Guide for planning final years of life?

wibbler

I can't work out if this is the best place to post (apologies if this isn't it, please point me in the right direction!)

My wife and I both still  have (thankfully) 2 living parents each, although they are all over 80 and getting increasingly in need of help around the house. More than that, we need to start looking for the best way for them to spend the last years of their life (we fear it is quite close to the end for at least one of them).

They are all proud and refuse most help, and live in their own houses. They can't really afford anything, so don't have spare money for a cleaner/gardener/carer (although strangely they have too much money to quality for most of the government help).

Is there a website/guide for those looking to plan for these last years? We are facing choices like: should they stay at home, is there a low-cost way to get a carer, should they go into a home, what options are available for their financial level, and so on.

I've looked on AgeUK, and I have to say I couldn't find a guide, but lots of different, unconnected articles.

Thanks in advance!

Flugelhorn

Not sure of a specific guide as TBH it all depends on individual circumstances as they arise. 

One thing is to look at attendance allowance if they are needing more help - this is not means tested and many people use the money for cleaners / gardeners etc 

Keep_pedalling

Assuming both sets of parents are knocking around in the family home which is costly to maintain and becoming difficult to run they really should consider downsizing to more appropriate accommodation. Whether that is a bungalow, assisted living or sheltered housing. Being asset rich but cash poor in your latter years is no fun.

wibbler

Keep_pedalling said:

Assuming both sets of parents are knocking around in the family home which is costly to maintain and becoming difficult to run they really should consider downsizing to more appropriate accommodation. Whether that is a bungalow, assisted living or sheltered housing. Being asset rich but cash poor in your latter years is no fun.

Thanks. I forgot to mention in the first message that one set of parents have an Equity Release mortgage, so there is (I believe) only £40k they could take with them.

Savvy_Sue

wibbler said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Assuming both sets of parents are knocking around in the family home which is costly to maintain and becoming difficult to run they really should consider downsizing to more appropriate accommodation. Whether that is a bungalow, assisted living or sheltered housing. Being asset rich but cash poor in your latter years is no fun.

Thanks. I forgot to mention in the first message that one set of parents have an Equity Release mortgage, so there is (I believe) only £40k they could take with them.

Some sheltered housing is rentable, and there's a reasonable amount of turnover for it, so the lack of equity might not matter. Buying such property is often not very good VFM, and they can be hard to sell afterwards. 

Keep_pedalling

Savvy_Sue said:

wibbler said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Assuming both sets of parents are knocking around in the family home which is costly to maintain and becoming difficult to run they really should consider downsizing to more appropriate accommodation. Whether that is a bungalow, assisted living or sheltered housing. Being asset rich but cash poor in your latter years is no fun.

Thanks. I forgot to mention in the first message that one set of parents have an Equity Release mortgage, so there is (I believe) only £40k they could take with them.

Some sheltered housing is rentable, and there's a reasonable amount of turnover for it, so the lack of equity might not matter. Buying such property is often not very good VFM, and they can be hard to sell afterwards. 

I would say say when moving into any type of accommodation that is sole aimed at retirees it is better to rent even if you can afford to buy. These sort of properties are hard to sell and can leave your executors a headache that go go on for a very long time.