In the UK, after 20 years of pension panic, an increasing chunk of the working population have made the journey from ‘Nanny State’ reliance mentality through the rough seas of the denial phase when ‘it will never happen to me’ and beached safely on the idea that their property will be their pension.
Well done. They managed all that without having to do anything or actually make any tough decisions apart from maybe on that balmy sunny day in Murcia when purchasing that nice little apartment near the golf course.
So have they landed safely? Did they buy-to-let at home or abroad? Do they think their house as their investment is still as safe a bet as they did twelve months ago?
When they downsize on retirement, what do they think the difference in value
will be, between their home and an acceptable bolt hole, until they’re 87? And what will that difference buy them for an annuity? Standard Life reckon it will be around 16% of the 67% of equivalent salary you might want to live on when you leave work.
And if they did buy-to-let, maybe with an agent taking out the hassles for them, are they making realistic progress on that mortgage, in the face of income tax on rental, capital gains tax on any ultimate sales, a slowing market and that great habit tenants have of really stuffing up the decor and fittings every few years?
And of course let’s hope they resisted remortgaging along the way to finance those difficult years that always seem to pop up…
0 comments so far
There are no comments for this post yet. Why not be the first by filling out the form below.