The Retirement Thread

[Elybazza61]

Yesterday afternoon was spent mooching about town and getting a good gardening book at our local indy bookshop, then down to the micro pub /tap for a few beers and then chips afterwards.
Three Blind Mice Old Brown Mouse and Milkworm;

Today was up to the market and a small bit of shopping and thrifting; got eggs and rolls plus some bargain crumpets at B&M.Plus the better half got some White Stuff trousers and a Community Clothing top for less than £15 the pair.

Afternoon has been more seed sowing (Rocket and Sweet Williams) and a bit of typing and dead heading.

Still no rain even though it's been overcast since lunchtime.

 

[screenman]

is that a deconstructed sausage???

Beat me to that line.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Beat me to that line.

How is life treating you these days? Things looking up?

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Strange that, about your driving licences not being enough. I was excecutor to my late father`s will. I had to verify who I was, with both his bank and the solicitor. As well as photo id ( driving licence) they needed a current utility bill as well. Both were accepted. Sometimes I think that these bodies make things up as they go along, that is why there is no consistency. My father`s will was purchased from a stationery shop, filled in and witnessed. Mind you, what the solicitor charged for the discharge of the will was eye watering, in my mind. It was an easy 50/50 split.

We have just started to sort out our wills and all that. We have to prove our ID and I worry about my wife doing that as she only has a paper driving license and a passport
If she ever gives up the passport she could have trouble
I own the house (clearly it is hers as well as we are married and all that) and I pay all the bills and she is not on the counsel tax

we will have to do something about all that - if I die first she could have problems proving she has been annoying me for years are married and she is my wife


I do remember when my dad died ( quite a while ago) and the solicitor needed proof of id
and one of the few things I could get was an online bank statement
I printed it off and that was fine

when the appointment was over we were chatting and I asked why the printed bank statement was OK - and showed her a version I had modified (I worked in IT!) with a massive balance and a different name - but otherwise the same

She was rather shocked - but said that the regulations were clear (at the time) that it was OK as it was.

That has been tightened up now - but it is getting very difficult if you are not a "standard person"

 

[screenman]

How is life treating you these days? Things looking up?

Quite bright to be honest, a new lady in life is a ray of sunshine, Justine lost her husband over 3 years ago so we both understand each other, living in Liverpool but I still own the house in Lincoln. Thanks for asking.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Right - back to why I cameon here

strange day

I was supposed to be taking the car into the Main Dealer for the cam belt to be changed
and my "boss" was to pick me up there and we would go to a client in Warrington

but the client rang yesterday and said she was ill - so we were to ring at 9 to check if the appointment was on or not

anyway - it was off so I was stuck in Warrington

SO I needed anotehr way home

Now - me being me I had plan B - the bus
I knew that I could get bus 110 froma stop a few hundred yeards away
but I had no idea how to pay

anyway - I waited and the bus came - turns out that you can pay by card - no problem
wish the website said that ratehr than just showing a million different types of passes that are great if you use them every day


anyway

I GOT A BUS!!!

first time for a few decades!!

so on the way home I had to go through Widnes Market
so I stopped in the One Stop Shop and applied for my OAP bus pass

they seemed very impressed about me being prepared and having everything I need
I don;t think I was very prepared - I just think their normal visitor are very unprepared!!

 

[SpokeyDokey]

We have just started to sort out our wills and all that. We have to prove our ID and I worry about my wife doing that as she only has a paper driving license and a passport
If she ever gives up the passport she could have trouble
I own the house (clearly it is hers as well as we are married and all that) and I pay all the bills and she is not on the counsel tax

we will have to do something about all that - if I die first she could have problems proving she has been annoying me for years are married and she is my wife


I do remember when my dad died ( quite a while ago) and the solicitor needed proof of id
and one of the few things I could get was an online bank statement
I printed it off and that was fine

when the appointment was over we were chatting and I asked why the printed bank statement was OK - and showed her a version I had modified (I worked in IT!) with a massive balance and a different name - but otherwise the same

She was rather shocked - but said that the regulations were clear (at the time) that it was OK as it was.

