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

@StealMySunshiningIt will get ignored, I also read recently that in the 90s about 1.6m paid higher rate tax, today it’s nearly 6m largely driven by fiscal drag…

Also back to the OP equity release has changed & you can ring fence, can’t owe more than your home etc. It’s not the product it was, some are even using it as a means of avoiding IHT.

It’s crazy! It will get ignored because everyone focuses on their own experiences and anecdotal data. We are talking about a country as a whole: we can’t create fiscal policy based on the experiences of Anne down the road.

But yeah, of that cohort of pensioners (who will currently be between the ages of 80-89), 64% of them did not work FT for at least 75% of their working lives. So what were they doing? Because the way posters on here are talking, everyone was down the pit or on the front line or something.

@Katyppyou genuinely want to know why I think your post is nonsense?

Why does questioning whether someone with an asset should contribute towards their costs mean you are envious and spiteful?

Younger generations are disadvantaged when it comes to housing costs, 5.5m used to live in council homes, what is that figure today?

Every generation does have its struggles but the ones facing today’s young are unprecedented. And many of those you call entitled won’t be living in a house worth more because they won’t get out of renting and they won’t have children either.

@StealMySunshiningits a very narrow experience on MNs!

Then stop replying and also stop lying that I moan about what little I ‘get’ as I get SFA. Any money I have as income is money from private pensions.

You are basically a liar.

If you’re not, link to me moaning about how little I “get”.

Please post the other threads I have replied to you on.

Everything is taken as a personal attack on MN, it’s so bizarre. I think it comes from generations of viewing and treating pensioners like they need extra care and support. Which, prior to the current cohort of pensioners, was absolutely true. However, we are now in a position where this cohort of pensioners hold the most wealth out of any other age demographic in the country.

So why are we still giving the highest levels of support to the wealthiest demographic? It makes no sense.

@StealMySunshiningThe user base is older on MNs so I guess that explains some of it but many older people do recognise the issues.

Im not sure what people are arguing now - is it people in houses with unprecedented gains shouldnt get the state pension or just that they shouldnt moan about thier lot because they can do something about it.

While lying about me moaning “how little I get”.

Grow a backbone.

Yeah the thread has jumped the shark a bit but I’d say it’s the latter.

On 16 hours a week minimum wage you pay zero tax.

It’s weird how all pension-related threads go the same way. No focused discussion but full of individuals justifying their own situations. I’d love more fact-based discussions on MN about topics like this but it won’t happen.

Well when people imagine you pay tax on 16 hours a week minimum wage and use that as an argument, look at what you’re replying to.

A person who’s not the brightest button in the box.

£12.71 per hour x 16 hrs = £203.36 per week x 52 weeks = £10574.72.

Tax free allowance = £12570.

Yet they somehow pay tax

God knows and he's not gonna let on.

I wonder why my post got deleted about simple arithmetic?

What support are you talking about?

The faux naivety is so boring.

Well explain then. You mentioned 'highest levels of support'. I haven't a clue what you're on about. As a 77 year old pensioner I want to know what high level of support I'm getting.

Okay, I know this seems to be such a difficult concept for so many people on this thread but just to say it one more time: this is not about you as an individual. The UK government did not wake up one day and think “Oh, what does Pepperlee need today?”

This is about how fiscal decisions are made across the board for different age groups, and how those decisions, which are often rooted in historic cultural norms, need to be updated to take account for the vast wealth disparities that exist in society today across the different age groups. I genuinely do not understand what is so difficult about that concept.

I don’t go onto a thread about child benefit and start waxing lyrical about the fact that I don’t receive child benefit, so therefore I don’t understand the concept of other people receiving it. Because I appreciate that the world doesn’t revolve around me.

Thanks for that diatribe but I'm no wiser about your previous comment about 'support'. Seems you made it because you got carried away and now can't justify it. I mean, it's not a difficult question but it's beyond you for all your wittering on.

So is assuming that the pensioners in this cohort are one homogenous mass, receiving high levels of support.

My mum has no wealth. She worked until she was 75, often holding down two jobs (one full time + one part-time), paid tax and National Insurance throughout her working life, and still pays income tax today. She has a full state pension and a small workplace one. She keeps herself fit and well and other than a bus pass, claims nothing else from the state. So do tell me about the high levels of support she is getting?

No one is saying the world revolves around them. They are saying your generalisation doesn't describe their experience, and that enough exceptions should make you question whether age alone is the right basis on which to draw your conclusions. But you won't, because those exceptions don't fit the narrative you are pushing.

There are wealthy pensioners, poor pensioners, and every other type of pensioner in between. Just as there are wealthy young people, struggling families, and everyone else in the middle. If your argument is really about wealth inequality, then target actual wealth. Don't use age as a scapegoat and pretend an entire group has shared the same experience.