Don’t be an ostrich about PENSIONS
Could you live on £179.60 a week? That’s the reality if you rely on the full state pension in retirement, after racking up 35 years of National Insurance contributions (NICs). It amounts to well under £10,000 a year.
Recently, I spent a week trying to get by on the state pension and it was eye-opening. Yet 17% of pensioner households depend entirely on state pensions and benefits for their income, according to the Department for Work and Pensions. Perhaps you are one of them. Many scrape by on less, so I should count myself lucky.
HOME TRUTHS
My first revelation was that I could not afford to live in our current home on my own. Totting up just my essential bills – council tax, water, energy, broadband, landline, mobile, TV licence and home insurance – I would only have £10 left over each week. Even splitting costs with my husband only left £87.18 for everything else, from food
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