It might seem as though houses are priced in monopoly money these days – but don’t assume the roof over your head will be your ‘get out of jail free’ card when it comes to saving for a pension.
It’s not hard to see why so many are lulled into a false sense of security. Many people have made thousands – if not hundreds of thousands – of pounds from the property market by doing nothing more risky than buying a modest family home and living in it while their kids grow up.
The boom over the last few decades can seem like the golden goose that won’t stop laying: a recent report by a London School of Economics professor (albeit sponsored by Santander) suggested that prices could double again in the next 15 years.
Some have dismissed these findings as optimistic – but it’s hard not to shake the feeling that even with a few Brexit-related stumbles on route, property prices are on a one way trajectory.
If money is tight for pension savings, or returns have been lacklustre of late, why not dip into these property gains to ensure a similar standard of living in retirement?
The main stumbling block is the difficulty in turning these notional gains into hard currency.
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