UK State Pension

You miss a couple of very important points out. If you are a 40 or 45% tax payer you may wish to defer until you retire from your occupation or beyond. Secondly if you defer and die before you draw it your spouse can opt for a lump sum.
The spousal bit only applies for people who retired before 2016. It no longer applies since the 2016 “new” pension started.
 
That was the intention with the last govt - I seem to recall a lifetime cap at £86k. Our current govt have moved to remove this cap.
The £86K care cap proposed by the Tories was a chimera.
It only applied to money you spend on personal care. That’s help with daily activities such as washing, feeding, medications, getting dressed and so on. This includes care at home, or in a residential care home.

The costs of a room in a care home, and the bills for food, cleaning and heating, didn’t count towards the cap. These so-called ‘hotel costs’ account for a sizeable portion of a care home bill.

So only some of your care home costs would ever count towards your social care cap.

It would still have cost tens of thousands more.
 
The spousal bit only applies for people who retired before 2016. It no longer applies since the 2016 “new” pension started.
Agreed, but there will be some out there who deferred and are still only in their early 70’s the older they become the more beneficial it becomes to pass it on, particularly if the spouse is considerably younger
 
It isn't selfish, I've never nor will ever get an inheritance and that doesn't bother me, my and my wife's parents never owned anything but we've worked hard and made sacrifices to buy our house and now own it outright and I personally would be absolutely gutted if I ended up in a home and the government put an attachment on the house and my kids ended up with nothing. I know the response will be "well who should pay for my care" and I don't have an answer, but it is galling to know that someone who never worked a day in their life will get theirs for free.
You need to speak to a solicitor about severing the tenancy and life interest wills/discretionary trust wills
They are pricey but when in place means the council can only ever go after your portion, not the whole house

Use a solicitor, not a will writing service
 
I’m genuinely confused on this subject.

On the one hand, it’s a modest amount, to which us FOCs contributed for many years, and which for many is their sole income.

On the other, we have a falling birth rate and a longer living population for working people to fund. To which the solution, according to conventional wisdom is more and more immigration. But which, in turn, creates a bigger cohort of future pensioners. Rinse and repeat.

Yet we’re also being told that AI will decimate jobs. So presumably many of that bigger cohort will rely on benefits in the meantime.

How the fcuk does this all end?
 
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I’m genuinely confused on this subject.

On the one hand, it’s a modest amount, to which us FOCs contributed for many years, and which for many is their sole income.

On the other, we have a falling birth rate and a longer living population for working people to fund. To which the solution, according to conventional wisdom is more and more immigration. But which, in turn, creates a bigger cohort of future pensioners. Rinse and repeat.

Yet we’re also being told that AI will decimate jobs. So presumably many of that bigger cohort will rely on benefits in the meantime.

How the fcuk does this all end?
There are really only two solutions in those circumstances.
1) The qualifying age will need to get older and older
2)It will become means tested and perhaps only paid to those who qualify for state benefits.
 
I’m genuinely confused on this subject.

On the one hand, it’s a modest amount, to which us FOCs contributed for many years, and which for many is their sole income.

On the other, we have a falling birth rate and a longer living population for working people to fund. To which the solution, according to conventional wisdom is more and more immigration. But which, in turn, creates a bigger cohort of future pensioners. Rinse and repeat.

Yet we’re also being told that AI will decimate jobs. So presumably many of that bigger cohort will rely on benefits in the meantime.

How the fcuk does this all end?
There is a huge conversation around the NHS, pensions, ageing population and immigration which I don't think any Tory, labour or liberal/green politicians are prepared to have for fear of the electoral consequences.
 
There is a huge conversation around the NHS, pensions, ageing population and immigration which I don't think any Tory, labour or liberal/green politicians are prepared to have for fear of the electoral consequences.
Absolutely. Why make unpopular decisions on pensions, climate and immigration when you can fob them off to the next lot? You may be out on your arse in 4 years anyway but why guarantee it?

Another non-party political beef of mine is the turnover of ministers. Most have next to fcuk all expertise in their field and, by the time they’ve learned anything, are either sacked or have moved on to a juicier looking flower. The incumbents of some posts have the lifespan of a bumble bee drone.
 
There are really only two solutions in those circumstances.
1) The qualifying age will need to get older and older
2)It will become means tested and perhaps only paid to those who qualify for state benefits.
The pension is a state benefit.

 
I was amazed they didn’t target the tax relief system in the last budget. Salary sacrifice in particular, especially for higher rate tax payers.
They deliberately raised the allowance and did away with the lifetime limit because hospital consultants were quitting as they said they were paying too much tax. Getting tax rates set at the right level is challenging, they have to be set at a level which is broadly fair but doesn't disincentivise people taking positions of responsibility in businesses.

Depending on which group you are referring to as regards the "higher rate" its back to the squeezed middle been even more squeezed.
 
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