Retire,own house,no capital,ideas

margaretclare

Has the OP ever clarified the £7K pension - is this £7K as a total pot to be invested, an annual amount, or what?

£180K house - this is only worth what someone else will pay for it. It may be 'valued' @ £180k by an independent valuer, but you may not actually get that. And then there are the selling costs, and what to do with all your personal possessions that are in the house now?

Seems a bit odd to me. An independent life being planned, foreign travel, sightseeing - and then talking about moving into a nursing home? After that pick-up-and-go independent go-as-you-please lifestyle, it's certain that you wouldn't like the restrictions imposed on you in any kind of a 'home'.

One thing I've learned is that life is uncertain and that things - both good and bad - can come absolutely out of the blue and all the careful planning in the world can come to nothing.

margaretclare

whitejohn wrote: »

Thanks, thats total pensions, state £5k and private £2k (got a forecast)

Sorry, just seen that. So the OP has £135 a week total pension income to live on? Not an awful lot, is it?

zzzLazyDaisy

margaretclare wrote: »

Seems a bit odd to me. An independent life being planned, foreign travel, sightseeing - and then talking about moving into a nursing home?.

To be fair to OP, it wasn't him who raised the issue of going into a nursing home, it was posters who were alerting him to the fact that he needs to at least be aware of the issue of DoA, just in case he might need to go into a nursing home in the future.

Dunroamin

Ken68 wrote: »

Don't see the point of putting your money into dimishing assets, like a motorhome, or even spending money on travel. Better to trawl thru every board on this forum and make economies according to the advice. Think allotments, cashbacking and canny food shopping.
And if you live in your own home and reduced capital you will get help in the form of pension credit, and if ill and old, attendance allowance.

Travelling and spending time abroad versus doing what you suggest for 20 years - I know which I'd choose!

margaretclare

Dunroamin wrote: »

Travelling and spending time abroad versus doing what you suggest for 20 years - I know which I'd choose!

I agree with this. If the OP has no ties, no responsibilities, no commitment to any particular place, then the idea of growing older while living in the one place, allotments, cheap living, searching for bargains then claiming means-tested benefits seems a bit pointless. Life is for living!

whitejohn

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

It's not very likely to happen. But if it did happen, your money is safe.

By law, solicitors have to keep a separate set of accounts for clients' funds. If the solicitor goes bankrupt the OR cannot touch that money. Even if you got a dodgy solicitor who ran off with the dosh (even less likely) you are covered by his indemnity fund which all solicitors must have in place.

What happens is that other firms of solicitors locally each take on some of the solicitor's files. That firm would contact you and act on your behalf, and recover the money for you. It isn't often that a solicitor goes bust, but when it does happen, the integrity of the whole profession is at stake, and the Law Society and other solicitors move quickly to ensure that clients are taken care of.

Hope that allays your concerns?

Dx

Thanks that's re-assuring, I would be in a real mess if I lost anything at all

whitejohn

Mojisola wrote: »

The world could be a very different place in twenty years time and who knows what the rules about care homes will be.

By the time you reach 85, you could have met a lovely young lady and have three or four children running around your beach home on a tropical island!

Have a brilliant time seeing the world and enjoying life.

I totally agree and that's what I'm hoping for!

Always look on the bright side but like to have a plan B just in case

Mojisola

whitejohn wrote: »

Always look on the bright side but like to have a plan B just in case

Very wise. I'd have even more than a plan B - think through a range of possibilities -

who would you want to inherit from you if you were run over tomorrow?

how best to manage if you've got 10 - 15 years of good health ahead of you?

where would you like to be if poor health descends on you?

and so on.

Review the situation every few years and make adjustments to your plans according to your situation. These next few years could be the most exciting of your life!

monkeyspanner

Consider keeping the house and utilising the tax free allowance for having a lodger (rent a room scheme up to £4250 tax free). It would be a similar amount to the interest you were estimating on the proceeds of the house sale and you would still have the house to live in so income about £11,250 (£4250 of which not taxable) and no rent to pay when you are in UK. Find a responsible lodger and you have also a house sitter when you are away.

moneycravingexpert

Heres just a suggestion.
You can sell your property as you have ages to wait until you retire at current rankings 66 or 68 even deps how old you are now.
By that time you can easily have 'spent', 'invested' put into trust etc etc; legitimately all your capital from the house equity. You could also put that capital into your pension. Annuity rates are crap right now and likely to be rubbish forward too. Also things may change in the budget, so get advice. Get some professional independent advice it will be worth every penny.
Rent a property you can afford or if you have put all yr dosh into yr pension and only have a small income you can wrk for yourself self employed and get working tax credits for over 30+hrs a week working, 25% single persons council tax reduction, and dep on yr income ie less than £6420 household income pa you can apply for FULL wtc , housing benefit and council tax benefit. You would also get full wtc too on that level of income. The magic number is currently £6420 household income. Note wtc disappears when you earn £13k pa as a single person. ALL This may change in next budget, so keep abreast of things and or take professional advice. Independent Financial advisor and tax advisor required if you have £180+ capital etc. It will be the best dosh you have ever spent. If you had say an income of around £4k per annum ( say from a pension etc) and dont claim any other tax attracting benefits, are over 25 yrs old, work 30+ hrs self employed and are single no kids dependent nor child care etc you could get around £55 a week wtc. Get some professional advice about putting yr dosh into your pension, trust etc etc or a buy to let property ( good returns are possible currently in this market for private rental property there is such a shortage of homes circa £500 to £650 a month is going rate outside London ans SE. Beats any pension you would get on yr cash or interest from savings investments too on £180k, Capital returned to you as a loan that you pay interest on , as your source of income- get IFA advice on this. Or just top up and leave it in yr pension but get independent financial advice on this too, you will need it! You could rent out yr existing house and get £500+ min a month income which will be taxableincome, so again get advice. Then travel ie no fixed abode wherever you want work 30+ hrs a week as a travelling journalist, reporter, holiday rep etc etc etc
Then rent a very cheap property or caravan, mobile home to live in UK or abroad but do not buy one! YOU MAY EVEN FIND A 'JOB' OR POSITION EVEN IF SELF EMPLOYED THAT HAS ACCOMMODATION IE HOTEL REP ETC.CRUISE REP . Do not buy anything unless it will make you money OR IS AN APPRECIATING ASSET. You could consider a cheap buy to let PROPERTY AS AN ALTERNATIVE also for longterm income again set this up properly with advice. You could still rent a place to live yourself uk or abroad. re yr travel bug etc. If you cant think what to do self employment wise just try selling stuff online 30+hrs a week ( the time will fly by, and you may end up doing 60 hrs a week!) that you know about and that others may wish to buy. physical products, digital products or information products about stuff you know. Remember keep yr earnings down to either max household income £6420 currently for max wtc etc or earn a significant amount from yr business, its up to you!
You could even write about what your doing , doing all this!
Do not buy any depreciating assets like a new car or anything like a motor home that will cost you running costs money etc. every month or anything that attracts unnecessary taxation! You will need to hang onto as much dosh as you can but in a very structured way. Seriously get some professional Indepenent advice, it will be the best dosh you have ever spent or it could cost you many £1000' unnecessarily. good luck and hope this helped a bit!