EquityDrive

Can you take money out of the equity of your house?

Equity Release has been around for many years. It has become more attractive over recent years because house and property prices have grown year on year by double digits – which is more impressive than many other investment tools.

Many people who bought houses in the 80s and 90s before the boom started had a small mortgage and now live in a property with a significant value. Many people over 55 also have grown up children who won’t be reliant on inheritance from a parent when they die. In fact, one could argue releasing some of the money and giving to your children as a deposit for a house would be more useful for the children now that waiting until both parents have died.

Realise ambitions

Some people have always had an ambition to buy a boat, caravan, holiday home etc. – why wish when you could release some of the money from your property? A good thing to remember is you may borrow a small sum and might find over the coming 15 years your house has increased in value by that amount meaning technically you’re no worse off.

With House prices rising in the UK by on average 10% each year there is a wealth of gold you live in called a home. When you are getting older you can unlock that gold for the right deal. Make sure you find the best deal.

Click on a heading below and see a summary, and if you're interested you can GO and read more about it!

Here are some facts and stats  about equity release. GO!

Although you should seek professional advice it’s also important to do your own research. GO!

See the types of equity release. GO!

See the pros and cons of equity release. GO!

If you’re a visitor to our site you can join and download information, assess your own health and create your own action plans, and even contribute to our site. GO!

We have a video from Martin Lewis on equity release and a testimonial.  GO!

See what you can do next.  GO!

We have some additional information and stuff on this subject. GO!

Facts About Equity Release

£ 1

UK house prices have risen by an average of £22,023 since 2019, according to the ONS

Home ownership
63.9%

Home ownership has been in decline in the United Kingdom, falling from an all-time high of 70.9% in 2003 to 63.9% in 2018.

1 ,000

557,000 Britons have used equity release in the past 20 years, releasing more than £32billion of cash

Right To Buy
16%

16% is how much house prices rose in 1987 under ‘right to buy’

£ 0.1 billion

During the first half of 2021, 35,860 customers unlocked more than £2.3bn

Working after 70
33%

of workers now expect to be employed after their 70th birthday, up from only 17 per cent in 2010, according to Willis Towers Watson

Britons
1 ,000

557,000 Britons have used equity release in the past 20 years, releasing more than £32billion of cash

Rely on pension
34%

34% of home owners over 60 rely on a state pension as main source of income

Seek professional advice but also do your own research

In this Drive we show you the principles behind Equity Release, where to go to get advice and the different types of options. Equity release can be extremely advantageous but also can erode your hard-earned money if you don’t educate yourself to a degree, you can choose a person or company who can give you professional advice.

We can think of so many situations whereby people buy a product or service and implicitly trust the advisor or company and, in some instances, abdicate responsibility for taking out the service or product. The number of times we have heard people say; I didn’t have a clue what he was saying but I trusted his decision. Never sign anything unless you understand everything connected to the product or service, there’s a lot at stake.

Different Types of Equity Release

Equity Release is a way of getting at some of the wealth tied up in your property. Not only that if property prices continue to grow then each year this can have a positive impact on your situation. In the modern day the need for our children to receive a large inheritance is less. In fact, receiving cash earlier could have greater benefits; deposit for a house or support with grandchild care etc. There are two main types life mortgage and home reversion plan. In both cases the money is yours to do as you want and it can enhance yours or your family’s lifestyle.

I could do with more money in retirement, so I would  but I would never consider equity release

Pros and cons of equity release

Equity Release is ideal for some people and not for others. It’s is not a decision to be rushed into and time needs to be taken with a sympathetic professional who not only engages yourselves but also considers the wider family. Making sure you get the best possible deal with the lowest charges is what most people are looking for. Using a whole of market provider who puts your interests first is paramount.

The consequences can be extreme, so this shouldn’t be considered lightly.

It is really important to make sure that you’ve involved the people who matter to you.

For visitors

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You can register to join us as a member, when you’ll be able to download our stuff and comment, or as a YouDriver when you’ll also be able to check your health and set up your own action plans to make some improvements.  If you’ve already registered, sign in below. Or let us know what you think.

