Guardian bear Patrick Collinson - Pensions? BTL is perhaps the way to go

abaxas

Welcome to the BTL crisis of 2026 and can see the dailymail headlines now.

"Landlords hell of new housing estate that destroyed his pension"

RenovationMan

Linda_D wrote: »

No-one can be as stupid as you.

Yep. Thought so. Another one for the 'Ignore' function then. :cool:

System

RenovationMan wrote: »

Yep. Thought so. Another one for the 'Ignore' function then. :cool:

Worked out what the D is.

chewmylegoff

grizzly1911 wrote: »

There must be a graph somewhere that shows the tipping point , salary, for when pension provision actually becomes harmful especially given the sacrifices through life you will make simply to pick up a couple of grand a year extra which you then pay tax on.

For the lower paid there must be point where it simply isn't worth having a pension, if it tips you over a threshold that prevents you claiming additional benefits and free NHS benefits.

I guess that tipping point may vary over time but I would suggest it is going up, with the potential for "poor" returns, for many DC products for the foreseeable future and using the current annuity rates/increased life expectancy.

well, currently the situation is that the state pension is just over £100 a week, but the minimum income guarantee (topping up the state pension with pension credit) is something like £140 a week. Therefore under the current regime if you have a pension that pays you £40 or less a week (i.e. if your pension pot is about £50,000 or less) then it was a waste of time saving for it.

however, it looks like this will all change though and the state pension is just going to be increased to about £155 per week and pension credit scrapped, at which point anyone with a pension of any sort would appear to be better off if this change is made. this of course doesn't take into account housing benefit and council tax benefit.

RenovationMan

chewmylegoff wrote: »

this of course doesn't take into account housing benefit and council tax benefit.

Do you think they will still pay housing benefit and council tax benefit, given that (AFAIK) you only receive these benefits if you are on pensions credit and no one will be on that once the flat rate pension comes in.

grizzly1911

RenovationMan wrote: »

Do you think they will still pay housing benefit and council tax benefit, given that (AFAIK) you only receive these benefits if you are on pensions credit and no one will be on that once the flat rate pension comes in.

That is a good point, I don't know.

If I was a betting man the answer would be yes, but called something else, but possibly reduced by a similar to the Pension increase.

Thrugelmir

RenovationMan wrote: »

Do you think they will still pay housing benefit and council tax benefit, given that (AFAIK) you only receive these benefits if you are on pensions credit and no one will be on that once the flat rate pension comes in.

I suspect changes are planned. As this would appear to be the first steps in simplifying an administratively expensive bureaucratic system. With the net result of huge cost savings.

StevieJ

Thrugelmir wrote: »

People will retune themselves once reality kicks in. There's no easy way of "making" money. In the West we're working shorter and less hours, becoming less productive and wanting to be paid more. Someone in the BRICS wants "my" job and lifestyle. Also has the hunger and desire to achieve this goal.

Not a lot different from the mid 19th century where Britain was the centre of the industrial revolution and probably thought that would always be the case, Europe and the US had other ideas. Life for the average Joe however did improve so maybe it can again, with increased expectationss in BRIC etc and larger markets, who knows?

grizzly1911

chewmylegoff wrote: »

Therefore under the current regime if you have a pension that pays you £40 or less a week (i.e. if your pension pot is about £50,000 or less) then it was a waste of time saving for it.

What sort of wage would amass that size of pot of the "current" 40 years?

however, it looks like this will all change though and the state pension is just going to be increased to about £155 per week and pension credit scrapped, at which point anyone with a pension of any sort would appear to be better off if this change is made. this of course doesn't take into account housing benefit and council tax benefit.

Offset to this is the more tax that will be paid as more of any pension becomes immediately taxable and the fact that council tax and housing benefit may double that base pension figure. I know that housing benefit of c.£6K is paid to a couple under present arrangements in a non affluent area of the country and council tax would be an additional c.£1200 pa.

grizzly1911

Thrugelmir wrote: »

I suspect changes are planned. As this would appear to be the first steps in simplifying an administratively expensive bureaucratic system. With the net result of huge cost savings.

Time will tell, no doubt some savings will be made but I doubt the expected full savings will be achieved because the "unforeseen" consequence effect will kick in.