Retirement for someone with no dependents

tigerspill

I was in a similar position.  
All my financial planning spreadsheets target ending with £0.
And I retired at 53 and my wife at 54.

jennystarpepper

Cairnpapple said:

Depending where you are, it's possible that there may be more stable options for renting in retirement that there are pre-retirement, for example council sheltered housing, retirement flats or almshouses.

I have a spouse but no kids and we're planning to go the downsizing route when we no longer need 2 home offices (we're currently late 40s/early 50s with mortgage paid off). We have friends a generation older than us who downsized basically as soon as they turned 60 and it looked like exactly the right time to do it, while they still had the energy. They also prioritised walkable amenities and public transport.

Doubt if council / sheltered housing is an option, especially if the op had a property which they sold, they will question this.  Councils have limited stock, social housing is for people who have no other options, such as disabilities and homelessness, I think the applicant would have minimal chance of housing if they decided to spend their money and expect a charity or local authority to provide them with a home. 

Bostonerimus1

Fink_Nottle said:

Albermarle said:

An alternative for the better off are retirement villages and the like.. Upmarket and secure with facilities on site.

Be careful though. From the books I've read, they might seem very nice but there are a lot of murders in them...

Very good, but the actual crime is often the high monthly fees and the difficulty in selling. The back end is often structured to extract money from the estates and families so be careful.

WYSPECIAL

jennystarpepper said:

Cairnpapple said:

Depending where you are, it's possible that there may be more stable options for renting in retirement that there are pre-retirement, for example council sheltered housing, retirement flats or almshouses.

I have a spouse but no kids and we're planning to go the downsizing route when we no longer need 2 home offices (we're currently late 40s/early 50s with mortgage paid off). We have friends a generation older than us who downsized basically as soon as they turned 60 and it looked like exactly the right time to do it, while they still had the energy. They also prioritised walkable amenities and public transport.

Doubt if council / sheltered housing is an option, especially if the op had a property which they sold, they will question this.  Councils have limited stock, social housing is for people who have no other options, such as disabilities and homelessness, I think the applicant would have minimal chance of housing if they decided to spend their money and expect a charity or local authority to provide them with a home. 

Having a house doesn't stop you applying for or being eligible for local authority housing. Loads of local authorities have semi sheltered type housing for over 55's. My MiL sold up to move into one when she no longer wanted the responsibility of home ownership.

Albermarle

pterri said:

penners324 said:

There are retirement villages where you can rent or buy. 

The one's by Inspired Villages are like 5 star hotels. Definitely worth looking at if your finances can afford it.

Not sure of the deets but there is a thing with the service fees being extortionate? And difficult to sell on if left to anyone? Not that it’s an issue if that’s not a concern. I’ll revisit when I’m 75…

We have an 'Audley' village near us and they send me promotional literature. Just for interest I looked into it.
The properties are mainly 2 bed apartments, on a large private gated estate.  Very desirable, in a very nice setting, with leisure centre, restaurant etc on site.
I would suspect selling them on would not be so difficult, as you hear about with cheaper Mcarthy and Stone type retirement flats.
The annual service charges are pretty high of course, but these are places essentially for the well off, so maybe not such of an issue.
There some stingers though when you sell.
There is a 1% charge ( on top of an estate agent charge) for 'admin'
There is a 1 or 2% charge for every year you have lived there as a deferred service charge, up to a max of 30% . 

SarahB16

Albermarle said:

pterri said:

penners324 said:

There are retirement villages where you can rent or buy. 

The one's by Inspired Villages are like 5 star hotels. Definitely worth looking at if your finances can afford it.

Not sure of the deets but there is a thing with the service fees being extortionate? And difficult to sell on if left to anyone? Not that it’s an issue if that’s not a concern. I’ll revisit when I’m 75…

I would suspect selling them on would not be so difficult, as you hear about with cheaper Mcarthy and Stone type retirement flats.

If you ever have the time to find out @Albermarle I'd be very interested to hear (and please tag me) how second hand sales are managed by Audley.  For example, do they oversee the selling process themselves (i.e. so there is no incentive for Audley to sell them quickly as they are still receiving the service charge fees).  

Some new retirement villages are built in phases so phase 1 could be fully occupied but phase 2 is not (as the building work has only just finished) so it is therefore in Audley/or other retirement village's interest to sell the homes in phase 2 ahead of helping to sell the second hand homes from phase 1.  

Albermarle

The Audley village near to us was built in one go, rather than in stages. Maybe some properties were available before it was 100% complete, but it was not a two stage process.
When selling they charge 1% admin fee.
You can market the property via them for another 2%, or engage an estate agent .
Plus when the property is sold, there are deferred service charges to pay.
I do not see any obvious reason why they would drag their heels in the sales process, as they get the service charge anyway from  the buyer as soon as it is sold.

Bimbly

If you own your own home, it's a very useful asset to keep in reserve if you need to pay for care in later life. A sort of insurance, if you will. Deciding to equity release when you are younger and healthy, removes this option. We all hope we will never need to pay for care, but if you do, having that asset could be very handy indeed. 

pterri

Bimbly said:

If you own your own home, it's a very useful asset to keep in reserve if you need to pay for care in later life. A sort of insurance, if you will. Deciding to equity release when you are younger and healthy, removes this option. We all hope we will never need to pay for care, but if you do, having that asset could be very handy indeed. 

I dont think I need the equity but may release some but make sure there’s a few 100k left for unforeseen care needs. I don’t want to be in a box and have left £800k behind. Something to think about in 20yrs 

JayRitchie

I'm in a somewhat similar position - possibly with lower assets than others on the thread.

I've considered buying a suitable property to age into. Maybe a small flat where one wouldn't need car. I'd hope that would allow scope for travelling cheaply without a lot of capital tied up and less fear of not downsizing/ right sizing until its too late.

If anyone has thoughts, experience or research to share as to whether this is a good way to go I'd appreciate it.