My DD might be moving to Spain. Maybe I’ll join her and retire there lol.
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That seems very low. Were you only employed as a teacher for a couple of years?
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I only made pension contributions for three years.
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You can be unemployed your whole adult life and still take home a state pension of just over £10,000. Professionals generally have private pension funds; employers match the employees monthly pension contributions and the employee gets tax relief on those payments. Public sector pension schemes are generous, but teachers pension schemes are considered some of the most generous of all. Maybe the OP isn’t a teacher in the public or state sector, but rather a self employed tutor (tutoring children outside school hours if they are falling behind or need some extra help preparing for exams), or maybe a supply teacher. OP, if your pension calculations are correct, you seem to be in a very precarious financial position, particularly if, as you say, you don’t own your home and have to rent.
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I know!
As I said, my plan is to work for as long as I enjoy it and then have a massive heart attack.
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In the US, employers have to match employees social security taxes. The unfortunate part of the system is your lower waged employees generally don’t have private pension or retirement accounts that the employer is paying into on the employees behalf. I’m not sure how gov benefits work across the pond but here in the US there is a Max collection per year of around 30 or 40000 I think. For that type of payout though you would be making much much more than that per year
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That is very similar to how things are here in the states as well. Teachers may be paid crap and have way too much to deal with, but generally they are well set when they retire. This is true for a lot of state and local government jobs too.
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@sanstitre_has_left_the_building Honestly, your profession is one that you can easily do into retirement. As a matter of fact, your current situation would be ideal for a retiree in this country! I do hope you can increase your business to where you are less concerned about income. I imagine that’s a difficult place to be. Could you offer group lessons at a discounted rate and meet with 2 or 3 students at the same time? That could appeal to the folks that feel they can’t afford tutoring right now. Obviously, they wouldn’t be getting as good of a product, but probably much better than nothing.
I would have a very hard time not doing Disney. However, a day or evening or two might be enough to tide me over. We can hook you up with those after 5:00 convention tix if need be!!
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Social Security is designed to give lower wage earners a larger percentage of their wages in retirement. It’s still not enough to live on, though many people do somehow.
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Today has felt like a very rough day. I think for two reasons.
First, the unfairness of it. Imagine if your government promised that they would freeze energy prices for two years. And then they renege on that and say it will be for six months instead. Projections show that, in addition to the 60% rise I’ve already had, I can expect another 75% increase in April. My annual budget was based on the promise of that freeze. And this government has consistently picked on small business owners as targets for extra taxes. We got zero help during COVID when everyone else was getting furlough payments.
Second, because I feel like a voice in the wilderness. No-one I know seems to care about any of this. I don’t know if they’re burying their heads in the sand or are just so rich it doesn’t make a difference to them. Maybe they are. One is them is in Disney World right now. The other in Paris, soon off to Disneyland Paris.
I play by the rules. I save money every month, including savings to cover future tax liabilities. I pay off my credit cards in full every month. I’ve loaned money interest-free to my friends to help them pay for their holidays (which they are paying back as agreed).
Meanwhile in Parliament today, MPs were laughing and sneering as they debated the fact the UK economy has been driven straight off a cliff. And then they lie about how the prime minister is doing a great job and has their full support.
I can’t bear it. I’m having a drink tonight. Something I very rarely do.
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I would join you if I could - I actually had hoped to on Friday for similar reasons.
I feel like on paper we did “everything right” and set ourselves up for me to not have to go back to work. I’ll not make your thread full of my situation, but I wasn’t supposed to have to go back to work. And not only am I working again, but my only options (without disrupting my kids’ lives tooooo much) was to work 7PM-7AM. Nights. I’m 51 in a few weeks and am going back to working nights.
Because the economy is an freaking garbage nightmare and I will stop before I launch into something that gets me banned. The real banned. Not your banned.
I’m sorry that all of these things are mucking up your budget. It stinks. I hope you can figure this out.
Disclaimer - yes - I do know that there are real food insecurities and I am not comparing my life changes to the actual plight of people around the world. But I’m comparing it to 2019 and it sucks.
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I don’t know if this will come as any comfort at all, but I understand your predicament and frustration. Sometimes it helps me to know I am not alone in my worry. At the very least you can know you’re not alone in yours.
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Sending prayers your way girl! I’ve been fairly lucky but feeling the pinch. I might need to replace my transmission. It was covered under a recall but it’s more than 10 years old (with only 60k miles 
though-transmission shouldn’t need to be replaced yet). This just came to light yesterday. DH has been out of official work but we get by just fine. He has back problems and doesn’t want surgery. He’s 50. This economy has me trimming the fat from our budget just when I thought we’d have extra now for splurges and indulgences (no more tuitions).
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I must have said this before, but I’m often reminded of the scene in Ally McBeal where Georgia despairingly asks Ally in the unisex why she thinks her problems are so much more important than anyone else’s. To which Ally replies, “Because they’re my problems.”
Others are doing far worse than I am — my rage is for them, too.
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Exactly.
If my troubles have increased, theirs must feel utterly overwhelming.
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I loved Ally McBeal.
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Me too!
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I sincerely hope you take this whole synopsis and email it to Disney execs.
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The choice is obvious: Quit teaching over there, we are dying for teachers over here. Come to New England (HA!) get a union job, and spend less on plane tickets, so you will have more money for merch!
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Actually this does bring up an interesting question - @sanstitre_has_left_the_building could you possibly take on some international students? Wouldn’t help decrease the trip expenses but might be an option for increasing income
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