Oaps

Nick Guats

The mainstream media portray oaps as having to go cold and hungry, So what do oaps spend all their money on ?

road_high

Nick Guats wrote: »

The mainstream media portray oaps as having to go cold and hungry, So what do oaps spend all their money on ?

I'd say a lot of them are giving over money to support their cash srapped and over stretched children and grand children to be honest. Anecdotely I hear that a lot at least. Though many of them are very comfortably off. In particular retired public servants.

Slydice

Drugs.

Legal Drugs.

People get sick and take drugs to help themselves.

Old people get sicker and more often.

After that, they probably spend their money on much the same stuff as the rest of us.... food, clothes, accomodation, transport etc

SeaFields

Slydice wrote: »

Drugs.

Legal Drugs.

People get sick and take drugs to help themselves.

Old people get sicker and more often.

Medical cards? 50c an item, max €10 a month.

Slydice

SeaFields wrote: »

Medical cards? 50c an item, max €10 a month.

Ah

Didn't realise this was a Social Welfare bashing thread...

*steps out*

barneystinson

Slydice wrote: »

Ah

Didn't realise this was a Social Welfare bashing thread...

*steps out*

Think ya missed the point there. The thread is about what OAPs spend their readies on, you suggested meds, and it was pointed out that they'll have the medical card (regardless of how wealthy they are).

So, max of tenner a month goes on meds (assuming previous poster was correct on the amounts).

The_Honeybadger

Despite the image portrayed in the media most of the OAP's that I know are very comfortable financially. I don't know of any living in a hovel, or going hungry etc. That said, their expectations in terms of standard of living are much lower than younger people, they don't need all the latest gadgets, or a new model car etc. Outside of that they spend their money on the same things everybody else spends their money on, and I would guess that a typical OAP would have savings to fall back on if they can't get by on the state pension, previous generations had a strong savings ethic. I fail to see why the OAP is untouchable in terms of cuts, most of them are much better off than younger people, and a small cut in their pension would make little difference to their lifestyle. Of course the mere suggestion of it by a Government TD would lead to howls of outrage from all sorts of interest groups, despite the fact that increases in the OAP outstripped the CPI consistently throughout the last decade.

RickRoll

Read the first post in this thread and it gives you a good idea what OAP's do with their money.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2056516557

The_Honeybadger

RickRoll wrote: »

Read the first post in this thread and it gives you a good idea what OAP's do with their money.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2056516557

I reckon that type of saving would be typical among OAP's, I have no evidence whatsoever of this, but it stands to reason that an OAP's outgoings would be very small usually, and the pension has increased dramatically over the years. Of course there are exceptions and genuine hard cases.

RichardAnd

All pensioners that I can think of are living comfortably and that's a good thing. In Ireland, the elderly are well cared for and I think that's something to be proud of.

The_Honeybadger

Buttonnose wrote: »

Despite the image portrayed in the media most of the OAP's that I know are very comfortable financially. I don't know of any living in a hovel, or going hungry etc.

Do you have something to add?

irishh_bob

RichardAnd wrote: »

All pensioners that I can think of are living comfortably and that's a good thing. In Ireland, the elderly are well cared for and I think that's something to be proud of.

are you proud of the fact that young couples with children are forced to take one in the belly in order to unconditionally shield pensioners from the effects of the rescession because thats what happens when you have a threshold of 700 euro per week in order to qualify for a medical card when your over seventy , most young couples with kids dont make 700 euro per week yet have to fork out 50 euro everytime they bring thier kid to the doc , add in employment insecurity , high mortgages and the ongoing cost of rearing children and the picture becomes quite clear as to who are the real vulnerable

pensioners are over indulged in this country and while no politican can ever loose by dancing to thier tune , those that volunteer for pain so the elderly can be cushioned to an unrealistic level are aligning themselves with a phoney cause

Geuze

Interesting anecdotal case.

The Irish couple rescued from the capsized cruise ship off Italy - the man is aged 52, a retired Env Health Official.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0116/1224310310626.html?via=rel

Retired at aged 52, on a cruise.

If he lives to 82, that's 30 yrs + of pensions to be paid. Costly.

sambuka41

The Oaps that I know are paying €1,000 a week on nursing homes for their spouses who have a dementia.

Then they have the same as the rest of us, food, heating bills (which are usually higher for a multitude of reasons, at home more, older so feel the cold more, houses tend to be older and not always well insulated) if they have a car, so they can keep independence, they have road tax, insurance, NCT, servicing of the car, household charge, bin charges, health insurance, life assurance, phone,ESB. The usual bills.

irishh_bob

sambuka41 wrote: »

The Oaps that I know are paying €1,000 a week on nursing homes for their spouses who have a dementia.

Then they have the same as the rest of us, food, heating bills (which are usually higher for a multitude of reasons, at home more, older so feel the cold more, houses tend to be older and not always well insulated) if they have a car, so they can keep independence, they have road tax, insurance, NCT, servicing of the car, household charge, bin charges, health insurance, life assurance, phone,ESB. The usual bills.

many of those costs ( ESB , heating ) are subsidised for pensioners incl nursing home charges , health insurance is a luxury when medical cards are universal

sambuka41

irishh_bob wrote: »

many of those costs ( ESB , heating ) are subsidised for pensioners incl nursing home charges , health insurance is a luxury when medical cards are universal

They may be subsidised but not paid in full. It can take months to get nursing home fees sorted, so these people need to have at least €1,000 a week as soon as a bed comes available, that's not including the extra costs of having someone in nursing home.

If someone has worked in this country for all their working life I think they are more than entitled to help in their old age. Health insurance is a luxury for all of us as far as I am concerned; but where does it stop, because our country is bankrupt we have to tell the people who have worked for years that all these things (that the rest of us have car, NTL, phone) are luxuries and they need to cut back. Especially when there are people young and fit who have never worked a day in their lives. But no system works perfectly for everyone.

irishh_bob

sambuka41 wrote: »

They may be subsidised but not paid in full. It can take months to get nursing home fees sorted, so these people need to have at least €1,000 a week as soon as a bed comes available, that's not including the extra costs of having someone in nursing home.

If someone has worked in this country for all their working life I think they are more than entitled to help in their old age. Health insurance is a luxury for all of us as far as I am concerned; but where does it stop, because our country is bankrupt we have to tell the people who have worked for years that all these things (that the rest of us have car, NTL, phone) are luxuries and they need to cut back. Especially when there are people young and fit who have never worked a day in their lives. But no system works perfectly for everyone.

do you think the present generation of thirty somethings will be able to trot out the " we worked all our lives " line when they are seventy and still working with a pittance pension waiting for them when they hit retirement of 75 , pension rates at present are unsustainable going forward

Dr Galen

Neither the OP or the subsequent thread is really of enough quality to remain open I'm afraid.

These, vague, speculative OP's aren't really what we are about here

Cheers

DrG