City is second most expensive in UK for retirement (From Daily Echo)
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Southampton is second most expensive in UK for retirement
1:10pm Saturday 9th October 2010 in News Review
City is second most expensive in UK for retirement
SOUTHAMPTON is the second most expensive city in the UK to retire in, according to new research.
Beaten in cost only by London, pensioners in Southampton are thought to need an average household income of £32,705.03.
The research, carried out by financial services company MGM Advantage, looked at average expenditure and life expectancy in Britain’s 20 biggest cities.
Cardiff was revealed to be the cheapest city for retirement, and the figures show Southampton pensioners need an extra £6,788.76 a year to get by, compared to those in the Welsh capital.
Chris Perry, director of Age Concern Hampshire, said the results were worrying.
He said: “There’s no recognition of regional variations in the cost of living in either the basic state pension or pension credit, so people in Southampton are going to find it much harder to manage during their retirement than people in other parts of the country.
“With 2.8 million older people already living below the official European poverty line, this must be very worrying for people in Southampton.
“Britain is still ranked 27th in the world for its state pension, and there are concerns that the impending public expenditure cuts might fall disproportionately on older people.”
Robbie Robinson, chairman of Southampton Pensioners’ Forum, said the findings didn’t surprise him.
He said: “Southampton is a city for young people, and the elderly have been left behind.
“So many things are on the Internet now, including really important advice and information, and a lot of older people just don’t want to use it.”
Mr Robinson, 65, believes many pensioners are also not getting the extra financial help they may be able to claim.
He said: “It’s very difficult to find out what you’re entitled to.
“You’ve got to fill in all the forms, and it really puts people off.
“There are a lot of pensioners in Southampton who are really struggling.”
Those who conducted the study also warn that retirement income is dropping because there has been a significant switch from defined benefit pensions, where payouts are guaranteed, to defined contribution pensions, where payments can depend on the performance of investments.
Coupled with the fact that people are living longer, they say pensions are likely to shrink in the future.
• Anyone worried about coping financially during retirement can call Age Concern Hampshire on 0800 328 7154 for advice.
Comments(5)
Duncan Disorderly
says...
9:42am Sun 10 Oct 10
Condor Man wrote:Dead right, but both that statement and the article only mention factors which apply nationwide. What are the "cost of living" items which make Southampton more expensive than Cardiff?
Well done Brown, you took 25% off private pensions when you scrapped tax relief. Had you kept it you could have saved billions in not having to pay out in credits to top people up. People saved for 40 years for pensions, it was unjust to take money off them for trying to do the right thing
southy
says...
1:20pm Sun 10 Oct 10
Duncan Disorderly wrote:you mean well done the local tory-con council, in the 2 to 3 years they been in office, they manage to turn things around from being one of the cheapest citys in the uk to the 2nd most expensive city.
Condor Man wrote:Dead right, but both that statement and the article only mention factors which apply nationwide. What are the "cost of living" items which make Southampton more expensive than Cardiff?
Well done Brown, you took 25% off private pensions when you scrapped tax relief. Had you kept it you could have saved billions in not having to pay out in credits to top people up. People saved for 40 years for pensions, it was unjust to take money off them for trying to do the right thing
this has nothing to do with main government, its the effects of the local government SCC and there waste of public money on silly ideas and white elephants
east stand terrace
says...
5:11pm Sun 10 Oct 10
southy
says...
3:07pm Mon 11 Oct 10
east stand terrace wrote:this research survey has been going on for about 10 years now.
What does southy know about other cities costs of living, he is the "font of all knowledge" (big pinch of salt with that one) about Southampton. Southamtpon has never been a cheap place to live as we are close to London and also in the south east of england. If he thinks Southampton is cheaper than nearly everywhere north of oxfordshire then he lives in cloud cuckoo land.
and if you had read this article you would of read cardiff is now the cheapest place and that is just south of oxford.
now let me point some thing out to you.
you buy food and the price is nearly the same all over the country, rents are also about the same.
and when you get down to the nitty and gritty of things its only things like buying a new home or that new car that cost more.
and we are not just in the south east we are also in the south west and its only when you get to the sussex boarder do prices increase well use to, it seems now that they are cheaper than us and the same thing to the west of southampton. this part of hampshire from portsmouth to southampton was well known to be a cheap place to live and to equal us you need to be looking at places like newcastle sunderland gateshead bradford ect southampton and portsmouth use to be in the same league has those citys and towns for the cost of living.
your the one in cuckoo land if any one for not doing your research and trying on your false propaganda.
Condor Man says...
7:03pm Sat 9 Oct 10