The HIPpy generation remains confident

Back in the 1960s, the original hippies celebrated “flower power”. As this generation approaches retirement, a new ‘HIPpy’ spirit has emerged.

HIPpy in this context refers to the ‘Home Is Pension’ mantra so common amongst Britain’s over-50s.

New research from retirement specialist LV= has found that an estimated 1.3 million HIPpies still plan to use their property value to help provide additional income in retirement. This remains the case even though an average of £27,250 has been wiped off the value of their homes over the past twelve months.

Homeowners over 50 years old in Britain estimate they have lost £80 billion in property values as a result of recent property market falls. Regardless of these falls in property prices, only 2% say they have been discouraged from using their home to fund their retirement. A further 11% plan to take advice about getting access to the value of their home before they retire.

Advice and proper planning is important in this respect. The idea of using money tied up in your home to help fund your income in retirement is reasonable enough, but we often find that people have unrealistic expectations about what level of income this source might provide in later life.