Nor M

It was with interest that I watched the TV News 1 (4/02/2025) story relating to the elderly struggling to make ends meet with their pension, focusing on their costs, especially the ratio of rent and cost of living.

The TV item highlighted pensioners who rent rather than own their own home. I am not criticising them or their living arrangement; to the contrary, I sympathise, it’s tough and not a pleasant way to celebrate old age, which is a privilege to reach.

I have been saying for a couple of years (especially after losing my husband to ill health – sure my super/pension increased slightly, dropping from married couple to living alone single – but it does not alter the price of rates and insurance) that I wonder if the Government of the day (in this case Labour and National) is trying to force us out of our homes.

Sure, our super/pension increases April 1 each year, but it’s not keeping up with our council rates, environmental rates, water rates or our house, contents and car insurance – and taht is not even adding food-related costs to the equation.

For those who rent, their landlord’s ride is not smooth; their costs are extremely high, eg, they have to provide a clean, dry home with heat pumps, yet their own homes do not carry the same requirements – make some sense of that.

To be privileged enough to own our homes is not a given, it is purely down to good decisions made in our younger years saving for retirement.

The banks don’t care; their annual profits reflect large increases regularly – and our rewards? Minimal interest rates if we are lucky enough to have investments.

The banks (not criticising their staff) don’t want us in their buildings. They carry minimal tellers (who no doubt are overloaded with daily tasks) and those same tellers usher you to the “hole in the wall” to carry out transactions. Not all elderly are comfortable using these modern facilities.

Perhaps a lot of the above could be put down to “accident of birth”. What lies ahead for our future generations?  A scary thought.

Like everyone, we pay withholding tax to our Government and even have our super/pension taxed.

One could argue that after paying tax all our working lives some consideration could be made in regard to having super/pension taxed. Sure, if one is fit and well enough to seek a secondary job – tax is fair.
There’s no winning – I rest my case.