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

What benefits do you think they’re entitled to?

I couldn’t live on it.

I’m not going to sell but I have empathy for people less fortunate than me.

You should try it sometime.

What did she do?

If she has children, she will get pension contributions for the years she was getting child allowance - so that could be up to 18 years depending on the age gap of children.

And if she's short of contributions she'd get pension credit which, ironically , gives the full state pension and more.

Drat, I am normally more savvy. I have spent two days muttering to myself about her stupid choices and why the hell no one has pointed them out to her!

No it isn’t. That’s what the full state pension is.

There are a few possibilities here.

The first is she on a 'case study list' somewhere so anyone needing someone willing, contacts her. She's happy to talk and may be slightly economical with the truth to create a good story. If she's on a data base of 'elderly OAP who says she is struggling with money' she's ready to be interviewed.

The second is she may be paid a small case study fee. It's not always the case but some media outlets have a small budget.

I've said this before but if she gets some of his pension and the state pension (and any top ups like attendance allowance) she could be relatively comfortable with an income of £20K+.

This woman is either trolling us or being completely manipulated by the media. A couple of years ago, when she was moaning about the Winter Fuel Payments, she said she was paying £40 a week on her fuel bills yet she only had her heating on at 13 degrees in the day and 5 degrees at night. If that was the case it would have hardly ever come on at all. She said she never put her oven on so she couldn’t eat a hot meal. No one ever asked her about the hob, a slow cooker, an air fryer or microwave. My fuel bills aren’t much more than £40 a week in the Winter and I put the heating on as and when I like, run an EV and cook what I want.

She was moaning in the papers about lockdown and her husband missing seeing her great granddaughter on her birthday as if she was the only one. She did another woe is me article about her husband not being able to see the sea again because of Covid and lockdown, which was tone deaf while people were dying and some kids have never seen the sea in their lifetimes.

She did yet another article about her husband having to contribute towards his care package out of his military pension because apparently that wasn’t fair either. I’m just glad that she’s not my MIL or relative because I’d imagine that’s hard.

My mum left in 75. Dad was a self employed carpenter , left to look after 3 kids - 7 - 13 yo - and we got no help

Even though he had to stop working, his previous year's earnings barred him from needing support. We had to survive a year before free school dinners kicked in and help with school uniforms

He still had to find the rent and his tax bill - neither was found and the interest over the years made us all homeless with bailiffs knocking morning noon and night

When we were being evicted, the council told me ( single female ) not a mission - get pregnant and we will house you

I did get picked up by a HA for single people and got given a bedsit in a different borough, and because of the change of postcodes , I was left on £7.50 a week dole - my rent was £16

Took me a year to get out of debt, and I did live on freebies from work ( I started work two weeks after I got the bedsit ) pinching loo roll not only to wipe myself but as a substitute for sanitary towels, pinching salt, pepper and sauce sachets, walking 4 miles to and from work, washing in a kettle of hot water

Benefits weren't easy got

I’m glad someone realises what claiming benefits was like 50+ years ago. We uprooted, moved a long way in the UK, from a council flat, to a great job opportunity for my DH. Baby in tow, he was earning reasonably well, we were renting privately, but in a poor area. Not eligible for council housing because we weren’t local.

Having baby no 2, the great job folded, we had no network, and for the first time DH had to claim unemployment benefits. That warranted a visit from an inspector, who looked round our house, which was just about adequately furnished, but in poor repair. Quite humiliating to people who had always worked. DH took what work he could, labouring, van driving, he became self employed in the end, and within a couple of years we bought our first house, the cheapest we could find! And of course I got a job as soon as I could, sharing childcare with him, no free nurseries, and no child benefit til our first DC was about eight, in the late 1970s.

My MIL is one of those. She only worked for 10 years, 5 before she had her family and another 5 when her husband had to give up work because of ill-health.

She gets Pension Credit of £221pw, the rent on her 2- bedroomed council house is paid by housing benefit (no bedroom tax for pensioners!) and she only has to pay 25% of her council tax, after deducting the 25% single occupier discount.

Her pension credit is only about £6pw less than the state pension I get after working for 53 years, and she doesn't have to worry about spending any money on her house because the council come and fix anything that goes wrong.

I have a small occupational pension which means I'm not entitled to any reduction in my council tax (other than the single person discount), which takes almost 50% of that pension, and I have to call in tradesmen every time something needs fixing.

Overall, I reckon she's better off than I am when it comes to day to day stuff, which is why I need to move somewhere cheaper.

I saw the lady the OP is taking about on tv and wondered similar.

Of course we don't know the size and value of her property but my though was why not mi e into a really small flat and put some money in the bank to eliminate the daily stress that she was clearly feeling?

X

Maybe she owns a Ferrari and that accounts for the £50 a week on petrol?

It does't add up- literally.

Saying she can't have a hot meal is nonsense. She could use 3 eggs to make an omelette- cost 75p.

You sound lovely and a good attitude - thing is if you come to where I live, our restaurants and travel agents and car dealers are full of very comfortably off pensioners- due to hugely increased house prices - many early retirees are paying zilch in NI from their mid 50s as not working and often not that much income tax either depending on private pension and savings drawdowns but getting health fully covered etc - it’s big reason I think tax and NI needs to be integrated bifcwexarent paying in separately for health and pensions . There are plenty who are comfortably off through inheritance too, not necessarily because they worked longer or harder than many do today, my MIL no longer with us used the ‘we worked hard card’ an awful lot despite not working at all till kids were adults and then no more than 10 hours a week till ‘retirement’ - contributing next to nothing fiscally over the years , totally her right to do so and rely on her ex husband and my FILs paid efforts, but somewhat cheeky to imply that those younger were not working hard .

