Whilst I have every sympathy for those who through no fault of their own, find themselves struggling financially in later life, I do feel that people should prepare more for retirement. We all know it's coming after all, but too many bury their heads in the sand I feel.
I strongly believe that investing in property is the way to go. Years ago we could see how prices were going up and up, plus we read about how strong the rental market was, so we took the plunge.
We worked out that if we bought a flat, the rental would cover the mortgage, even allowing for the odd void period, so we went ahead.
Yes it was scary - there was the risk that it wouldn't let easily, but we thought that if we renovated it to a good standard it would attract the best tenants who would look after it.
It worked out well, and over the years we bought and sold more. Yes, we had to ride out some property crashes, but we didn't panic and sell as we still had the rental income from them.
It was a gamble, and I did have a few sleepless nights in the early days wondering if we were totally mad, but it worked out for us !