That has been tightened up now - but it is getting very difficult if you are not a "standard person"

Re Wills - the bigger problems with people with previous marriage partners and children is who can have a claim on your estate (house, pensions, belongings, etc). It is not always as simple as it might appear. Especially so if you both died at the same time - the net potentially widens considerably.

Wills are easily worth the money that they cost - 2 mirror Wills for us were £660 inc' VAT recently. The Solicitors do nicely out of it but very definitely worth the peace-of-mind that they bring.

LPA's can be overly expensive but these are relatively easy to do yourself, imo.

 

[welsh dragon]

Welshie, how was your sausage, egg and chips ?
Mine was good
View attachment 807480

It was excellent. We haven't had that for quite a long time so it went down very nicely thanks

 

[welsh dragon]

We have to get our wills done. We keep putting it off. They should be straightforward. We own the house jointly and all accounts are in our joint names. We have never gone down the yours and mine route, it's just our m

 

[Shearwater Missile]

We have just started to sort out our wills and all that. We have to prove our ID and I worry about my wife doing that as she only has a paper driving license and a passport
If she ever gives up the passport she could have trouble
I own the house (clearly it is hers as well as we are married and all that) and I pay all the bills and she is not on the counsel tax

we will have to do something about all that - if I die first she could have problems proving she has been annoying me for years are married and she is my wife


I do remember when my dad died ( quite a while ago) and the solicitor needed proof of id
and one of the few things I could get was an online bank statement
I printed it off and that was fine

when the appointment was over we were chatting and I asked why the printed bank statement was OK - and showed her a version I had modified (I worked in IT!) with a massive balance and a different name - but otherwise the same

She was rather shocked - but said that the regulations were clear (at the time) that it was OK as it was.

That has been tightened up now - but it is getting very difficult if you are not a "standard person"

In hindsight we should have renewed our passports but as we had no plans to travel again, we did`nt. 10 years ago this month, my mum passed away. My mum and dad did not have a will, that was not a problem. The bank (TSB) were absolutely brilliant. I did everything on my dad`s behalf, at my local branch to where I worked. The account was in joint names and just was changed to my dad`s name. At that point I got a will put together for my dad. Thank goodness I did.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Quite bright to be honest, a new lady in life is a ray of sunshine, Justine lost her husband over 3 years ago so we both understand each other, living in Liverpool but I still own the house in Lincoln. Thanks for asking.

Good to hear. And good that you have experienced the same life trauma which must be very mutually supportive for you.

 

[numbnuts]

I haven't got a will, well I have, the will to get up in the morning.......
I haven't much to leave anybody.

 

[Dave7]

Good to hear. And good that you have experienced the same life trauma which must be very mutually supportive for you.

Mr Screenman may not realise it but he helped me when Sue died, both going down similar roads. I miss having a woman's company but dont want to get seriously involved again. Very pleased he has found love again.

 

[Dave7]

We have to get our wills done. We keep putting it off. They should be straightforward. We own the house jointly and all accounts are in our joint names. We have never gone down the yours and mine route, it's just our m

IMO a good will is important but even though everything you have is open it needs discussing with an expert...... then time to really check out the advice....then, when you are happy, get it done.
I have mentioned it before but an eg is......
Sue and I left our 50/50 shares of the house in trust to our 2 children (so the government cant get thier hands on it)......seemed simple.
Recently, at the suggestion of 1 of the children I tried to change the will in favour of the other......cant be done!! Sue's 50% cannot be altered atall, ever. I can change MY 50% but Sue's is cast in stone.
NB
If you want to pm me feel free .

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Well - we have voted

very simple - ID accepted easily and well organised

mind you - not exactly crowded - one couple in front of us that were unsure of where to vote so came to ask

then us


I did notice that one of the "booths" had a pen in it as well as the pencils

reminded me of a local "NextDoor" group where someone said to always take a pen and use that
"because we know they rub the X's out on them"
so I asked him if he had any evidence of that and got a load of abuse back
but I noticed that my comments got LOADS more likes that comments!!!

I blocked that group after finding that the "owner" of it is from America!!!! - he was the one that was calling me all sorts of name - terrible things like "woke"!!!!