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Pension me off

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:52 pm
by Gob
New state pension 'at least £155' ($240 Au or $248 US)

The idea of a flat-rate state pension has been discussed for some months

Plans to reform the state pension will be unveiled next week - with a new flat-rate scheme to start in 2015 or 2016, the BBC understands.

The flat-rate pension could be worth at least £155 for new pensioners.

Detailed plans are expected to be published next week, outlining how the system would be introduced.

The current full state pension is £97.65 a week for men and women, but is topped up to ensure a minimum income of £132.60.

The current minimum income guarantee also ensures couples get £202.40 a week through the means-tested pensions credit.

"It is assumed that inflation-linked increases will take the means tested guarantee up to around £155 by the middle years of this decade," said the BBC's chief economics correspondent, Hugh Pym.

"The government may decide to bring in the new single pension at a slightly higher level."

This would also be higher than the figure of £140 a week previously mooted by the government.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12924666

Re: Pension me off

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 5:43 pm
by dgs49
You can be bought for a thousand bucks a month?

Seems rather modest to me. What is the minimum age when one can start to cash in?

Re: Pension me off

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:15 pm
by The Hen
Darling? I agree 100% with dgs49. That appears to be an extremely paltry amount for a pension. Certainly not something I would look forward to retiring on.

You do realize younwill be getting more than a months worth of UK pension a week on your superannuation when you retire here?

Re: Pension me off

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 9:03 pm
by Gob
I can be bought a damn sight cheaper than that dgs, depends who is buying though :)

So what is the universal pension that each citizen of Aus/USA/Cananda wil receive on retiring then?

And what age does it start from?

Re: Pension me off

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 9:15 pm
by The Hen
OK. The pension rates for Aus are as follows. (These are fortnightly rates.)

Single person: $670.90*
Couple: $505.70* each

* The above payments do NOT include the Pension Supplement amount which is currently a maximum of $58.40 a fortnight for singles and $88.00 a fortnight for couples (combined).

However, we won't be on a pension ad we will have funded our retirement nicely with our Super fund.