Martin Lewis on Equity Release

MARTIN LEWIS ON EQUITY RELEASE

This short video is from This Morning

"None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm"
Henry David Thoreau
Poet & Philosopher

Next Steps

It doesn’t matter what stage  you’re at – it’s important to be the best you can be.  At the end of the day it’s about taking personal responsibility – You Drive!

It’s really your choice. You can find out more information about the subject, or see other institutions that can help by going to Support. There you will find organisations, training, coaching, self-help courses and other items to support your personal change. We have also started developing a panel of experts to provide info, advice, help and support. 

Get Support

There are times when you need some help to meet your aims –  a helping hand. That might be  an organisation that can provide you with some help,  some specialised information, a particular book or tool to help, or just getting some background reading material.

We have a lot of items which appear on our Drives and other pages, which you can go to by clicking on the picture or link.  Some contain affiliate links and we may receive a tiny commission for purchases made through these links.

If you know of anything which could help you or our other visitors then please click the button on the right, which will take you to a Contacts page where you contact us.

Experts

We are compiling a list of experts who can provide advice, help or specialised services.  You will be able to access these experts from anywhere on our site you see our ‘Experts’ symbol.  Click the green E to see what our Experts list will look like, with a couple of imaginary ‘experts’ added!

More Information

Scroll down to see more information on this Drive. 

If you register you can also download reports, white papers, quizzes and other collaterals.  We will never ask you for any financial information, and we’ll only send you the information you want. You can register for our site either above or in the footer below.  You can provide your own questions and experiences in order to help other members.  We only moderate for spam and inflammatory language – see our moderation policy.

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More information

The Astute Guide To Equity Release

Equity Release, sometimes known as Lifetime Mortgages have been a growth industry for many years allowing retired individuals and couples to raise money on their homes and property to help supplement retirement income and cash needs. This book provides an unbiased summary of the Equity Release market, so that anyone considering this area is well informed prior to making a decision.


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Too Good To Be Free

How A Reverse Mortgage Can Improve Your Life, Your Cash Flow and Pay You Too

This reference guide was put together to provide the truth in a simply-stated fashion.What if there was a mortgage out there that was specifically for people who are 62 and older, and who are either retired or about to be.


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MoneyHelper have information on Equity Release

The Equity Release Council is a trade body which represents the sector and promotes standards for its members

AgeUK have a section on equity release

If you’re over 55 you can get a quote from Retirement Solutions

Stuff you might want regarding smoking

Now you’ve read about smoking you might want to make a bit of a statement.  Have a look at some stuff below we think has some humour value!  We may make pennies on commission, but that’s not the point really.  Click on the image to see more details.

Quit Smoking Gift Stop Smoke Free T-Shirt

In many colours and sizes

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quit smoking tee shirt

Proud Quitter – Quit Smoking T-Shirt

In many colours and sizes

This graphic is the perfect for someone who recently quit smoking cigarettes.
Lightweight, Classic fit, Double-needle sleeve and bottom hem

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quit smoking tee shirt

I Quit Smoking Wow What Funny Novelty 11oz Mug

11oz Mug
Hand Printed in the UK
Highest Quality in the Market
Microwave & dishwasher safe

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quit smoking mug

Dorothy Spring Never Quit You Can Do It Inspirational Quote Plaque Metal Sign Perfect Gift Size 15x20cm

Length: 20cm / 7.9inch | Width: 15cm / 5.9 inch
Metal Wire Included / Easy Hanging
Perfect gift 
High Quality Beautiful Gloss Finish Print

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sign

All areas of health are interlinked

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Find your initial focus

You might think that physical, financial and mental health are quite separate, and for some people they are. However, often a problem in one area has a knock-on effect on others. Losing your job can lead to anxiety and depression, which can turn you to drink and impact your health.

You might have a severe issue in one area but that can lead to problems in other areas, and the people treating you for the first problem won’t be equipped to deal with these linked issues.

For example, doctors and nurses can treat you for a physical problem but can’t advise you about your job or finances.  Nor for the anxiety that comes with it, apart from prescribing some drugs, which might or might not be the best solution.

We encourage you to take a holistic view – we look at all areas and offer support across the whole spectrum.

health areas interlinked

Even this view of health is simplistic, as you’ll discover later if you go down that route.  You might want to consider overall health, or wellness or wellbeing, which include additional types of health, such as occupational health (how you are in your job).   Then there’s happiness and quality of life – how do these fit?

