[hedgerowpete]

we are all supposed to own warehouses full of food and all that jazz.

but can you afford to be off work and self contained for several weeks or months without money?

the government dooes an italy and sends everyone home, in reality we are supposedly better off than most as we saw this coming, but gas and electric still has to be paid, rent and rates, its no good saying rbs will do a mortage suspension as my land lord wants his money every month. and what about the people with electric and gas meters, it runs out and you have to go and pay for a new token, but the shops are shut the bank account is empt and theres no one at work in the electrical company head office to over ride the meter

SSP isnothing to me,one i am self employed so if i dont work i am fired and secondly at £100 a week it wont pay most peoples rent or mortage payments let alone gas and electric and food or insurances.

some parts of Italy have been under this ruling for two months now

 

[Sorry-no-clues]

Well if you're asking then yes, no problem for me, I work for myself at home so there's no change. Some project might be delayed if the people due to receive the work chose not to take it because their staff are off, but I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.

We have a 3000litre propane tank and a big stack of firewood, plus the food we need. the biggest threat is the neighbours who don't have such reserves.

Mrs. SNC can also work from home if retried, and she works in pharma, so the factories probably won't close because people need the medicines.

So financially we're OK, but then this isn't an accident, we have the kind of skills that make us at least partially protected from this kind of thing. Also we have three months worth of money stored in the bank and elsewhere; it's a prep for redundancy or loss of business, and it works for this kind of thing. After that then life has changed so much we would need to take action.

Plenty of people aren't going to be OK, but I think that this particular government should be alert enough to the problems and able to address them. Boris seems to have found the magic money tree, and the Army knows how to operate in a biological warfare situation, so someone will be able to keep some things going.

 

[Bal]

Bank of Scotland or royal back of Scotland has deferred payment on mortgage for this month, hopefully all mortgage lenders will follow suit. Unknown if you have to have a infected householder to qualify.
Was hopeing this evenings government press call would extend it to all mortgage lenders and landlords should follow suit, not fair if you rent and have to pay if your landlord doesn't

 

[hedgerowpete]

Bank of Scotland or royal back of Scotland has deferred payment on mortgage for this month, hopefully all mortgage lenders will follow suit. Unknown if you have to have a infected householder to qualify.
Was hopeing this evenings government press call would extend it to all mortgage lenders and landlords should follow suit, not fair if you rent and have to pay if your landlord doesn't

if you say the rent ormortage is one half of my direct debits, and the bank is going to support those,
what about the following as i cant see any of them stopping just for me

may car insurance
the wifes car insurance
the wifes road tax monthly payment
my car tax payment
life insurance for me and the better half
phone pay ments
phone monthly costs
house insurance
house contents insurance
HP- nevernever, car- dish washer-washing machine- tv- caravan- holiday
credit cards monthlies
house phone/ internet broadband

theres hundreds of them all to get paid up every month, non of which are going to get defered, and all of which if like many your trying to buy a house and need squeaky clean credit ratings will slaughter your chances of buying a house for years..

i cant see the police stopping you with an ANPR stop and going never mind about the road tax or insurance we letting everyone off this month with a warning not to be a naughty boy

theres another DD, court fees and fines to pay, no seriously some people do actually pay those off

 

[Sorry-no-clues]

if you say the rent ormortage is one half of my direct debits, and the bank is going to support those,
what about the following as i cant see any of them stopping just for me

may car insurance
the wifes car insurance
the wifes road tax monthly payment
my car tax payment
life insurance for me and the better half
phone pay ments
phone monthly costs
house insurance
house contents insurance
HP- nevernever, car- dish washer-washing machine- tv- caravan- holiday
credit cards monthlies
house phone/ internet broadband

theres hundreds of them all to get paid up every month, non of which are going to get defered, and all of which if like many your trying to buy a house and need squeaky clean credit ratings will slaughter your chances of buying a house for years..

i cant see the police stopping you with an ANPR stop and going never mind about the road tax or insurance we letting everyone off this month with a warning not to be a naughty boy

theres another DD, court fees and fines to pay, no seriously some people do actually pay those off

You raise a good point. If possible then it seems like now is the time to cancel direct debits, pay off things like car tax or insurance for the year with your savings and re-negotiate the rest of the payments with the bank before you get into trouble.

 

[Jack Swilling]

For a year yes
Otherwise reality sets in
Also that would deplete reserves to an uncomfortable level

 

[geordie1]

We live remarkably frugally, we have to as we have a joint income of less than a grand a month from 3 small pensions. House and land owned outright, saving a fortune on petrol by not using the car.council tax our biggest out going and that's only 100 quid a month.

 

[rik_uk3]

I retired from nursing five years ago on medical grounds with pension, the wife retired two years ago age 60 as a senior mental health nurse with full forty year pension, so we have no mortgage, rent a house out, few quid in the bank and enjoying life then covid19 turns up and the wife is back on duty...trust me just like in general nursing there ain't enough mental health nurses on the ground at the moment.

Financially we don't need her salary but she had to go back and I'm not happy about that. Not enough PPE in the hospitals and as usual mental health is at the back of the queue for kit

She starts tomorrow at 07:00 and if I'm lucky she'll be home by midnight (two days a week at the moment, they'd let her work seven). To say I'm concerned is a gross understatement.

Keep safe folks.

 

[geordie1]

I retired from nursing five years ago on medical grounds with pension, the wife retired two years ago age 60 as a senior mental health nurse with full forty year pension, so we have no mortgage, rent a house out, few quid in the bank and enjoying life then covid19 turns up and the wife is back on duty...trust me just like in general nursing there ain't enough mental health nurses on the ground at the moment.

