Generating an income

[Peanutbutterytoast]

Neither myself or my partner are able to work (I don’t want to disclose reasons why) We have no income, savings or pension. The only asset we have is our mortgage free house. What would be the best way to generate an income to live off?
If detached house was worth £280-£300k. We could possibly buy a semi detached house for £150-£180k, leaving £100k approx.

We are not financial savvy at all (see no pension or savings)

Options I can think of are:

Buy a property in auction and rent it out.
Invest in stocks and shares (but haven’t got a single clue)

Isn't. Not habit.

The attitude you display in this post is why so many people with debilitating mental health conditions are not claiming benefits they should be. Being anxious about something and having an Anxiety condition diagnosed are different. I know very well how destructive anxiety can be and how limiting it is. Dismissing it as something everyone has is ignoring the fact that it needs to be demonstrably affecting several areas of your life to be a diagnosis. So if the op is an anxious person but undiagnosed this may be because there is no condition to diagnose or because she has not been able to access the relevant support services to get help yet.

You have to evidence mental health conditions to successfully claim a disability benefit on that basis. Your life needs to be severely impacted, most likely it will be included with diagnoses of other conditions like BPD, Depression or alongside Autism.

People who apply for PIP are given an assessment if they are denied at that initial stage then they go through mandatory reconsideration if they are refused again they can go on to tribunal appeal. Independent tribunal for PIP claims are successful around 75% of the time but of course that is only the people not put off by the initial refusals. It takes months/years and is a stressful process so people need support to get through appeals. Ill Informed opinions spread in public fora about who should or shouldn't even attempt to claim PIP are damaging.

We are both in the (45-50) age bracket. Mainly earning nmw or just above most of our lives.

My husband is not disabled, but his body is truly broken 😭he is tired of working so hard for so little money.

we are currently on uc, but we were hoping for a way to get out of the rat race. But it looks like investing or buying a property to rent out is not advisable, and crafting is only a side business/hobby.

what about buying at auction and flipping properties?

Anxiety causes more suicides than depression. How can a severe illness like that be getting a ‘bit stressed?’

You have no idea of how debilitated and I’ll anxiety can make you feel.

Flipping property involves back breaking labour, and also negotiating with the trades you can’t do, and in a dropping market when it is likely that repossessions are on the cards

Sounds perfect for a man with a broken body, and a woman who has social anxiety. Hang on…..

Try an agency for things like factory work, or admin as lots can be in very small office with just one other person.

I agrée that anxiety is debilitating.

In my case though, it’s not debilitating. I just haven’t worked since lock down, but I know that if there is no other way out of the rat race, then I’ll have to step up.

Buying and selling property is very risky - you might make a loss and you can't afford to.

I think you should both consider retail/care/hospitality and keep an eye on the jobs online as you might see other things you could fancy.

Have I understood right that you are mortgage free? If you have low spend lifestyle you might be able to work say 20 hours each and manage alright.

“Flipping property” is risky, intense, and high stress.

You need to know the exact things to look for in a property to buy - if you underestimate the work needed or the area then you’ll have completely screwed your self; and you need to time things properly to sell it.

The only way to make a decent profit it to do most of the work yourselves (which you say your DH isn’t willing to do).

It’s then a complete shift in finances too - all your money is tied up in the project, and meanwhile you’re not qualified for UC any more so you need to make sure you have enough to live off of.

And the profits wouldn’t exactly make you a millionaire - remember you’d have to account for increased stamp duty, capital gains tax etc.

Its all encompassing - between managing the actual physical work involved there’s paperwork, contractors, finances, and solicitors/agents etc.

Now compare all that with both of you just picking up 2-3 shifts a week somewhere in any of the industries suggested on the thread.

Could your husband do work such as delivery driver (Amazon/ dpd/ evri etc), work in a supermarket on the tills or an office? He has experience just not in these areas but the experience will still look good.

Could you do dog walking, pet sitting, baby sitting? Are you any good at baking? People pay a lot for biscuits/ cakes. Crafts can be very expensive to set up and there’s a lot of people doing this now.

