“Equity Release – Life Raft or Scandal?”

Posted on June 12, 2012 by john graham

For a long time now I have been advocating that older people will have to use the value built up in the house to secure themselves a better lifestyle in later life.   There is around £1 trillion locked up in housing wealth, which has accumulated as property prices have risen ahead of inflation over the last half century.   For many parents this was and still is seen as a legacy to leave to their children.

However, circumstances have changed significantly in the last fifty years :-

  • People are living much longer;
  • Their children are no longer children;
  • The new legacy beneficiaries are more like to be grandchildren – to pay for their education or give them a deposit for a house of their own.

However, other things have changed too :-

  • Because Grannie and Grandpa are living longer they may well need care in later life;
  • The Government cuts and poor quality elderly care in the NHS has removed the state funded safety net;
  • The taxman has gradually capped the value of large legacies with Inheritance Tax.

So retirement for homeowners is a time to review their assets and consider what financial options they have to support an extended later life.

Most people would like to stay were they are – certainly while their health is good.   In any event there are very few good alternatives, especially if they want to remain in their local area.

For some their “idealised” solution is a move to a bungalow, which gives them less space to look after and should release some money to supplement their pension.   This turns a blind eye to the prospect of their becoming frail, because it is virtually impossible to insure for that at reasonable cost.   So they hope it will never happen to them.

Most elderly people will develop some chronic health condition in later life, though luckily for the majority it will still allow them to live an independent life.  In the over 80 age group, one in five are likely to develop dementia, which brings problems for the carer as well as the sufferer.

So putting care to the back of their mind is the only easy short-term option.

Is there a life raft?

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“Best Foot Forward”

Posted on June 10, 2012 by john graham

I went for a short walk the other day and when I got back home, one of my feet was very sore.  The following day I could hardly walk at all.  Being a man I rested up all day on the sofa and had to be waited on hand and    foot.

Feeling a bit better the next day, we (the wife and I) ventured out in the car for a meeting we could not miss.   After only a few hours and a few steps, my left foot was feeling sore again.   So on the way back home we stopped off at a retail park and I hobbled into Boots.

You would think the foot care products would be nearer the door,  but oh no,  they are after the cosmetics,  after the nappies,  after the natural health care remedies  and after the acres and acres,  of shelves and shelves,  of boxes and boxes of pills,  and bottles and bottles of potions.   Then  f i n a l l y, near the check out, with a very, very, very sore foot by this time, are the foot care products.   Dozens of them – for toes,  toenails,  flat feet, bunions,  corns,  blisters,  skin exfoliation and   e v e n t u a l l y    HEELS.    I doubt that anybody ever reaches the far corner of a Boots store without having sore feet.   It must be a clever bit of contrived store design.

Having hopped past the entire range of Boots products, I am now down to the final twenty – it must be about time for an audience phone-in vote about which heel product to buy.

What to choose:-

? Advanced Footcare Intensive Foot Softener – No, surely I am not even passed the basic level and I must need harder feet not softer ones!

? Advanced Footcare Pressure Relief Insoles – No, it’s my HEEL

? Footcare Diamond Dusted Nailfile– No, wrong end of my foot.

? Flexitol Active Gel Heel Sleeves – maybe but why a sleeve on my FOOT ?

? Gel insoles – NAH!

? Soft Feet Kit – Don’t think so, anyway out of stock

I finally settle for “Scholl Ortha-heel Gel Heel Pain Relievers” – No short names in foot care – and only £22.99.

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“Food for Thought”

Posted on June 7, 2012 by john graham

The Daily Mail has to be applauded for its relentless, if half-hearted, campaign in pursuit of “Dignity for the Elderly”.  (Click on “Dignity be Damned” in the TAG CLOUD for earlier blogs on this subject).

It is a good story line, which must be of interest to the 1,000’s of Daily Mail elderly readers, but it must dismay them that so little has been achieved in spite of all the publicity.

To describe it as a campaign suggests that there is an underlying strategy to bring about change.   The call for dignity sounds laudable, but what really does it mean ?   When will we know when it has been achieved ?