If you’re interested in that, click the link here to see more information.

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Stuff you might want on equity release

Now you’ve read about equity release you might want to make a bit of a statement.  Have a look at some stuff below we think has some humour value!  We may make pennies on commission, but that’s not the point really.  Click on the image to see more details.

Covid-19, Residential Property, Equity Release and Enfranchisement – The Essential Guide

Paperback

Some found that the UK property market came to an abrupt halt when Covid 19 struck in March 2020. This book examines the issues that arose within the residential conveyancing market from the joint authors who were in the “thick” of the consequences that came from the same. The whole of the residential market will be considered including the effect and changes to Equity Release matters and the way that Leasehold Enfranchisement matters have progressed.

Go to Amazon

residential property equity release book

A Practical Guide to Equity Release for Advisors

Paperback – 11 Oct. 2018

As time goes by and the standard of living increases then the UK population is living longer. To fund this great increase in life expectancy and more importantly the lifestyles that people become accustomed too then funding is needed. Equity release mortgages are therefore on the rise to allow the over 55s to prosper in their later years.

Go to Amazon

equity release book

Equity Release ~ or ~ the Tragedie of Sir Douglas Dee

Kindle edition – by Ian MacFadyen

A play in five acts, in which a man sells his body to pay off his debts, but then must fulfil his side of the bargain.

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book

Advice Guru Podcast: Later Life Lending (sponsored by Royal London Equity Release)

This series explores many aspects of Later Life Lending for over 55s who own their own home. Interviews with those who have taken out Equity Release are featured to understand the problem they needed to solve, the actions they took to seek advice and the process they went through. Later episodes explore all aspects of the industry by speaking to key people such as Lenders, Brokers, Solicitors and underwriters. The aim of the series is to provide a catalogue of podcasts that provide potential clients with real insights to how the industry and products work.

Go to Amazon

advice guru podcast

Too Good To Be Free

How A Reverse Mortgage Can Improve Your Life, Your Cash Flow and Pay You Too

This reference guide was put together to provide the truth in a simply-stated fashion.What if there was a mortgage out there that was specifically for people who are 62 and older, and who are either retired or about to be.

Go to Amazon

too good to be free book

Health Areas in Domains

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Domains

We break down the overall concept of health or wellness into ‘bite-sized chunks’ that we can actually do something about.  The first level we call health domains. 

We like the Life of Wellness site and we have chosen the following domains.

1. Emotional Wellness: Awareness and acceptance of feelings
2. Spiritual Wellness: A search for meaning and purpose
3. Intellectual Wellness: Recognition of your creativity, knowledge and skills
4. Physical Wellness: Need for physical activity and balanced nutrition
5. Environmental Wellness: Positive awareness and impact on your environment
6. Financial Wellness: Debt reduction, cash flow balance or financial future planning
7. Occupational Wellness: Personal achievement and enrichment from your career
8. Social Wellness: Contribution to your community

Health Areas

Within each domain, we have included a number of health areas. These are specific issues that you can tackle.  Within each health area, e.g. Depression, we have built additional information and exercises which you can do to help in the area. You can create your own Action Plan to address this area, and see

Emotional: Anxiety, Compassion Fatigue, Depression, Gambling, Laughter, Narcissistic, Personality Disorder, Sleep, Stress

Environmental: Environmental Issues, Greenness

Financial: Debt, Family Finance, Financial Planning, Financial Wellness

Intellectual: IQ, Personality, Procrastination

Occupational: Jobs for Different Personality Types, Retirement Income, Work Life Balance

Physical: Alcohol, Disabilities, Dizziness, Drugs, Fitness, Food Preferences, General Health, Healthy Ageing, Illness, Nutrition, Sleep Apnea, Smoking

Social: Communication Skills, Communication Styles, Domestic Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Love Partnerships, Mental Abuse, Parenting Styles, Sexual Addiction

Spiritual: Are You Sensitive, Mystical Guidance, Spirituality

Each health area has supporting information and its own questionnaire.

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Understand Health

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Physical, financial and mental health

One definition of health is:

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. 

