declaring gold/silver assets

Mojisola

I've no doubt that if you've got a bag of silver and gold, it would be counted as capital, in the same way that if you had a stash of cash at home, it would still count. Just because it isn't in an account doesn't mean it can be disregarded.

I remember my grandparents talking about people trying to claim help during the depression in the 1930s and being told that if there were five of them in the family and they owned six chairs, to sell one of the chairs and come back after they'd used that money. Some people have quite valuable furniture and other items at home, possibly bought years ago and having increased in value over time. I wonder whether we'll ever get to the stage where such possessions are taken into account, especially for older people asking for financial help for residential care. It's far more common for officials to visit them at home and see what possessions they have.

rogerblack

Mojisola wrote: »

I wonder whether we'll ever get to the stage where such possessions are taken into account, especially for older people asking for financial help for residential care. It's far more common for officials to visit them at home and see what possessions they have.

I see (in the ESA regs) nothing that specifically excludes personal possessions from being capital.

They are usually not treated as such, as they don't fall into one of the example 'what is capital' categories as is quoted above.

But they could if a decision maker was being particularly energetic be called investments.

This would be quite clear in the case of some items - art, wine, or one of the many 'normal' niche investment items.

It's probably a stretch too far to count items which would never be a sound investment, and would normally be expected to only decline in value.

Say a mass-market car, sofa, cheeseboard, or cushion.

'cash-like' posessions would be those that aren't investments, but are readily converted into money with little loss.
I can't off-hand think of an example that isn't an instrument like a 10 pound book token.