can we avoid care home charges

Nicki

spaniel_dog wrote: »

I suspect some of the posts suggesting I am next to evil have nothing to put into the welfare pot but take plenty out, so for those who have said why should they pay taxes to fund my children's in inheritance, I have to say to them, why should I fund your care from my assets, you pay for yours and I will pay for mine

I'm very happy to pay for my care when I am elderly out of any assets I have at that time. I am also happy now to pay for the care of anyone elderly who doesn't have savings or capital they can use for this purpose. What I am NOT happy to do is to pay for your care so that you can divert the assets you have to your children.

Some of YOUR comments have been downright judgmental and nasty yourself. Finding yourself elderly and without assets or capital doesn't necessarily mean you have not worked hard in your lifetime, or that you have squandered your resources. There are lots of reasons why people reach old age with not much in the bank - maybe they made an unwise investment decision in later life, they may have worked hard all their life in their own business which relied on personal reputation so when they came to retire there was no goodwill to sell, or they may have saved hard in their younger years, but their rainy day (or a family member's) came before they got to the point where they needed residential care, as but three examples.

If we have now got to the point however where you recognise that it is fair and right that YOU who does have property to dispose of, should pay for your own care until such money runs out, then some good has been done.

Errata

I'm always amazed when someone who probably bought their house for a few thousand and then sees it increase in value over the decades thinks that increase was of their doing. It wasn't, all they had to do was sit in it and wait for the price to go up.
If they eventually need residential care they will be left, at the moment, with vastly more than their mortgage payments added up to.
As an example: I know of an outer London house bought in 1965 for £4.5k which is now worth a quarter of a million.

margaretclare

Errata wrote: »

I'm always amazed when someone who probably bought their house for a few thousand and then sees it increase in value over the decades thinks that increase was of their doing. It wasn't, all they had to do was sit in it and wait for the price to go up.
If they eventually need residential care they will be left, at the moment, with vastly more than their mortgage payments added up to.
As an example: I know of an outer London house bought in 1965 for £4.5k which is now worth a quarter of a million.

And they have gone up, and up, historically...

DH's father took his family from Hackney in London to Iver Heath in Buckinghamshire, to escape the London blitz. Not sure what year this was, but obviously, between 1940 and 1945. He rented a house that had recently been built by a speculative builder and was offered the chance to buy it, for £250. Dad said 'Oh no, we'll be going back to London when the bombing stops'. They lived there for 22 years. In 1945 Dad was again offered the chance to buy it, for £500. Again he declined. They eventually went back to live with relatives in Acton. Short-sighted, or what? That would have been a nice 'inheritance' for some of them now - 12 miles from central London, DH used to cycle in to the theatre, concerts etc, easy distance for commuting.

The biggest house price inflation has, however, been in the last decade or so. I bought this 1930s bungalow in 1990 for £58,000. It's now valued at around £190,000.

thorsoak

margaretclare wrote: »

And they have gone up, and up, historically...

DH's father took his family from Hackney in London to Iver Heath in Buckinghamshire, to escape the London blitz. Not sure what year this was, but obviously, between 1940 and 1945. He rented a house that had recently been built by a speculative builder and was offered the chance to buy it, for £250. Dad said 'Oh no, we'll be going back to London when the bombing stops'. They lived there for 22 years. In 1945 Dad was again offered the chance to buy it, for £500. Again he declined. They eventually went back to live with relatives in Acton. Short-sighted, or what? That would have been a nice 'inheritance' for some of them now - 12 miles from central London, DH used to cycle in to the theatre, concerts etc, easy distance for commuting.

The biggest house price inflation has, however, been in the last decade or so. I bought this 1930s bungalow in 1990 for £58,000. It's now valued at around £190,000.

Oh yes ......remember when we were so happy that we'd got our mortgage for our new-build 3 bed semi in 1963 - and we turned down the "opportunity" to buy an old double-fronted 5 bedroomed georgian or victorian terraced house in Limehouse for £2,500 because it was in such a scruffy/run-down area and we knew nothing about renovations, etc etc etc. I passed it the other day - its for sale now ....over around £2.5 m !!!!!

seven-day-weekend

Yes...we turned down the chance to buy a £3k cottage on the river in Ironbridge BEFORE it was a World Heritage Site.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironbridge

thorsoak

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Yes...we turned down the chance to buy a £3k cottage on the river in Ironbridge BEFORE it was a World Heritage Site.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironbridge

Aint hindsight grand !!! :beer:

Errata

A few years ago I had to sell my stepdad's house when he moved into residential care. He was astonished when he heard what it sold for, but as he said - "It's free money"!

maman

I do know people who get to retirement age without assets precisely because they've spent every penny of their income on living life to the full while the rest of us contributed to pensions, paid mortgages and saved. Some of them will probably end up with free care.

And do you know what op? If they came on here bemoaning their lot, I'd give them as short shrift as you've had.

I still can't believe that you actually titled your thread 'can we avoid care home charges' and then tell us you'd never thought of doing that. What was your plan for where you'd live if you gifted your home to your children? Surely you weren't going to eat into your meagre pension with rent when you already have a property that's paid for?

securityguy

"I could show you the correspondence from HMRC 'your employer and pensions agency had applied the same code giving tax-free allowances, as this allowance cant be used twice you have made underpayment during the tax year'.
so although I had gone into zero pay the employer used the code so pension is taxed without allowance,"

You need to talk to the tax office, as you are entitled to a refund. What your "expert" has said to you is simply wrong. You are entitled to your tax allowance on your total income, but it is complex to do this via PAYE if you have more than one source of income. You may need to fill in a tax return. If you choose not to believe us, that is your prerogative, but maintaining the chip on your should will, by the sounds of it, cost you about £2500 per year. Alternatively, talk to the tax office and get it sorted out.

spaniel_dog

securityguy wrote: »

"I could show you the correspondence from HMRC 'your employer and pensions agency had applied the same code giving tax-free allowances, as this allowance cant be used twice you have made underpayment during the tax year'.
so although I had gone into zero pay the employer used the code so pension is taxed without allowance,"

You need to talk to the tax office, as you are entitled to a refund. What your "expert" has said to you is simply wrong. You are entitled to your tax allowance on your total income, but it is complex to do this via PAYE if you have more than one source of income. You may need to fill in a tax return. If you choose not to believe us, that is your prerogative, but maintaining the chip on your should will, by the sounds of it, cost you about £2500 per year. Alternatively, talk to the tax office and get it sorted out.

it was the tax office I talked to, the letter quoted from them, if you know more than HMRC then I will give you the direct line number the you can fight my corner