In danger of becoming rich
"O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
I've just received a letter from the Department of Work and Pensions'
Extract:
"Now that you are approaching 80 you are entitled to a higher amount of State Pension.
Age addition at 25p. per week will be payable from your 80th birthday."
Wow!
Now don't spend it all at once. If you save it up you might be able to buy a book of first class stamps at the end of the year.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point of Alan's. There's always the temptation to just fritter it away on random treats, but saving it up for something substantial might be more rewarding in the longer run...
ReplyDeleteIt’s good to have something to live for, isn’t it Conrad.
ReplyDeleteI’ve enjoyed catching up on your postings, albeit they don’t quite match CJ Sansom in the ‘page turner’ league!
You are the lucky one.
ReplyDeleteI've just had a demand from my pension fund for a substantial sum apparently overpaid to me earlier in the year. I threw away the first notice thinking it was a scam. I've just received a final demand - may have to come to you for a loan.
Alan R - I think I already have two first class stamps, so I was rather thinking of a pint of beer in four months time, although I may need to subside that by 10p. or so.
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Dave - Oh dear! Just having replied to the previous comment I realise I might be taken to task in four months for frittering - what is the minimum investment one can make in Premium Bonds?
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Phreerunnewr - Perhaps CJS could have a plot based on an evil monk who plans to kill his father, then usurp his identity in order to benefit from his father's now temptingly increased pension?
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BC - apologies for all the frivolity above in the light of your misfortune - I'm genuinely sorry to hear about that - is there no right of appeal, or if repayment is legally enforceable you may offer to repay over a protracted period?
BC - Just re-reading your comment I am sure you will have checked properly but please make absolutely sure that IT ISN'T A SCAM.
ReplyDeletePhoning them tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteSteady on Father! That is my inheritance you are wildly spending there! Think you should downgrade to a half-pint of shandy and second class stamps only!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteBeware the Department of Works and Pension, my father!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Pension bird, and shun
The frumious Banderstatment!
High Horse-
ReplyDeleteAnd hast thou read the Pension File?
Take note my rapacious daughter
Fathers are entitled to spend
Their savings like water.
Chuckle! X
DeleteLucky you - i've never heard of such bonuses for faithful taxpayers - usually only given to spendthrift failing CEOs, but measured with rather more digits before the decimal point than your windfall: I expect you will have to claim it each year with a signed affidavit, sent by Special Delivery, at your own expense. Alternatively you could donate it to the nation to relieve the National Debt, like other lucky winners of life's lottery.
ReplyDeletegimmer - The cliché question from interviewers:
ReplyDelete"Hpw did it feel when..."
and the cliché answer:
"It hasn't sunk in yet'"
Of course you will pay tax on this (via your company pension) so it’s not as valuable an increase as you might think!
ReplyDeleteafoot - Well at 20% that is only 5p, but as this relates to my state pension I actually see it gross.
ReplyDeletebut it reduces the residual annual allowance set against your private pension : as the inspector would say: 'see, we get it back however hard you try' - unless , of course, that allowance is increased by just enough to set against the increased tax the pension increase would incur, and no other notifiable additional earnings above the new £1000 miscellaneous earnings allowance are admitted or reported to us about you by other interested parties - if you see what i mean - and if you are still awake . . .
ReplyDeletehey ho , it's to freedom we steer . . .
gimmer - I am more or less obsessive about keeping on top of financial affairs. BUT when it comes to the annual Income Tax return my brain reacts like the closing of the Thames Barrier. I am pessimistic, believing that I will get something wrong and that I won't be able to interpret some of the jargon. This is illogical because my affairs are so simple but somehow brain-paralysis engages - I think it may also be tinged with the boredom you refer to judging by the serial yawning that ensues. For years now I have paid an accountant far more than is justified for something that probably only takes him five minutes, but having said that he has found wrongly calculated coding numbers in the past and for me it is worth every penny (or 25p.) tp let him do his stuff.
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