As David Cameron said, the typical (meaning the median not the average) age of someone buying a home for the first time, without help from family or friends, has gone up from 30 to 33 in recent years.
The typical age of the first time buyer, assisted or unassisted, has stayed remarkably steady at 29.
Which suggests that parents and others are being called on to give more help.
Here is the latest analysis on the subject from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
Showing posts with label age. Show all posts
Showing posts with label age. Show all posts
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Friday, 15 June 2012
Shameful scams on older people
The Insolvency Service is warning that it has closed down 78 companies in the last 3 years which were operating scams and specifically trying to target elderly people.
Some offered mobility equipment such as stair lifts, either not delivering the goods or overcharging. Others ripped off their victims over fine wines, fire alarms or worthless plots of land.
2,000 were affected, losing £28m. But it's quite obvious that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Trading standards officers around the country are dealing with more cases every day.
Older people and their families need to be on their guard, because in these tough times rogues may be even more tempted to try it on.
88 year-old May Bell was one of the victims, after a salesman came in to her home to flog her a stair lift.
She was left £1,800 out of pocket and trapped on the ground floor of her house, because the company didn't complete the installation.
Another victim described to me how the calls multiplied once he had had a brush with one of these con merchants.
He doesn't want to be named but he lost tens of thousands in a rip-off using gold coins.
Everything seemed to be going fine to start with - that's a hallmark of a lot of these operations. They string you along to gain trust.
After doing various successful deals, he sent off some valuable coins to be sold. Then - nothing. Until the police swooped on the perpetrators.
But new companies started to phone him with similar offers. Each one that gets shut down spawns several more masquerading under different names, as the fraudsters move on and spread out.
So once your loved one is a list, he or she will be contacted again by the same unsavoury characters, or by friends who have bought the list.
There is an even more sinister side.
Suspicious types will scour a neighbourhood, looking for tell tale signs which betray where an elderly or vulnerable person might live.
It might be that a mobility scooter has been left outside, or that there's a handrail on the porch. Or they just keep an eye out, watching who goes in and out and whether friends or family are around.
It's nasty, but it really happens. Some will leave marks on the wall to indicate whether the occupant has money and is easily conned. (Here are some more of the tricks they use.)
How can you deal with this? Don't accept sales calls by phone or at the door - say no. Do arrange to have someone you can call on for advice.
As for family and friends, it's our duty to check and keep checking and make sure that a vulnerable person knows how to contact us to ask for help and advice.
Here is some useful information from Age UK, Citizens Advice, and the Financial Services Authority.
Some offered mobility equipment such as stair lifts, either not delivering the goods or overcharging. Others ripped off their victims over fine wines, fire alarms or worthless plots of land.
2,000 were affected, losing £28m. But it's quite obvious that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Trading standards officers around the country are dealing with more cases every day.
Older people and their families need to be on their guard, because in these tough times rogues may be even more tempted to try it on.
88 year-old May Bell was one of the victims, after a salesman came in to her home to flog her a stair lift.
She was left £1,800 out of pocket and trapped on the ground floor of her house, because the company didn't complete the installation.
Another victim described to me how the calls multiplied once he had had a brush with one of these con merchants.
He doesn't want to be named but he lost tens of thousands in a rip-off using gold coins.
Everything seemed to be going fine to start with - that's a hallmark of a lot of these operations. They string you along to gain trust.
After doing various successful deals, he sent off some valuable coins to be sold. Then - nothing. Until the police swooped on the perpetrators.
But new companies started to phone him with similar offers. Each one that gets shut down spawns several more masquerading under different names, as the fraudsters move on and spread out.
So once your loved one is a list, he or she will be contacted again by the same unsavoury characters, or by friends who have bought the list.
There is an even more sinister side.
Suspicious types will scour a neighbourhood, looking for tell tale signs which betray where an elderly or vulnerable person might live.
It might be that a mobility scooter has been left outside, or that there's a handrail on the porch. Or they just keep an eye out, watching who goes in and out and whether friends or family are around.
It's nasty, but it really happens. Some will leave marks on the wall to indicate whether the occupant has money and is easily conned. (Here are some more of the tricks they use.)
How can you deal with this? Don't accept sales calls by phone or at the door - say no. Do arrange to have someone you can call on for advice.
As for family and friends, it's our duty to check and keep checking and make sure that a vulnerable person knows how to contact us to ask for help and advice.
Here is some useful information from Age UK, Citizens Advice, and the Financial Services Authority.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Britons are working longer before retiring - official
New figures from the Office for National Statistics throw into stark relief the growing tendency for men and women to work longer and retire later.
Over five years, the average retirement age for men has risen to 64.5 years from 63.8, while women carry on working until 62, up from an average of 61.2.
They are the clearest official data on a trend which could begin to accelerate, now that the state pension age is being raised and many pensioner households face higher costs and shrinking incomes.
The figures apply to 2009, which is the latest year in which statisticians can marry up the different surveys needed for the calculation.
There is proof, as well, that men can expect a shorter retirement than women.
At every age between 51 and 75, men's life expectancy once they stop working is lower than women's.
For instance, a 58 year-old man can expect to work 2 years longer than a woman of the same age. But from the date that they both stop working, the man's retirement is likely to be 5 years shorter.
Over five years, the average retirement age for men has risen to 64.5 years from 63.8, while women carry on working until 62, up from an average of 61.2.
They are the clearest official data on a trend which could begin to accelerate, now that the state pension age is being raised and many pensioner households face higher costs and shrinking incomes.
The figures apply to 2009, which is the latest year in which statisticians can marry up the different surveys needed for the calculation.
There is proof, as well, that men can expect a shorter retirement than women.
At every age between 51 and 75, men's life expectancy once they stop working is lower than women's.
For instance, a 58 year-old man can expect to work 2 years longer than a woman of the same age. But from the date that they both stop working, the man's retirement is likely to be 5 years shorter.
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