What did I save for all my life? (From Bournemouth Echo)
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What did I save for all my life?
8:00am Friday 19th March 2010 in
THE other morning my council tax demand came through the letter box.
With an overall increase of three per cent on the parish, four per cent on the Dorset county rate and 4.4 per cent for police – though we never see one here – it now comes to £1,977.91 a year.
I am a pensioner living alone so I get a princely 25 per cent discount - which reduces the amount I have to pay to £1,483.43, or £148 per month over ten months.
How I am going to live, I do not know. I’ve just done my sums and they are as follows: State pension – £491.96 a month less tax.
Company pension – £296.46.
Total per month – £788.42 Out of this I have to find my council tax, the largest bill by far, house and contents insurance, utilities, car insurance, car tax and TV licence This totals £378 per month, but may be more if heating bills go over budget. On top of this, I have two cats and myself to feed, the car to service and petrol to find for it. I try to use my bus pass, but it is difficult where I live. I estimate these total costs are around £600 a month.
I have direct debits to charities of £35 per month. And on top of this, there are personal expenses such as hairdressing (once a month) clothes and repairs, items for the house.
So, in summary, after everything is paid, it leaves a balance of £30 for me or towards the tax bill!
I do have some savings (fortunately) that I dip into, but virtually no income because of interest rates. I have no family, I have worked all my life and earned a pension, plus a reasonable private pension. My advice to the young is – don’t bother to save, don’t bother to invest, just scrounge every benefit you can, because you won’t be much worse off than I am – and you will have enjoyed spending the money along the way.
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Comments(2)
Pro bono publico
says...
8:37pm Sat 20 Mar 10
Please give them a chance to once again right the wrongs inflicted upon us by the Labour imbeciles.
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Gastines says...
9:06am Fri 19 Mar 10
Many.many years ago with my 2 sons on a Bournemouth trolley bus,I had to tell them off for pointing and staring at a West Indian chap. They'd never seen one before. I did try and explain that many people from these Countries came over to work and get a better living usually doing the jobs that UKers didn't want to do. I also said that not many ome to Bournemouth as there is no major industry in the area where they will find employment. Now that the immigrant population from dozens of countries into the UK has exploded beyond control,it seems that to many ,work is not the reason but the ease of which they can benefit from the welfare system. I just hope someone in Government will realise that the youth of UK is descending down the same road as was shown on the recent Evan Davis TV show.