Age UK at its “Later Life” conference earlier this year, also championed dignity as a major theme of their work in the coming months.

When elderly people are living in poverty, malnourished, dehydrated and cruelly cared for, dignity comes low down the list of their priorities.   Age UK and the Daily Mail are making themselves feel good as “Champions of the Elderly” but spectacularly missing the point.

So now we come to the latest example of the Daily Mail’s failure to build a constructive approach to deal with the plight of many of the poorest older people.   In three articles on successive pages of the same edition of the Daily Mail – Monday, 26th May 2012 – there are  1) a recurring problem;  2) a success story;  3) a solution;  all of which could be linked together to help thousands of older people in need.   The newspaper did not make the connection, so let me do it for them.

The first story by their Whitehall correspondent, was sensationally headlined “Soaring toll of elderly starving in their homes”.   The story is about the cutbacks in home care services for the elderly — meals on wheels now being charged for and reduction in domiciliary care hours.   82% of Local Authorities now limit services only to those who have “critical” or “substantial needs”.   The consequence of this is that while Social Services have saved £84 million from their care bill, the NHS is now facing a 42% rise in admissions for malnutrition since 2007.  These are staggeringly large figures but they only warrant a small article about untold suffering.   But let’s not call it “loss of dignity”, it is cruel NEGLECT!

The second article was given much more prominence in a three page story on the successful growth of Tesco into the world’s second most profitable retailer.  Last year they made £3 billion profit.  Interestingly one billion items were home deliveries.    Something which I will come back to – but the Daily Mail made no connection between these two stories about food.

The third story – just a few paragraphs tucked away – was about a new range of ready meals which can be stored at room temperature and last for up to 18 months.  Guess what? they are being sold by Tesco.

Now if the Editor of the Daily Mail reads his own paper and does some joined-up thinking, he could really make a difference to the estimated one million elderly who are malnourished.  Why not harness the power of the press to create a good news story.  Encourage, cajole, persuade and/or shame Tesco to use some of their profits for a nationwide corporate social responsibility programme.

With the help of Age UK, get each of Tesco’s quarter of a million employees to identify four elderly people in need and then at a discounted cost provide them with 18 months’ supply of ready meals using their home delivery service.

Then at least no elderly person in this advanced country of ours need go hungry.  Tesco would enhance their reputation as good corporate citizens rather than commercial profiteers and the Daily Mail and Age UK would be able to say they had achieved something for the elderly as opposed to just talking endlessly about dignity.

Food not Dignity

Posted in ELDERLY UK POLICY, HEALTH | Tagged | 2 Comments

“Happy Hundreds”

Posted on June 5, 2012 by john graham

It is easier to find grumbles than smiles.  More of the headlines about getting old tend to be negative.  Issues about ill-health, limited finances and isolation dominate many discussions about ageing.

With this mood music, how long will it be before we talk ourselves into early graves?  Some research from America suggests there is a way of turning grumbles into smiles.

 The Institute for Ageing research in New York studied the attitudes of people who lived to 100 in an ethnic group of Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe.  They found that they were cheerful, sociable and conscientious.  They had a positive attitude to life and a large social network.

The researchers were tending toward the conclusion that there may be some genetic reason behind this.  I think the explanation could be simpler and more obvious than that.

The people had a strong sense of community and a good social network, in which they could feel safe and secure.  Many of these things are taken from older people in Western societies as families are evermore geographically dispersed and society becomes more fragmented.

Perhaps that is why retirement communities work well – they offer safety and security, as well as a new social network.  It is also important to maintain links with family and friends in the local community, which is why retirement villages should be built in urban locations, not in some isolated rural idyll.

Hopefully a research study in thirty years’ time will find new communities full of smiles, living till they reach the ……………

Happy Hundreds

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“Kill or Cure”

Posted on June 3, 2012 by john graham

It is hard to keep up with all the medical advice on the pills and potions you should or should not take these days.  My last two blogs have talked about just two such cases.  (Click on PILLS in the TAG CLOUD).

