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

[Powerbungalow]

I'm not being unsympathetic

Theres a lady on the news at the moment, saying how times are tough and shes only cooking one meal a week - imagine she's eating cold food.

One thing that stood out though "I own my own house and it costs in maintenance" Depending on where she is, would you not get a life time mortgage or sell and rent? She has a big asset, why not use it to have a better life? I know I would.

She may be holding on to it for inheritance, but she didn't say - if so, then can her family help. It just seems totally crazy

But that's choice If you can't afford to pay someone 3 times minimum wage to change lightbulbs etc then you would HAVE to do yourself. Or sit in the dark

She was just normal. Not exceptional at all.

It seems the least " able" people are those who came from rich families where money was thrown at things rather than skills taught

I didn't say it wasn't. I wouldn't go up a ladder anymore due to osteoporosis and arthritis.

Do you not have any relatives who would do those things for you?

It's only the last couple of years my mum has started paying decorators instead of doing things herself but minor DIY, lightbulbs, flatpack assembly I or one of other DC, son in law or older grandchildren help with.

Unless you're actually a boiler maintenance person yourself, everyone needs to pay for that, for safety.

It’s stupidity to me to stay in a house with often hundreds of thousands in equity then struggling to heat it.

Our in-laws were in a similar situation last year, both in ill health with a 5 bed house with large grounds and numerous outbuildings. They had very little money to live on and we could see that very soon they will need to pay for help in the home or go into a carehome (FIL has Parkinsons) It took us two years to persuade them to move, eventually they
agreed. They are now in a 2 bed bungalow which means FIL can easily access everywhere, and they are better off than they’ve ever been in this lives as they have a lots of money in the bank. They are so much happier, eating out often, buying clothes and lovely furniture etc etc.

People need to plan ahead, we’re just 60 and have recently moved to a home we know we can stay in forever, it’s easily maintained and an easier garden than we had, plus equity in the bank which we can enjoy.

Nope. Only child of two only children. DC live abroad.

@LizzieSiddal 100% with the planning ahead. You can't be the grasshopper that sings all summer and then moan when it gets to the winter of your years that you don't have enough.

Young people are constantly told, cut your cloth accordingly, live within your means but the second someone is of pensionable age apparently it's everyone else's problem that they didn't prepare financially. We are all either going to age or die, it isn't a surprise to anyone.

*please don't what-about with disability, illness etc. it is not useful to a general discussion to focus on individual cases

It's illegal to work on gas without the relevant qualifications.

Electric some things are notifiable and some not, the process of what you can do without notification is more complex.

It's hard to get a balance. Some people do less than they are probably capable of. That said I have also seen some pretty dismal efforts at DIY electrics.

People to me generally fall into two camps. Those who think they can't do anything and those that think they can do a lot more than they are safely capable of. There are few people that fall inbetween those two extremes.

I know, that's why I said everyone needs to pay for that.

I was replying to the poster saying they needed to pay £50 to get someone to change a light bulb.

Age UK local chapters have handyman services, some of them will do things like lightbulbs for free.

Or - considering so many of these people don't want to sell their homes and downsize due to the "community" around them surely they could ask a neighbour.

We mow our elderly neighbours lawn, takes us two minutes its no trouble at all and if they needed anything else simple done we would be more than happy to help.

Exactly. People lose their jobs overnight and all they get told to do is polish up their CVs and get back out there. They are expected to get on and survive with absolutely no notice. Meanwhile, today’s pensioners have had 40+ years to prepare for their retirement - how can it come as such a surprise to so many of them?

Well I don’t have a husband and I’m saying it.

My council tax is cheaper because I bought a house where it would be. We pay £211/month.

My gas and electric combined is £150 a month because we bought an energy efficient 1980s house. Our house insurance is £32 a month, again, because we made a considered decision over the house we wanted.

I could go on, but just taking the three examples above, our utility bills are £278/month cheaper than yours. That isn’t accidental. It was a considered decision. And more pensioners need to make considered decisions rather than spending a fortune on their houses (bigger house = bigger bills and more maintenance) and then being surprised that they can’t make ends meet.

But hey....wealthy boomers, eh? - asset rich, income poor.

One of the main reasons for not wanting to engage in equity release is because they wish to leave something for their children and also because things get complicated if they need to go into residential or nursing care.

Reasons for not moving are all outlined by other posters.

I think all im trying to say is my mum did everything 'right' she planned for a her retirement, downsized (not from a 4 bed detached, she had a 2 bed terrace) and im personally very glad she has more than 1k to live in her retirement flat due to the service charge and unexpected costs that come up and increasing frail health.

Im fully on board that more people should do what my mum did, but they arent generally then living off just 1k. They sometimes free up a bit of equity or have personal pensiins too so they generally have a bit more. It really improves quality of life imo.

I just felt a bit concerned for people who cant downsize as there property is already low cost and 1k is everything. I just though where do you get 2k for a boiler or 650 cos your clutch failed. I get its doable as people do it, but im surprised its considered more than ample rather than just enough and a bit tight. But it seems the person living on 50% more than this really thinks its in excess of what people need because there bills are low. So im worried for nothing.

Edited to add reducing her energy bills was one of the main deciding factors, plus level living.

For a new user you seem particularly obsessed with me.

It's so weird people assume boiler = gas

I repressurised my own boiler which is perfectly legal because it's an oil fired combi.

Anyway I stand by my point that it isnt uncommon for people to (suddenly in some cases) to find themselves without the help, skills, knowlegde, tools or confirdence to carry put many home maintenence tasks.

I have empathy for them and for how scary and precarious they must feel, and do not automatically think they're idiots.

Which is what I said. We must be shit with money. We do socialise a lot though and my husband has a couple of expensive hobbies. Mine are less expensive but still cost money.

I totally agree and if they need to they should. However, we will have a relatively high retirement income, about a year away, and once we pay the costs of downsizing:

Estate Agency fees
Solicitors fees
Removal costs
Stamp duty

Probably about £85k, it would take a long time for the savings to reach the prevailing on-costs. We'll review at 75 and I would if anything happened to DH.

Taking crap? 🤣

A lot of people are. Spend loads of 'walking around money'. Don't bother to shop around. Or a lot of their essential expenses are the expensive version, meaning they need more money for what they consider to be a basic standard of living.

If you tend towards the opposite, you can be content with a much smaller amount of money. So you're a lot less likely to feel like you're struggling financially, because your means cover your needs and wants.

Someone on a thread about holiday spending money was talking about the difference in cost between getting your breakfast from a supermarket, or the local equivalent of Greggs, that might cost £5 or less vs eating in a cafe, where similar food might cost more like £10-15. Repeatedly make decisions like that and you can literally live well on half the amount of money.

But if you didn't have 'a relatively high retirement income' and especially if you wanted to remain in your current home wouldn't that mean that equity release might look like less of 'a con' given that you wouldn't have tens of thousands of pounds of moving costs to pay?

Nope. It's a con and in those circs I'd move and free my own equity.

Which is fine, but a lot of posters are saying they wouldn't move and they wouldn't take equity release so would prefer to struggle on with an income that's inadequate for their circumstances, which seems to be the worse of the three choices.

Another downside of equity release (as experienced by a friend of mine whose MIL had used the money from equity release to help finance her life) - when the owner dies, NOK have about a week to clear out and empty the house of the deceased's belongings before the equity release company take possession.

If they've kept everything tidy and minimal this is fine, but if they've been anywhere on the spectrum of hoarders or have lots of belongings that have been bequeathed to relatives, this can be a tall order for the bereaved.