One thing you can do right now is sit down (preferably with your husband) and work out exactly how much you need coming in each month.

This will give you clarity and a great place to start working out what you need to live on.

Also, and I can't stress this enough, go and find out what pensions you might have. If you've always worked, even at minimum wage, then you may have a few pension pots you didn't know about. Autoenroll is a thing and it's possible you have something there.

Don’t buy stocks and shares.

I appreciate every single response received here, I really do.
I was just hoping that releasing £100k from my property would find us a way out of the rat race and be able to ‘work’ for myself. But it seems the advice is to continue with employed work, which makes me really sad.
Thank you for all your honest advice

You wouldn’t have released the whole 100k anyway, with taxes, solicitors and estate agent cost, moving costs, and buying new things to get the other property up to scratch.
100k is not enough to generate an amount to live on in any form of investment.

part time work for you both will be better as it guarantees you pay NI to your state pension, a small amount to a workplace pension, and is also good for mental and physical health.

good luck with finding the right jobs for you both

Jobs are not all bad, think about an environment you wouldn't mind working in. Do you know people with jobs you think would be ok? Give it a try , it can be a big positive in your life if you get the right job.

£100k is no where near enough to generate a passive income. If it was, everyone would be doing it. I’d sit down and find out exactly how much you need to live on. It might be that you each only need to work 2-3 days, find somewhere local like cafes etc. I would say that in itself is out of the rat race.

Have you considered live in housekeeping and handyman jobs. Couples like this are in demand by high net worth households. You could find yourself In a 2nd home with owners visiting a handful of times each year. You could then rent out your own home and bank or invest the additional income for your retirement .

You’re hardly in the rat race if you’re not working, are you?

To put it bluntly, there are no quick fixes. You both need to work to get some kind of income, and if you are unskilled the your options are limited to low paid work, most likely.

I would concentrate on getting a handle on your anxiety to enable you to work in some form of employment, which I am sure you are.

Watch the episode of Friends where Monica decides to start investing and realises it's not a way to live a life.

Don't sell your home. You have security by having a home and as a result could live very, very frugally.

How big is your house? Do you have a garden? Could you treat your garden as an allotment? It would cut your food bill and also be a type of therapy doing the work.

There's also a type of growing called container growing which you can do with a smaller space.

Where (roughly) is your home?

How can you use your home to generate an income without selling it? Rent it for filming and photography perhaps.

Is it really only one bedroom? Just thinking about the amount you could sell it for but not having a spare room!!! You must live somewhere expensive.

You say you have a detached house worth £280-£300k and no spare room?

No spare room because they are all full or because it's a one-bedroom detached house?

Because sorting out the house so you could take in a lodger would be an easy way of generating around £7,000 per annum tax free. You might even be able to share bills.

That's a significant amount of money to have without working

You do need to check out the benefits option though to make sure your NI payments are covered (I don't if or what link there is between benefits and NI payments) otherwise you risk not meeting the qualifying years (35 atm) for a full state pension.

Working to cover your NI contributions would be very wise.

www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility

House flipping requires an extraordinary amount of work (and money), crafting will barely make you pocket money at best, investing is for those who know what they’re doing and WHO CAN AFFORD TO LOSE MONEY. “Passive income” only comes in the shape of lodgers (who still need an updated space and come with their human quirks) or writing a book that sells (good luck). If you truly don’t give a fuck about your pensions the best advice offered on this thread is going part time.

Don’t touch your mortgage free house- releasing money should be for your old age, to just spend at this age, when you can do some kind of work would be truly foolish.

So can you work or not, Op? It's confusing.

I thought the Rat Race was where you were working flat out for an income, and leaving it meant being financially stable enough not to work?

Flipping houses will require a lot of cash upfront. Auction houses are usually a wreck and bought by builders or those who already have an army of tradespeople at their disposal.

Has the house only got one bedroom if you don't have a room you can rent, seems surprising for a detached house worth that much. As others have said I'm sure your DH could manage a supermarket job, stacking shelves or a warehouse job no additional skills necessary and not heavy labouring like a building site.