Financially we don't need her salary but she had to go back and I'm not happy about that. Not enough PPE in the hospitals and as usual mental health is at the back of the queue for kit

She starts tomorrow at 07:00 and if I'm lucky she'll be home by midnight (two days a week at the moment, they'd let her work seven). To say I'm concerned is a gross understatement.

Keep safe folks.

Would I be right in saying she had older NHS mental health pension?
You are right in what you say, there was never enough staff on the ward and we described it as the Cinderella part of a Cinderella service.
They haven't asked us to go back, it would be impractical for us now due to where we live, but there is now way I would have anyway.
We are trying to do our bit locally and away from the media hyperbole I have been quite proud of the way the vast majority of the country has pulled together.

 

[Dragunov]

we are all supposed to own warehouses full of food and all that jazz.

but can you afford to be off work and self contained for several weeks or months without money?

the government dooes an italy and sends everyone home, in reality we are supposedly better off than most as we saw this coming, but gas and electric still has to be paid, rent and rates, its no good saying rbs will do a mortage suspension as my land lord wants his money every month. and what about the people with electric and gas meters, it runs out and you have to go and pay for a new token, but the shops are shut the bank account is empt and theres no one at work in the electrical company head office to over ride the meter

SSP isnothing to me,one i am self employed so if i dont work i am fired and secondly at £100 a week it wont pay most peoples rent or mortage payments let alone gas and electric and food or insurances.

some parts of Italy have been under this ruling for two months now

No choice.

 

[rik_uk3]

Would I be right in saying she had older NHS mental health pension?
You are right in what you say, there was never enough staff on the ward and we described it as the Cinderella part of a Cinderella service.
They haven't asked us to go back, it would be impractical for us now due to where we live, but there is now way I would have anyway.
We are trying to do our bit locally and away from the media hyperbole I have been quite proud of the way the vast majority of the country has pulled together.

Yes, old school pension band 8 so great pension and lump sum to be honest, they now have PPE at last but thats a barrier to care for some mental health patients, just compounds their issues and fears.

 

[NCalHippie]

As long as my wife can get unemployment, we wiil be alright. Been there, done that in 2019 when the town burned down. We would be able to get by even without unemployment but it would deplete our savings within a couple of years and the only reason we could do it at all is because we are debt free.

Even being debt free, we would have to drop unnecessary things like cable TV and possibly internet, but as always, we could/would make it work.

 

[geordie1]

Yes, old school pension band 8 so great pension and lump sum to be honest, they now have PPE at last but thats a barrier to care for some mental health patients, just compounds their issues and fears.

Blimey, full band 8 pension, bet you sleep on a mattress stuffed with 50 quid notes!

I don't discuss it with my mates who still work on the wards but I dread to think what it's like at the moment, I imagine they are handing out meds like smartees to keep the patients settled.

 

[rik_uk3]

Blimey, full band 8 pension, bet you sleep on a mattress stuffed with 50 quid notes!

I don't discuss it with my mates who still work on the wards but I dread to think what it's like at the moment, I imagine they are handing out meds like smartees to keep the patients settled.

Yes, a very healthy pension and better than my band 6( General Nurse) pension :thumb:

Certainly where the wife is based its pretty much business as usual although more and more are trying to access the Crisis Assessment Team which is expected and a lot are trying to go the voluntary inpatient route...but no extra beds until the middle of next week if all goes to plan. There was a sigh of relief with some of the staff when she turned up for duty, 40 years experience vs a 3 year degree is no contest

 

[geordie1]

Yes, a very healthy pension and better than my band 6( General Nurse) pension :thumb:

Certainly where the wife is based its pretty much business as usual although more and more are trying to access the Crisis Assessment Team which is expected and a lot are trying to go the voluntary inpatient route...but no extra beds until the middle of next week if all goes to plan. There was a sigh of relief with some of the staff when she turned up for duty, 40 years experience vs a 3 year degree is no contest

Yep, all need a degree now yet they have to send you on a course telling you not to let the patients die from hunger and thirst.

You will need a degree to wipe your arse soon.

 

[rik_uk3]

I converted to degree in my 50s and either I've got more intelligent as I got older or degrees ain't as hard as they were. The wife did a Masters which she did enjoy doing.

 

[Gavbar]

Here we are as secure as we could be. We planned and prepared to be retired comfortably and had the huge advantage of London property prices to enable us to get the mortgage monkey off our back and secure a home we could never have hoped for down south.
My wife was a missionary nurse for 32 years till her brain tumour but has no pension as such. She can, in theory, get US social security while living over here but it is a long process that has already taken 2 years and we are now waiting for another medical appointment for further assessment.

Despite this we have reduced all our outgoings as far as possible and can live within our means and save a bit each year.

The only fear is of a global recession and rampant inflation that reduces my pension buying power and the possibility of the "restructuring" of the state pension and benefit system that could further reduce our income. As these are beyond our control we will do our best and keep our levels of preps as high as possible.

 

[edprof]

Yes. We are ready to shelter in place for 90 to 100 days. By then the garden should be producing.

 

[geordie1]

There are a number of people who are pleased to be at home getting free money from the government. This can't last, the UK was already hugely in debt before this, there must come a tipping point where they have to get the economy going?

Some people seem to think the government has reserves of cash, they don't, indeed they run the economy on a hand to mouth basis, money comes in and then goes straight out with another bit added on in borrowing, this is why our national debt is so huge.

I believe they have issued a bond to help out for this crisis, but they can't do that forever. They can print money but they can't print food.

In an ideal world we should look long term to reducing our islands population to a level that can set sustain itself, but that won't happen.

 

[rik_uk3]

Seems to me a lot of preppers are stuck in zone one