Now here is another example – the sunshine vitamin – Vitamin D.  Most of us get enough of this just by being out and about in the sun or even when it is cloudy.  I took an interest in this because it is a possible factor in the development of MS.  For a while I took a daily Vitamin D tablet as a supplement, especially during the winter.  Then I read some more research that suggested I was taking the wrong type of Vitamin D, so I gave up altogether.

More recent research from the University of Copenhagen, suggests that high levels of Vitamin D as well as low levels, can both increase the risk of death.  According to the researchers it is important to get the Nanomol levels of Vitamin D in your blood correct.  Unfortunately I don’t know what a Nanomol is, so I think I will stick to sunbathing and leave out the pills.

There again, the UK Health Supplement Information Service, which sounds like an independent, totally unbiased organisation 🙂 says other research contradicts this view and people with higher levels of Vitamin D had lower mortality rates.

It won’t be long before all older people need a PHD in medicine to understand the advice they are given about pills.

Confusing, isn’t it!

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“Start Taking the Pills”

Posted on May 31, 2012 by john graham

Only just having passed on advice about stopping taking one lot of pills, (see previous blog or click on PILLS in the TAG CLOUD), now 5 minutes later comes advice, not from me, but in the Lancet no less. 

EVERYONE OVER 50 should start taking Statins according to researchers.  These drugs reduce levels of cholesterol and therefore lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

At the moment Statins are only available on prescription and are generally used for those with a significant risk of a heart attack in the next 10 years.  Basically they are given to patients with high cholesterol after they have had a heart attack or a stroke.  It is called “the locking the stable door” approach to health prevention!

That said, over 8 million people in the UK already take Statins which must either mean a lot of us have high cholesterol, or they are good go-away tablets for GPs to use for reducing the queues of older people in their surgeries.  61 million prescriptions were issued for Statins in England last year! It might be a good idea if instead of peppermints on the tables of company board rooms, they put bowls of Statin tablets.  🙂

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“Stop Taking the Pills”

Posted on May 29, 2012 by john graham

Taking pills seems to become a daily task for older people.  If doctors won’t prescribe them, we will go out and buy them for ourselves.

I have written a lot about the exploits of Pilly Galore whose experience and expectation of GPs are typical of many older people.  (Click on PILLS in the TAG CLOUD to see earlier posts).

A whole industry has grown up around vitamin and mineral supplements, and every high street now has a “Natural Health Care” shop.  The advice on what to take seems to be as much based on advertising as it is on medical evidence.  What you take depends on what worries you have about your health.

One example is calcium supplements which many older women take as a precaution against osteoporosis.  Additional calcium is recommended by the Food Standards Agency, who suggest ensuring you get 700 milligrams a day.  The problem is that it is impossible to judge how much calcium you consume routinely in milk, cheese and green leafy vegetables.  So a pill is the quick and easy solution.

Now for the downside:-

Research from the University of Auckland found that those who took calcium supplements had an 86% increased risk of a heart attack.

OOPS!

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“Home Alone 3”

Posted on May 27, 2012 by john graham

This blog continues on the theme of elderly people being left at home in an “asset” that they are desperately hanging onto, but with insufficient income to live a good life, especially if they become frail and need support.  (See earlier posts on this thread by clicking on “HOME ALONE” in the TAG CLOUD).

A recent survey by the property agent Rightmove, indicates that there is a trend which is becoming increasingly dominant in the housing market of elderly people downsizing.  Over 40% of recent house sales were people moving down from large family houses.  Generally these people are baby boomers recently retired and seeking to cash in some of the value of their home.

Not only does this secure them more suitable smaller accommodation – a place in the sun maybe.  It also releases cash to support a more leisurely lifestyle for themselves, or to pass on to children and grandchildren.  The lucky few may move into purpose-built retirement housing, which offers them companionship and support if they need it in later life.  Good quality retirement housing is still relatively scarce and the Government should encourage more of it by relaxing planning regulations and making more building sites available.  People who are trading down usually have money to spare and are concerned to purchase good quality accommodation in a good location.

The interesting impact on the housing market as a whole is to depress the cost of family housing.  This is probably a long overdue market correction in over-inflated house prices but it does make it more difficult for older people to move.  Government action to encourage greater use of shared ownership or reverse mortgages would help further stimulate the market .

