. What's your problem with that?

Indeed. The lenders knew perfectly well what was going on, and were quite happy with it. Point being, that as the tenants were illegal, the lender would have no trouble throwing them out if they needed to repossess - but they weren't going to repossess because the rent from the tenants meant that the "owner" could pay the mortgage. Everybody happy.

Eventually this way of doing things changed slightly. More recently, lenders have officially allowed tenants, provided that the tenants sign a piece of paper saying "if the house is repossessed we'll move out without causing any trouble". (Not that any landlord bothers to get the new tenants to sign any such pieces of paper once the first lot have moved out. Hence only "slightly".)

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Originally Posted by Blossy

So those are your principles? They are not praiseworthy in the eyes of most people and yet you habitually lecture us on political ethics. Couldn't make it up!

I did tell the bank manager what was going on and give him all the figures ('cos I needed to borrow the deposit from him for a couple of weeks until my Grandma could get back from a trip and transfer the money to me). The bank manager said this all sounded perfectly sensible and gave me the bridging loan.

Of course this was back in the days when

• you could actually get to talk to a bank manager
• the bank manager's job was to look after his customers, not to sell them any old crap regardless of whether it would result in them going bankrupt next week.

[cavortingcheetah]

The days are long gone when an overdraft could be arranged at any time during the year in exchange for delivering a brace of pheasant to the bank manager at Christmas.

[SARF]

Yup. Any bribe was acceptable except cash. Oh dear how crass and embarrassing..
fowl was obviously top drawer. The lower middle classes used scotch

[krismiler]

The big shortcoming is the prescription drug coverage is much worse than what I currently have - but when I turn 65 I won't have a choice.

Australia has a single fixed price for drugs listed on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme, if the doctor prescribes it you pay a set price at the chemist which is reduced further if you are unemployed. There is a safety net as well which gives free or greatly reduced prices once you have spent over about US$1000 on medicine in a year.

Prescription medicines are usually much cheaper outside of the USA and a trip to Mexico or internet shopping could be a good option.

[charliegolf]

Originally Posted by tdracer

Assuming you pay off all your debt before you retire, it's rather surprising how little it actually costs to live a decent lifestyle.

This. Spot on.

CG

[cavortingcheetah]

That would be wonderful indeed if only the next generation could pay theirs thus relieving the previous generation of the shadow of being the central bank of last and equable resort.
But yes indeed, spot on, a season ticket to spring San Isidro and a box or two of 30-06 Remingtons for the autumn can be had quite inexpensively thus providing seasonal entertainment with the Norwegians furnishing the inter country transport.

Foul fiends or fiendish fowls indeed!

[Mechta]

Originally Posted by Gertrude the Wombat

My problem with that approach is that it doesn't treat people as grown-ups capable of making their own decisions.

Like, for example, subsidising pensioners in kind, rather than in cash, by giving them things like free bus rides and free TV licences. What if they'd rather have free gin? Shouldn't that be their choice not ours? Just drop all this nonsense and pay a decent pension FFS.

You do then get into the debate as to how to help people who are not capable of making their own rational decisions in their own interests, and yes, this does have to be addressed, but it shouldn't be the default assumption.

Free bus passes allow older pensioners to remain mobile, whilst keeping them from being a hazard to other road users (how many elderly drivers do you know with scrapes on most corners of their cars?). Free TV licences provide a way of keeping the elderly, deaf, pre-internet generation in touch with the world.

As for NAROBs suggestion that the presence or not discarded nitrous oxide canisters is a measure of an area position in the social strata; forget it, they are everywhere in the UK, maybe more so in affluent areas.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Originally Posted by Mechta

Free bus passes allow older pensioners to remain mobile, whilst keeping them from being a hazard to other road users (how many elderly drivers do you know with scrapes on most corners of their cars?). Free TV licences provide a way of keeping the elderly, deaf, pre-internet generation in touch with the world.

Guess what? - an adequate pension would also allow those things.

[Krystal n chips]

About the EU...and what it does for the UK......and what the Gov't, that's the "caring " party currently in power, doesn't do with the funding.....not that poverty exists in the UK according to the JB understanding of the word that is.......so why not just send the money back...and lo, they have !......please note also the EU definition of the recipients of this funding......the UK qualifies !

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49131685

[NoelEvans]

Originally Posted by Gertrude the Wombat

Guess what? - an adequate pension would also allow those things.

So bin the pay-to-view-TV and all those other superfluous monthly expenses and increase your pension contributions. It can be done, you just need to think ahead and do so.