equity release by moving into caravan

lisyloo

A couple of other things (I never think of it all in one post).

Go with a lender that is part of SHIP as in post above (safe homes income plan). This ensures that the debt never exceeds the value of the property.

In the 80s there were some bad scheme where debt continued above the value of the property. Families were pursued after death for money.

Also try to find a scheme that you can transfer to a new home.
i.e. if you want to move to sheltered accomodation.
You may find your needs in later life are different i.e. you can't do the stairs anymore.

margaretclare

lisyloo wrote:

I am not assuming they will, but I certainly think it's worth checking if they haven't already. I was suprised my parents got it with £26K savings, so it's more generous than I expected.
Surely you must agree it's worth a few minutes to check rather than go without free money.



I'm not assuming that either.
But I certainly think it's worth warning people so that they can make an informed choice.
Surely you agree that making informed choices is a GOOD thing.

There are a number of factors to take into account, but it's an important decision which can affect peoples lives for decades so I think it's good to be as well informed as possible.

Yes, I agree with all this. The fact that the OP posted on this site implies that he's capable of finding out things for himself. What does irritate me is the widespread assumption that because we're 'pensioners' we *must* by definition be poor. And that we must be - to put it politely - a bit thick, unable to find out things or think things out unless they're put under our noses!

No one knows another person's circumstances in detail. Probably people look at us and think 'well, they live in a modest bungalow, drive an 'M' reg Fiesta, both over 70...'

What no one realises (and how can they) is the level of our income, because we both get pensions and annuities in our own right from previous careers. We've also done the sums for pension credit and it took less than 5 minutes to get the reply back 'You are entitled to £0.00 pension credit'. Which is why I suggested that Alan might like to do this himself, rather than asking CAB. Although the CAB I used to be involved with hosted a weekly drop-in session where someone from the Pensions Service was present and could give any assistance or information 'from the horse's mouth'.

If anyone has got any information on log-cabins, they actually sound a lot more attractive than the 'park homes' marketed by Tingdene, which we've actually looked at - there's a site near here.

Margaret Clare

Pal

Given the limitations of a website chat forum, the fact that the original poster stated....

alanjk wrote:

My wife has retired and is only getting the state pension. I am due to retire and I will get the state pension + company pension which will realise £2500 pa (not much for a lifes' work!)

.. suggests that they are unlikely to be particularly wealthy, especially given that they are investigating selling their house to fund their retirement.

It seems a pretty reasonable assumption that the OP has little in the way of pension income to look forward to, and referring him to the CAB to check his benefit entitlement and pension credit status (before and after equity release/house sale) seems entirely appropriate.

Obviously if the assumption is wrong and the OP is rolling in money, he is more than welcome to post more information to avoid further such comments. In the meantime, the suggestion that he discusses his benefit entitlement with the CAB is good one. The stated level of income very low and he is very likely to be entitled to additional benefits once he retires.

lisyloo

I agree with PAL that there was evidence that the OP is not well off.
I think people were making genuine well meaning suggestions without making any negative assumptions.

I think MargaretClare has some issues with how pensioners are treated which may be justified in general but I cannot see any justification for that to be transferred to this thread.

I hope that some of my suggestions have been useful but it would be good to hear back from the OP so that non-relevant suggestions can be excluded.

EdInvestor

Could you consider taking in a lodger for extra cash?
You don't have to pay tax on renting out a room up to £4K per year.

Definitely worth considering if both of you will be at home IMHO.

Also, a part time job for a while if possible, perhaps ? So you could accumulate some small savings at least?

margaretclare

I have a few 'issues' (so-called) with some widespread assumptions that are made about retired people.

I think that the CAB are doing their best to do a very difficult job. Remember that they are a charity, are open only part-time hours and are largely staffed by volunteers. I was involved with them for some 2 years and I realised in the end that I couldn't do it. I'm always hearing this: 'Go to the CAB - they'll sort it out for you'. There are expectations out there which are impossibly high.

Rather than go and sit in a CAB waiting room for what can be a large part of your day, anyone with online access as the OP clearly has, can find out a lot of this himself. The Pensions Service has its own website as have all the government departments, the Age Concern site has already been mentioned, and it's amazing what you can find when you 'google'.

Re googling and log-cabins, the problem with that is that you'd need a piece of land, with outline planning permission, and services to the site e.g. water, sewerage, electricity etc. If you go for a 'park home' these services are already there and you pay 'ground rent' for them. I've seen used ones quoted by Tingdene for about £68K, new ones about the same as the OP's existing house and on top, there's the ground rent. So not much saving there.

We've also looked at park homes on other sites - looked at an all-year round one (but the people we were going to buy from in the end decided not to move) and also one that closes for 6 weeks every winter. We were told 'no problem, the residents just pack up and go to Spain every winter'. But we thought - it's one thing if you *choose* to go away from home for 6 weeks every winter, different matter if you're *forced* to!

Margaret Clare

EdInvestor

Actually when you look at what the OP said, it's not at all clear how well-off (or not) he and his wife are.

My wife has retired and is only getting the state pension. I am due to retire and I will get the state pension + company pension which will realise £2500 pa (not much for a lifes' work!) We have our own home which could sell for £140k.

Firstly as his wife has retired before him she must be getting "the state pension" in her own right. Recently retired people actually get 2 state pensions,not one - the second one is called S2P ( aka SERPS) and if Mrs OP had a full NI record, or a partial record plus Home responsibility credits, she may be getting as much as 8 or 9k a year, index linked.

The same applies to Mr OP if his company pension was contracted in to SERPS ( and since it is pretty small, it probably was.)

So we are perhaps talking about a couple here with an income of around 20k a year, not rich, but certainly well ahead of the pension credit level.

As Margaret indicates ,no individual retiring now who has worked or worked and looked after kids for his/her lifetime has to retire on the breadline.

The kneejerk reaction that anyone getting "the state pension" is virtually on the verge of starvation is out of date.

There are two state pensions, and we shouldn't forget that.

margaretclare

Thanks for this, Ed. This is exactly what I was trying to say.

The people I feel most sorry for are the women who're NOT retiring on state pension because they didn't pay full contributions. They therefore lost out not only on all other benefits e.g. sickness and unemployment, but they lose out on retirement pension in their own right, both basic and second, and also Home Responsibilities Protection doesn't apply to them. However, a couple who have pension entitlements in their own right are in a different category. As you're often saying, don't denigrate the value of the 2 state pensions!

I probably put it badly, but this was the kind of thing I was trying to get across. Just because people are 'retired' doesn't of necessity put them on to the breadline. And it can be patronising to assume that they are.

Margaret Clare

lisyloo

And it can be patronising to assume that they are

and also to make assumptions about what other people are assuming.

I haven't seen any contributions here which don't look as though they weren't intended to be anything but helpful.

I try to use my spare time to help others (and to get help) and I know the comments weren't aimed at me personally but it's really de-motivating when you give up your free time to help and all people do is criticise.

People here are not highly qualified or being paid, they are un-paid volunteers and those that criticise should bear that in mind (a bit like the thankless task of working for the CAB).

I'm sure all the comments were well intentioned.

Shall we get back to helping the OP??

needmoney

lisyloo wrote:

I've only been through the procedure once, but I think the £140K house would be valuable enough to do equity release on if there is a desire to stay in the home.

quote]

lisyloo please don't think I was being critical of you just pointing out some people may be like me, my house is worth about half of £140K, haven't had it valued but that's a 'best guess' going on house price rises.