AIBU to wonder why a pensioner struggling financially would not use housing equity?

@StealMySunshining I am genuinely sorry that at some point in your life you clearly feel someone stole your sunshine.

May I please ask why yiu were so skint as a post grad? When DS did his PhD, he was fully funded and had 6hpw of VL work. He swiftly converted his PhD to a 4* monograph and got a job on the back of it prior to publication.

I am truly sorry that you are so unhappy. Bitterness never goes well in life.

I'm talking about a Saturday job for a teenager. I thought that was obvious but clearly not to you.

I do know someone (late 70s) who’s taken equity release, since her income is very small. But she has no children and owns two properties outright - one bought for relative peanuts in the late 60s, the other inherited from a parent.

I’m not assuming anything. I’m stating facts.

In the same way that council tenants now have to pay for under occupancy then so can any pensioner who wants benefits beyond the basic state pension. So if the people you know are living in housing appropriate to their occupancy then they would be fine, wouldn’t they?

Whereas if a pensioned couple is living in a four bed and wants additional benefits, they won’t be entitled to them. They can downsize/move somewhere cheaper, use their equity to supplement their income and then when they are below the threshold they can apply for additional benefits. Why is that so controversial? It’s basically what happens to working people.

Why are you assuming they are rattling around in big houses?
The people I know on UC that own their homes are not under occupying.

Also, UC claimants who own homes are not costing the tax payer in terms of rent etc. It makes no sense to consider the home they live in as an asset and therefore park of their capital.

No, they can sell and downsize/buy somewhere cheaper. Just like working people would have to if they were living beyond their means.

That makes no sense. Some people on means tested benefits own their homes. If you class the home they live in as an asset, the would have to sell their home and then rent and claim more UC.
You can't eat bricks.

So you wouldn’t count a parent who has a Saturday job as proper work? How many hours does a person need to work in a week for it to count as proper work in your view?

You view having an extra £100k of ready cash plus an additional income of circa £3k/year as being barely better off? We see the world very differently.

No they weren't what?

I was 'working' at 12. It was a paper round. Had a Saturday job at 15 but didn't count that as work either.

So you are no / barely better off & may as well have stayed put!

And you’re wrong on your figures by the way, here you go from the DWP on the cohort born 1937-1946 and their working patterns (table 2a): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/life-courses-and-pension-saving-patterns/life-courses-and-pension-saving-patterns?utm_source=chatgpt.com

I havent really seen much talk of avacodos or who has it harder until the end here.

just a few people concerned about equity release as it used to have a bad reputation, people saying people leave it too late, people having memories, or people not convinced downsizing will actually release enough equity to make a financial difference. Its very predicated on having a big house to downsize from and the difference being at least more any service charge.

Im very glad my mum downsized, she's very concerned about her grandchildren place in the world. Im slightly baffled my parents in law wont, but they arent cold and hungry yet. I think it comes from a fear that once the asset is sold, its gone. They dont trust stocks, shares and savings. I dont think they feel owed a standard of living just they dont know how to release the equity and feel safe. It feels like a one shot thing and they want to leave it as late as possible. My pil lost a lot of pension in some crash.

That still doesn’t answer my question.

What is the difference between an 18 year old working 16 hours a week and a parent working 16 hours a week? Both are work. Both are liable for the same rate of NI and taxes. Both will pay in to the system at the same rate. So what’s the difference? Is one more valuable or important than the other? Because I can’t see it.

See I find that so inherently disrespectful: using the sacrifices, stories and difficulties of the previous generations to justify current behaviour is vile in my opinion. The previous generations of pensioners absolutely deserved more than they were even given, they sacrificed so much for the good of future generations, and their name should not be taken in vain.

There is a wealth of difference (pun intended) between a current pensioner born in, say 1950, and their parents born in, say 1920. They cannot be compared and to do so is utterly disrespectful.

@C8H10N4O2 no they weren't we have already posted the figures. Most students are/were not just doing the odd shift for beer money they need the money to actually live.

You are conflating adults doing a mix of paid and unpaid work (parents) with teens doing part time hours for extra cash or students doing top up work.

My first job was at 12 (when paper rounds still existed), I don’t pretend its anything like holding down part time paid work alongside caring for children any more than the endless part time jobs I had until I started full time work was equivalent to all the unpaid labour involved in childcare blended with paid work.

The current generation of 60 somethings were mostly in full time work by 16, quite a few in full time work at 15 (even after school leaving age rose to 16 - it was the norm to release 15 year olds who had a job to go to). Of the rest most were in full time work at 18. Only a very small percentage of overwhelmingly better off children went to university and deferred full time work until 21 or 22.

@StealMySunshining someone was ranting about no respect for people who stormed the beaches etc on a thread recently - there are literally 6 surviving Dday veterans.

I do wonder if the boomer generation feel like they were part of the war and the work house through stories from their parents and grandparents, but like you said I was born in 92 and don't feel like I was part of the cold war!

That poster is so strange. She keeps quoting me and then making bizarre accusations. This is a thread about fiscal policy and pensions, it’s not my personal diary!

A poster earlier on in this thread said today’s pensioners remember the workhouses! Their perception of time is so strange. My mum is a pensioner and she doesn’t remember the workhouses any more than I would remember the Cuban Missile Crisis!

People name change for privacy reasons - I don’t think it is fair to assume @StealMySunshining is doing it for any malign motivation.

Lie about what? Am I in court?

Me too -

Thought that. Why? So that you can lie with impunity?