How We Are Planning for Getting Older
Published / Last Updated on 14/12/2022
We talk about retirement and ageing a lot with clients but equally amongst ourselves about old age; not just the financial side of retirement but also quality of life as we get older and slow down. We thought it may be helpful to share with you the 'older age' planning of our Husband/Wife Co-Director/Founders Ashley and Joanne Roberts-Clark.
Housing
We looked for and have:
- A ground floor flat or a flat with a lift if mobility becomes an issue.
- A house with space to install a stairlift.
- A low maintenance garden with external power supply for charging mobility scooters or as we call them “pavement racers”.
- Walk in shower or walk in bathtub.
- Room for a mini gym to always be able to take light exercise.
Location
We looked for property that has in its locality easy access by walking or a pavement racer to:
- A doctor’s surgery.
- Pharmacy.
- Local shops with all amenities.
- Local pubs, clubs, restaurants, and theatres.
- Hospital within public transport links and taxi radius.
Transport
- Good public transport links for bus, rail and airport.
- Pavement racer friendly roads and with local pavement racer servicing provider.
Legals
- We have made powers of attorney for both money and welfare to enable each other to look after our affairs with children as reserve attorneys should we lose physical or mental capacity.
- We have made wills and included within that a life interest trusts and severance of joint tenants for all mortgage free property so that half goes into trust for children when the first one dies, so that that part of our wealth is outside wealth for any care fees means test. The life interest trusts means that the surviving spouse can still have access to and benefit from any trust property after first death.
Money - Retirement Income and Savings
- We have always doubled up on mortgage payments by making cutbacks and savings elsewhere so that mortgages are paid off early and can be used in estate planning.
- We have worked out our minimum ‘subsistence’ expenses such as food, clothing, heating, water, council tax bills etc.
- We have made plans for subsistence living expenses to be covered by inflation protected income such as state pensions, index linked annuities and indexed property rental income.
- We have made plans for excess retirement funds and savings over and above subsistence expenses to be in some form of flexible access drawdown so that we can drawdown as much or as little as we want when we want for leisure activities, social events, and holidays.
- We have options for selling property, downsizing property or equity release to fall back on if we run out of money.
- We plan to take any long-haul holidays in our late 50s and 60s only. “Dunroamin” after age 70 except for maybe two or three months of winter in a warmer climate (if health permits travel).
Work and the Business
We have always planned to work on in retirement not just as an income subsidy but more so to retain our cognitive powers and to offer continuity for existing clients. We will be recruiting in 2023/24 for new blood to join the team to develop the business further and taking on new clients for their continuity.
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