Thousands of over-50s eye pension funds to fix homes - Saga

Cannot afford repairs

Hannah Godfrey
clock • 1 min read

Thousands of people aged 50 and above cannot afford to repair their home and are poised to dip into their retirement savings to do so, according to later life insurer Saga.

Research from Saga's equity release advice service found about 150,000 people aged 50 to 59 would take advantage of pension freedom and use their 25% tax free lump sum to fix essentials in and around their home. This may leave some struggling to fund their retirement, Saga warned. Those drawing from their pension while still contributing could also risk being hit by cuts to the money purchase annual allowance from £10,000 to £4,000 taking effect this month. Polling firm Populus interviewed 1,017 people aged 50 and over in March 2017 on behalf of Saga. Results have been weighted to ...

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