I agree! Apparently in an article 2 years ago she claimed she couldn't afford a car - now she has one and spends 50pw on fuel? It doesn't make sense.

Exactly. Equity release used to be seen as an option if you wanted to go on extra cruises or buy a camper van or give your children a house deposit. There is a big difference between taking out a lump sum for those things and using it to supplement your income.

But the focus is always on inheritance, isn’t it? I think that’s also why so many people don’t want their parents to buy retirement flats: it eats into their profits.

Yes, every generation works hard. However, not every generation has been equally rewarded for that hard work. And today’s pensioners seem to be unable to accept that fact. They have already been rewarded vastly beyond what any generation before or since will ever get (so my comments aren’t ageist, they are about this specific cohort of pensioners), and yet they are still constantly wanting more.

The rhetoric absolutely is there, as well you know. This thread was started as a result of yet another article about yet another “poor” pensioner after all.

Having read the Reddit thread from the link posted above, I now think Elaine is a troll used widely in the media to get people frothing and clicking on the news websites... 😂

We bought this lump of a house when we had to care for mum and step dad, mum has finally passed and now just the two of us in our 60's in a five bedroom, 3 bathroom home with huge gardens - in the middle of the back of beyond

Its screaming out for a family

I would love to downsize and move closer to amenities but the truth is, we would need more then what we would get for this because big houses in the country with no amenities , go for a lot less then a bungalow close to town where there is gas, and buses and trains

Luckily its a chalet bungalow and we are now in the midst of moving to ground floor living

We are nearly at state pension age and only work part time , but keeping the house in good order is a full time job which whilst we are still both fit we can manage ourselves, and that's my biggest worry , getting to old/infirm to do so and having to pay people to come in

We will have a frugal retirement but we will manage. We have lived through very lean times and these past few years, with the COLC really hitting us and my earnings are now bare minimum , we are kind of used to making do and mending

In a way we will be better off as pensioners, if we stay fit. Illness - that worries me

We had friends ( both passed now ) who had a beautiful house in Worcester Park and they took ER and helped their daughter and had a great life. They both passed early so their daughter still inherited something, plus had benefitted from the ER - I think the house went for close on a million

This is how I feel about it - I think a lot of people are thinking of how it was -when someone drew down £70k at 64 , spent it and ended up owing £250k at 90 . It doesn’t have to be like this, it can be drawn down as income gradually - so an extra £5k a year as per my example below and shouldn’t in my opinion be done before early to mid 70s - or it can be a hybrid - draw £25k for home repairs/upgrade if needed and then small monthly amounts -that way you are only paying interest on what’s drawn - there are other options too for those who have quite good income but want money for home or to give family help including paying your interest, so what is owed is what you’ve drawn - I think there’s a lot of people out there who've mentally spent the inheritance they expect and would be quite happy to have parents struggle .no one’s home is at risk on these arrangements. Yes downsizing is sensible for some if willing, but plenty aren’t exactly living in mansions now - and are quite happy where they are, just could do with a bit more income -

Hi there, thanks for your thought provoking response, Hope you don't mind me querying what you mean by "the vast amounts of pension provision" Do you mean the actual state pension, I am sure you are aware that people can only claim the full state pension if they have at least 35 years of NI contributions.Are there too many pensioners in your opinion? I do know that in my own parents' case my dad died before he was eligible for his state pension and my mum only lived for two years after she retired,maybe we are all living too long. May I also ask where the rhetoric of "poor pensioners" is coming from, I do not see it on any of the news sites or social media that I use, in fact I see much more of your opinion suggesting that most retired people are well off both in terms of money and assets. I'm not well off nor are the older people where I live as it is a poor area If one goes to a wealthier area then I assume there are wealthier pensioners there just as there will be better off people in general Yes, I own my house but believe you me I struggled as a single parent to pay for it, had to do two jobs sometimes but it gave my child a good work ethic. Yes there are some whinging, unpleasant older people but I do not doubt this is applicable to younger people too. Personally I think that every generation works hard and faces struggles and challenges, I think that young people today a very tough time as the housing market is broken and AI is already having a negative impact on entry level jobs. I think student debt is horrifying , climate change is a huge concern and even though I am an old git I want to see a better world for the next generation.

Absolutely this. I do think the (previously very generous) welfare state has created such a sense of entitlement that it’s ridiculous. So many people want to outsource all sense of personal responsibility onto the state and live their lives in a perpetual state of infantilisation.

Thread after thread after thread on here with posters refusing to take any responsibility for themselves or their own choices and wanting benefit after benefit and bailouts from charities and the government. Leave those for the people who really need it, not because you failed to plan for your retirement while living through the most stable, secure and financially beneficial period of time this country has ever seen.

Explain how it’s a con?

We’re not worried about inheritance, our DC don’t need it, but affordability and security. Our home isn’t valuable, we had a similar income to lots of social housing tenants, (I worked in that field) but chose to buy. In supported retirement accommodation, we could afford to self fund the rent, and pay for other care without recourse to benefits. That would, IMO, be putting our only asset to good use and not be a drain on tax payers.

We live relatively comfortably on two pensions, no fantastic holidays or new cars, also no means tested benefits, but we’re stuck. We don’t live near any of our DC or other family, and want to remain as independent as possible. I guess lots of owners of relatively inexpensive homes are in the same situation.