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

My mil has just over £20,000 in savings she had 4 children .
She lives in almost poverty , is very frugal with her food shopping , heating on in the winter , getting out and about etc . She doesn't own her own home . Puts a tenner in a birthday or Christmas card to family .
All the family say use your savings to improve your life but she sees it as wanting to keep it to pass on so her adult kids so they will receive about £5,000 each which
is hardly life changing .
They'd all obviously want her to spend that money on herself but some older people feel they have to leave something .

Great response. Calling people idiots always encourages engagement 🙄

If you don't want to be called out for saying idiotic things, then don't say idiotic things.

Or perhaps explain a bit more wby you think someone downsizing or releasing equity in latet lofe for a netter retirement means it is not worth paying a mortgage for 30 years. In fact being in that position - having the choice to use an asset to have a more comfortable retirement means the oppostite- it is completly worth paying a mortgage for 30 years.

No you need to downsize before you need to. It seems that most people are only ready to downsize when they can no longer manage where they are currently living.

And? What’s the problem with that?

@blossomtoes Are you really asking why it might be an issue to have potentially millions of elderly people unable to manage the home they live in, unable to pay for care costs and unable to afford day to day living. While sitting on capital they have become too elderly/infirm to either draw down equity from or sell and downsize?

Indeed- my FiL moved at the point he was finding stairs anda huge garden hard to manage - yes he was 84 at the time he made the decision- but did a 3 month gradual clear out and had the house on the market at that point - up to that point he coped just fine - if he hadn’t been he would have done so earlier, we had POA if needed by time he was 78 , so if something catastrophic had happened we would have sorted it. there’s a lot of people it seems who are very old before their time - also it helps if you have cash and are prepared to use it - my FIL often got a gardener in, paid someone to take away his junk, had a skip, got cabs when he needed to ( he does still drive) etc ., a lot of older people with cash simply freak out on using it to help make life easier - this is why i think the sorting out of care is so important and limiting of asset seizing - Germany has this and its compulsory 3.4% tax/insurance ( ringfenced)far too many have watched GB News, read the features in express and mail all about care home costs etc and worry about needing all this cash etc - the reality is far fewer end up needing these places than don’t, but they focus on the ones in there for 6 years, not 8 weeks and elderly people understandably get worked up, rather than using their cash ( if they have it) to make their day to day life easier

That’s a very interesting extrapolation from my saying there’s nothing wrong with people deferring their downsize to the point where their property has become unsuitable for their needs.

Yep, following on from my FIL I met a lovely old chap in a cafe (89) who had a fabulous big house in a very desirable village around here, think ‘colonel’ type- totally ‘all there’ he was telling me he had sold and someone was in his house doing a clear out for him and he was moving to a 2 bed flat at the very lovely Rangeford village about 2 miles away as he could no longer manage the stairs but didn’t want to live ‘downstairs’ or have stairlifts and it wasn’t ‘cosy’ - he also fancied the daily pool swims, the funky decor of the new place, the on site cafe/restaurant and activities and generally a bit more company - he wasn’t panicking, he wasn’t forced, he was very much looking forward to the change - good on him!! He did it ata point he was still able to do so and felt right for him - this was 2 years ago - hope he’s still around and lounging in that pool right now!!

@blossomtoes there is also nothing wrong with me pointing out how it could become an enormous problem.

Countless posts on this thread alone claiming various people have no support/can't do it when they get to a certain point.

That age will depend on the person and their individual health, and at no point did I say all 65 year old should be turfed out of their homes. It does make sense to make plans for the future before you need them and getting old happens to everyone who doesn't die before they get there.

Yes, anyone who has worked in elderly care realises that most people leave it too late to downsize so that the task becomes overwhelming.

Moving is a stressful life event so are you better to do it at 70 rather than 80 or 90?

I know an elderly women approaching 80 and the task is just too much now. The thought of decluttering, having viewings and managing the exchange and moving process is overwhelming so she resigned to staying out in a large house, with an unmanageable garden, excessive heating bills and inaccessible bathroom. She regrets not moving 5 years ago.

Downsizing is not binary. You need to downsize when you are ready to.
Planning for it is the key.

Planning is very much key, and it works where there is availability of suitable properties of different tenures in the right locations. Sadly we don’t all have the same options.

Planning is key. Planning should not stop at a will or power of attorney.

Fair comment, but in your seventies there is a reasonable risk of death (20-25% over 10 years), stroke, etc, and also economic risk. A housing recession can easily last 5 years.

Given the current obsession with property and land taxes, there is also a reasonable risk that government policy could contribute to pensioners being priced out of downsized homes. Under the PPT proposed by Fairer Share, which AB has expressed support for, an elderly person might downsize to a smaller, cheaper house or flat. If that area later benefits from regeneration, a local school becomes outstanding, or the area undergoes gentrification, property values could shoot up, making the home unaffordable for them and other local working people. Look no further than the Lizzie Line, Tooting, Brixton and, more recently, Lewisham. Similar stories in the NE, NW and SW.

Pensioners are likely to have a lot more than just their health and economic shocks to worry about going forward.

Well you’re a charmer.