The NHS define health as: ‘We use a broad definition of health that encompasses both physical and mental health, as well as wellbeing. This means we are not only interested in whether or not people are ill or have a health condition, but also in how healthy and well they are.’

We believe we also have to consider financial health, as this can easily impact physical and mental health. Click the button to see an example of how these are connected.

 It gets more complicated…

What is Health? How about Wellness, Wellbeing or Happiness?

The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) define Health as a state of the overall mental and physical state of a person; the absence of disease. They define Wellbeing or wellness as a way of life that aims to enhance well-being and refers to a more holistic whole-of-life experience which also includes emotional and spiritual aspects of life.  We expand on this definition of health to include financial health and mental health, to make it synonymous with wellbeing or wellness.  

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Health domains

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We break down the overall concept of health or wellness into ‘bite-sized chunks’ that we can actually do something about.  The first level we call health domains.

We like the Life of Wellness site and we have chosen the following domains.

1. Emotional Wellness: Awareness and acceptance of feelings
2. Spiritual Wellness: A search for meaning and purpose
3. Intellectual Wellness: Recognition of your creativity, knowledge and skills
4. Physical Wellness: Need for physical activity and balanced nutrition
5. Environmental Wellness: Positive awareness and impact on your environment
6. Financial Wellness: Debt reduction, cash flow balance or financial future planning
7. Occupational Wellness: Personal achievement and enrichment from your career
8. Social Wellness: Contribution to your community

wellness wheel

Health Areas

Within each domain, we have included a number of health areas. These are specific issues that you can tackle.  Within each health area, e.g. Depression, once you have subscribed we have built additional information and exercises which you can do to help in the area.

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See which domains you should address

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Having established that we use 8 domains, you need to understand which you should concentrate on.

The 8 are:

  • Emotional
  • Environmental
  • Financial
  • Intellectual
  • Occupational
  • Physical
  • Social
  • Spiritual

 

You can take a questionnaire, which scores you in each domain.  You can decide which domains you are strong in, and which you need to improve.

Another analysis shows which domains you should look at, but also which domains you want to look at.

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Locus of Control

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  • We want to help people in all aspects of their health  – physical, financial and mental. We also provide detailed explanations of how overall health (or well-being) is measured.
  • We believe these things are often linked, so we try and address health holistically. We are building templates, questionnaires and exercises to help you identify what’s important to you.
  • We think people should try and take responsibility for  of their own health as much as they can.  See below for what that means.

People look at things differently.  Some people believe things happen to them, while others believe they can influence what happens to them. Technically this is called the ‘locus of control’.  People can have an Internal or external Locus of Control

So how do you see things?

Psychology Today have a 15 minute test which gives you a summary of your position you can buy the detailed results if you want to.

My Personality Test have a 10 minute test which gives you a summary.

People tend to take more responsibility (locus gets more internal) as they get older.  However, external isn’t always bad – for example if you are physically unable to do some things you can accept it and focus on the things you can do.  This American video explains the concept and gives examples of how this can affect relationships.

locus of control

Internal

  • More likely to take responsibility for actions
  • Tend to be less influenced by others

External

  • Blame outside forces for what happens
  • Don’t believe they can change their situation themselves

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Add your attitude to change - see how you view changes in your life

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Do you need to change?

No matter how healthy you are at the moment, the chances are that there are some areas you could improve. It may be that you have a real problem in one or more areas, and you would like to make some improvements.

At YouDrive we accept that there are many different degrees of ‘not wellness’ in a large number of different health areas, ranging from physical illness such as covid-19 through mental illness such as anxiety through to financial problems like debt.  We try and help where the problem ranges from ‘slight’ to quite bad’ – after this expert help and intervention may be needed.

However, especially in these times, we have to try and make these changes ourselves, possibly with some help from others, whether remotely or face to face.

The thing is, to make an improvement we have to change some things.

This involves changing our behaviour in some respects, and that’s not always easy.

Henry Ford, the creator of the assembly line, is quoted as saying “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”.  

henry ford

Another way of looking at this: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” – attributed to Albert Einstein.

Consequently we need to make some changes.  The problem is that we have already developed a lot of habits, some of which we need to break and replace by better ones.  Some of our bad habits have become entrenched, and the bad results they create in turn engender further bad habits to develop – in effect the bad habits can feed on themselves.

