Who still rents in their 40’s/50’s- What is your plan?

[Myhouseismyprison]

I live in the South East, for various reasons we have never managed to purchase our own home.

I am now in my late 40’s and DH is 50. We still have children at home who all have their lives here so unable to pick up and move somewhere cheaper just yet.

We have some savings but nowhere near enough to buy here for the house size we would need. We have rented the same house for several years but know this can change quickly and have no idea how we would afford current market rent.

I just wondered what plans people had in place for retirement? What savings accounts would be good?

Well I think that's cleared things up-the vast majority of those age 65 and over living in poverty will be private renters
Those statistics are stark

Yes - the figures are truly staggering and frightening. I won’t post any further details, as it might make anxiety around this issue even worse, but people need to be working flat out to avoid this outcome. And I mean flat out, accumulating as much as they can whilst they are still young enough to have this option.

The twin issues of failing health and poverty, escalating costs and government support being withdrawn is going to a deeply unpleasant for some.

I can’t not understand for the life of me why there is isn’t a massive campaign to address this in coming, perfectly predictable train wreck. When you consider the acute housing crisis as well, it looks very challenging.

I think you only have to look at the ageist threads on here to see why.
Anyone over 60 is considered "a rich Boomer"
On another thread they just denied the 80s recession ever happened, I think we are heading for a decline in life expectancy back to the 70s/80s where poverty is the killer.

The 80s recession was nowhere near as severe as the crash in 2008, and subsequently the pandemic. Followed by the war. There has been no time to recover from one serious crisis/recession to another.

Life expectancy is already in reverse in some areas in many countries.

Agree
I was making the point that the ageist posters on here think everyone of a certain age is a loaded Boomer.
They are not

I worry about this about someone I love dearly but he is in council house, so guessing wheh he’s too old to work he’d be able to claim benefits ?

Yes, my original quote referred to social renting 🙄

It is entirely possible for there to be ‘loaded boomers’ and an emerging class of pensioners that really will be living in abject poverty in the not so distant future. Which is why the boomers that are burning through money need to pause and consider the future much more carefully,

I personally think ‘retirement’ as we know it might soon be over.

I think it depends on circumstances though - time out of work due to caring responsibilities/disability/state benefit only don’t necessarily apply to everyone.
But yeah, I’m not anticipating being well off. Aiming for more for “not homeless” 😂

What war?

Is this a joke? The one that has caused the cost of living crisis maybe?

Of course it's not a joke. We're not at war.

I tried to claim PIP about ten years ago but was told I wasn't eligible because I was able to walk from the bus stop! The man who did my assessment had to ask me how to spell rheumatoid arthritis because he didn't know what it was. I'm worse now than I was then, and I'm now on medication which has dreadful side effects (I'm unable to leave the house for 48 hours after I inject it) which I wasn't then. However I have a very unsupportive GP who refused to back up my claim last time.

Either way, we manage okay at the moment - DH earns a fairly decent salary - and the thought of applying again to be made to feel like a malingerer is too soul destroying for the sake of £30 a week.

The future scares the shit out of me but like so many people in my situation, there's not much to be done for it.

I think you have fundamentally missed the point there old chap. There is a war in Europe, and it has caused the escalation and continuation of the cost of living crisis we are all enduring now.

Why am I having to point this out to you?? Assuming you are an adult of average intelligence.

Because when one says "the war" in relation to their country it implies said country is at war. There are wars everywhere, all the time : "the war" is used to reference war in which one's country is engaged.

Wars are on going yes, but rarely do they create the issues that this one has. I’m staggeringly unimpressed that you are not aware of the reasons why the war in Ukraine has had such a serious impact on most people’s lives here in the U.K.

You need to get out a little more.

Every day families can not afford to heat their homes and this has been going on for years, nor are they managing with the spike in food costs and other issues relating directly to Russia’s invasion.

It's debatable isn't it. Prices were on the rise prior to Russ/Ukraine war, heftiest increase was before it due to Brexit/COVID/Truss, inflation probably more due to QE overall. Oil's down in price now so any rises we're seeing in the UK presently aren't to do with Russia supply/lack of any more.

Your last sentence.

I agree that might well be the case which could put competition against younger people trying to enter job market or move up within it (much like housing!).

It could mean a higher tax burdern to pay for those on in work benefits or top up in retirement.
We definitely need to be thinking ahead on all different kinds of housing for all different kinds of needs and points in life.

I've just worked out that I've paid* around £170k in rent in the last 30 years.

Feel like having a little cry.

I had a chance at buying a one bed Victorian conversion garden flat on the outskirts of London in the mid 90s. It was priced at £57,000. I opted not to do it as I didn't quite have enough and my offer of £54,000 was turned down. Sigh.

*not all of it was from my own wages as I was on in work benefits for a few years so the Housing Benefit covered 2/3 of the rent.

That’s simply untrue. I can’t even be bothered to explain it.

The 2008 crash should have been bigger. It was propped up, we should never have propped it up.
it would have been awful for some, but we needed the reset after the glass floor of house prices were built on misspld mortgages.
to have that reset now would be catastrophic
to see us sleep walking into the massive housing benefit bill for generation rent when we retire is also going to be catastrophic

Ours is over 300k
it’s maddening isn’t it.

@BourbonsAreOverated agree with you; how we dealt with the crash just stored up trouble for later. We gave all our money to the banks and we're still literally printing extra money 16 years on to make up for it - and wondering why inflation is out of control. All for house prices. Should have let them fall and required the banks to use the dosh we handed over to them to cover any resulting losses. We're already spending £13 billion on housing benefit every year to make good the gap between household income and housing costs - in a supposedly demand driven market. With such a huge gap it's clear the main driver of demand is not actual money but banking created credit lines. And we're spending public funds on that.

Def buy small flat if you can

Yes you will be able to find a mortgage

You could buy the flat and rent it out for now op, which will cover the mortgage?

The safety nets are just not going to be there in the future, and taking personal responsibility for your own house, security and future whilst you are still young enough to create a safe and secure home for old age is imperative.