We all need to get on with it !

Nothing less than a complete reinvigouration of the market in retirement housing, will suffice to meet the growing needs of older people to release funds to support a better life style as their needs change.

Then they may no longer be forced to live their lives at home alone.

Posted in ELDERLY UK POLICY, RETIREMENT HOUSING | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

“Home Alone” 2

Posted on May 24, 2012 by john graham

The discussion about equity release is hotting up !  ( see earlier posts on this subject by clicking on equity release in the tag cloud )

A report by property agent Rightmove, based on a consumer survey, has indicated that over 40% of people recently selling houses are down-sizing.  They put this down to the Baby Boomer generation who are cashing in some of the equity in their now overly large family houses.  This is a phenomenon that started in the USA over 30 years ago as ” empty nesters ” began to fly south to Florida.   It has also happened to a smaller degree in the UK, with people moving to Devon and Cornwall to be closer to the sun.   The more adventurous upped sticks and moved to Spain.

 Many of the early movers were recently retired and still in their sixties or early seventies, probably most were living with a spouse.   They were seeking to buy themselves  a new life.   Who is to say they were wrong ?  —  a warmer climate and mortgage free, relatively inexpensive living.   What they were not doing was thinking too far ahead.   They did not expect to live for another twenty years, nor could they know if ill-health would befall them.   Most of all they wanted to enjoy life for as long as they could.   In most cases they will have succeeded !

It is only for the unlucky few, that  frailty does catch up.   Only then do you realise that you may have burned your bridges, moved away from supportive relatives and used up most of your assets.   Your options then are suddenly very limited  —  either struggle along at home alone or literally fall back on the state.   Neither outlook  is very good.

  The missing ingredient which was not available twenty years ago and  is still not today, thanks to Government procrastination, is sensibly priced long-term care insurance.    This is precisely the issue that the Dilnot commission was trying to resolve.  While their financial formula may not be economically affordable to the Government, the principles of Andrew Dilnot’s report are essentially correct.

            But is it fun in the sun for one ?

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“Home Alone”

Posted on May 22, 2012 by john graham

This blog follows on from “Feel Good Inaction” (to see it click on previous post in the ARCHIVE, 20th May 2012), which was written in response to an open letter to the Prime Minister from 78 charities, calling for action to deal with the crisis in care of the elderly.  A front page article in the Daily Mail echoed the cause and made reference to “the scandal of tens of thousands of pensioners every year having to sell their house to fund the costs of residential care”.

Low and behold the very next day on 9th May, the same paper has a full-page article on equity release, complete with full supporting adverts for its “free guide to equity release”.  Don’t misunderstand me, I am convinced that releasing equity from your home is a major step forward for many older people.   However, the Daily Mail does not seem to be able to make up its mind.   Most of its headlines berate the Government for not spending enough on the elderly and forcing them to sell their homes to pay for care.   The paper is kidding older people into thinking they can keep all their wealth and the state will somehow provide.   This is not going to happen and the newspaper should change its populist outcry and be more realistic about what is possible in the current and future economic climate.

A small cameo article sums up the paper’s contradictory thinking.   It talks about a 93-year-old lady who is “forced” to take out a mortgage to pay for her care.   The lady’s house is valued at £650,000, so she certainly has a substantial asset.   Yet the paper stills sees it as an injustice that she has to pay for her own care.   If it was cash rather than bricks and mortar that she had, I am  sure they would adopt a different view !   The lady herself  complains that she will be able to leave her children “hardly anything”.     Since she is 93, her children are themselves probably in their 60’s and more than likely will have paid off their own mortgages.    By using the equity in her home, she would be able to buy domiciliary care at home for the next 10 years and still be left having to pay inheritance tax.

The lady’s situation is not untypical of many people and it would be surprising if her children would not prefer their mother to have a good last few years, even it is at the expense of some of their future legacy.

The Government will never have enough money to pay for all the care and support that asset wealthy elderly home owners require.   They have acquired most of their property wealth gratuitously through property price inflation.     Honesty from politicians, the charity sector and campaigning newspapers needs to dispel this muddled thinking.

Only reality will change things!

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