| I remember when my grandfather died, and my grandmother got part of his pension. It put her pension above a max threshold for old age / low pension (cheaper phone bill, no tv taxes, ...) by, ... hold your hats... 2 Euro. Father called the service ... "sorry, we can not do anything about that". She lost over 100 Euro in benefits because technically... she was not low pension anymore but was financially WAY more poor then when my grandfather was alive. So when my grandfather was alive, their combined pension was higher, they qualitied as having a low pension. When only *part* of my grandfather pension got combined into my grandmothers. Well, now your not poor... I do not remember the exact pensions but it was a massive haircut, with the insulting on top, losing those benefits. The lost benefits made it from threading water, to drowning. Without my dad financial help, she will have lost the house. Ironically, if she did not get my grandfathers pension part, she will have qualitied for more social assistance, and will have been better off. Sometimes, those lines really screw people over. |
Another angle is how they affect the living. Plenty of young adults delay moving out from their parents, or starting a career, because changes in combined household income would cross one of those magic threshold, and ending up screwing the parents and younger siblings for life.
Such delaying may not be as immediately critical to the person, but it alters the course of their lives in significant ways.