We need to understand how we can make changes and stick to them, and that’s what this part of your health profile is about.

It will involve some learning, through reading, some videos and some additional information and also seeing how you react to change currently.

It will also ask you to consider whether you feel you are in charge of your future, or whether you feel it’s all fate.

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Assess your overall health using a health questionnaire

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At YouDrive we try and help people improve their health. We use ‘health’ but we understand there are other terms such as wellbeing or even happiness that reflect how we are doing in our lives – if you’re interested in the different definitions and ideas see our page on the subject.

We want to help whether you have a particular problem – physical, financial or mental – or if you just want to improve some specific part of your life or just make some improvements overall.

You’d be surprised, but there has been a serious amount of scientific work done in this area over the last twenty years.

So first we allow you to assess your current health (or wellbeing, or happiness).  We do this by questionnaire.  Which one is determined by the type of person you are:

  1. You understand yourself well and want a quick overview of your health and wellness, and will drill down in any areas needing work
  2. You want to do a more detailed assessment and then focus on areas you’re already aware of
  3. You want to look at the whole situation in more detail across all the health domains.

By the way, we take your privacy seriously – we collect information that you choose to provide but we de-identify it as much as possible and will never share it with anyone without your explicit consent.

You can then drill down into some specific areas and there are more questionnaires to see your situation in these particular areas.  We provide you with specific information and refer you to other potential aspects of help. Our next step is to build a personalised action plan – for now we will make a suggestion for you to develop your own plan and then after a time you can see whether this has had a positive impact by retaking the test.

In future we will be engaging with medical and behavioural specialists to devise action plans for individual people with specific situations.

We have an overall questionnaire which you can complete which will assess your current state.

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Values, Attitudes and Beliefs

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We all have our beliefs, attitudes and values – these have developed throughout our life based on who we are and what we have done. Let’s look at what these are.

The University of Reading explain: “People’s values, beliefs and attitudes are formed and bonded over time through the influences of family, friends, society and life experiences. So, by the time you’re an adult, you can hold very definite views on just about everything with a sense of “no one is going to change my mind”.

The combination of your personal values, beliefs and attitudes are your moral principles that guide you in life and affect your behaviour. However, your views can wildly differ to others and in an institution such as a school, these beliefs may be counter to the values of the school, child development or indeed the law.” 

Let’s look more closely at the differences between beliefs, attitudes and values.

Beliefs

These come from real experiences – we think our beliefs are based on reality, but in fact our beliefs colour our experiences; also, an original experience e.g. when we were a child is not the same as what’s happening now. Beliefs can be moral, religious or cultural and reflect who we are. They can be rational (‘it gets colder in winter’) or irrational (‘I am never going to make something of myself’).

Attitudes

This is an immediate belief or disposition about something specific. It is a recurring group of beliefs and behaviours aimed at specific groups, people, ideas or objects. They will normally be positive or negative and we will always behave that way to the target group. Examples of attitudes include confidence (I can or can’t do something), grateful (I an entitled to / grateful for XXX) and cheerful (I am generally happy / miserable).

Values

These are things (principles or qualities) that we hold in high regard or consider to be worthwhile or right / wrong. They are formed by a belief related to the worth of something – an idea or behaviour. Some values are common (e.g. family comes first, the value of friendship) or cultural (which the whole community have – see video at Study.com here)

The theory

Links to Wikipedia

Expectancy Value Theory suggests you balance your beliefs about something with the value you attach to it. The Theory of Reasoned Action suggests that beliefs and evaluation about behavioural outcomes determine attitudes, and intentions lead directly to behaviour.

Beliefs

Expressions of confidence – can change over time

Attitudes

Learned predispositions to something – are subject to change

Values

Ideals that guide our behaviour – Generally long lasting and often need life changing experience to change

Iceberg demonstrating implicit and explicit bias – from Owlcation

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A Butterfly Life: 4 Keys to More Happiness, Better Health and Letting Your True Self Shine

Times of change can be a challenge, no doubt! Whether it’s a relationship breakup, job loss, or being diagnosed with a serious health issue. Or you may WANT things to be different, but it feels a little scary or overwhelming. The butterfly reminds us change can be beautiful, even necessary, in order to realize our full potential and live our best life.