Debt in retirement

Is there an age limit when. It comes to mortgages? Years ago it used to be when you started getting your pension but then the BS told me that it could be later for people with enough pension to continue paying one.

It can be older in some circumstances. I know some B2L mortgages will allow up to 80 years.

I do hate statistics sometimes as they can give such a false impression if people don;t know how to interpret them.If the average pensioner household has £29,500 some people think that average means most.This figure covers a wide spectrum of pensioners from those who have huge occupational and private pensions down to those who only have the state pension. I know people in both camps.A member of my family has two houses and a pension of around£70,00 and that excludes his wife's pension. Another friend has a similar sort of pension.They both had very senior jobs in the NHS. Then I have three friends who are all on the basic old age pension and two of them qualify for pension savings credit. We ourselves are just under the average, but are comfortable because we have no debt.

Gillybob, don't despair, after retiring just over 7 years ago, we got into a bit of a muddle finance wise ( well me actually as I do all the financial bits and bobs). I was advised to approach StepChange Debt Charity, (Martin Lewis speaks highly of them), after chatting on the phone with someone, I was assured that they could help, which they do by you paying them an agreed amount each month, via Direct Debit, which they spread out among your debtors. That was 2013, we have now paid off half of the debt and are continuing to pay off the rest.
I must admit that the night-time of the day I made that phone call. I slept for the first time in ages, other nights it had been rolling around in my mind and driving me mad as to what we were going to do.
We were also advised to change banks, we changed to the Co-op bank and have had nothing but great treatment from the understanding staff.
I am sorry that I have taken so long to send this response in and hope that things are looking better for you as they are for us.

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 !

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'm sorry to say this but I don't honestly think you really do have any sympathy or you wouldn't have wrote such a patronizing post Jennifer. Do you think we can all foresee the future? Could I foresee being left a single parent, not once but twice? Could I foresee getting MS ? Could my DH foresee almost dying of cancer in his 30's? Could we foresee DH losing his job because of his continued ill health? Did we foresee having to sell everything we had (house, pension, caravan etc) just to keep our small business afloat?

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

I strongly believe you're probably right Jennifer but lets not forget that tiny stumbling block.....money.

Glad it worked for you though.

I'd like to add that those of us who did plan for our retirement, and saved into a monthly pension, didn't foresee that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would raid the pension pots and leave them almost empty. Undeterred, some of us continued to plan for our retirement but we didn't foresee that dishonest pension fund holders would bugger off with the lot and leave us with nothing at all.

Oh for the foresight and good fortune of JenniferEccles. Like gillybob, I'm glad you're ok though.

Exactly chewy

You can plan all you like but a lot of it is down to serendipity or misfortune whichever you may encounter.

Yes of course I see what you are all saying about how none of us can foresee how our lives will pan out, but that was my point.

Misfortune can affect anyone, ill health, job losses, family crises, so surely that uncertainty is the very reason why we should plan ahead when we are young.
That way, we can build up (by whatever means) a decent nest egg to allow us to survive if disaster strikes.

I don't see how saying that is in any way patronizing, but apologies if that is how it came across.

No need to apologize Jennifer however I don't think you quite get the point I was trying to make. I would have had to start "planning" at 16 to change anything in my life and would have had a hell of a lot to accomplish by the time I was 17 when I got myself pregnant. Sadly not a lot of luck since then (except of course my beautiful children and grandchildren). I have worked all my life and never had anything spare to invest in property as you suggested.

I am one who has been fortunate. My parents were very poor, so I learnt to live frugally. I married a man whose vocational job was low paid. We lived within our means, and those far off days with small children were hard but incredibly happy. No tax credits in those days.
I returned to work, part time for a number of years, then full time, and built up a half decent pension.
DH moved into a different sector, so he too has a reasonable pension.
Mortgage rates were high, and our endowment led to a shortfall, but we were able to clear it with part of our retirement lump sums.
Because we have always lived frugally, and been fortunate in our health until recently, we now live comfortably ( though everyone has their own definition of that ).
I know not everyone has been as fortunate in how things turned out.

Well I can see that in your case gillybob it wouldn't have worked, but I was talking generally about most people.

Wow a baby at 17. I bet that was a shock to the system! I had my first child in my early 20s, and it felt such a grown-up thing to do when I didn't really feel like a grown up at all!
So lovely though now having such a small age gap between you and your eldest.

I think I did need to aplolgize if I sounded patronizing as that was not my intention at all.

That should be apologize of course!

Seriously no apology needed. I have made some BIG mistakes in my life for which I have no-one but myself to blame.

I actually gave birth at 18 Jennifer (unknown to me at the time though I was pregnant at 17). (yikes)

Yes it was a massive shock to me and my parents who went ballistic. I had been a grammar school girl and let everyone down. My bigger mistake was going on to marry the waste of space father (a marriage that lasted all of a few months) .

Still I'm now 56 with a 38 year old son !