Income from your home

An Englishman’s home is his lifeline!

‘My home is my pension’ is often used to describe people who shun more traditional methods of saving for retirement to pour money into their home in the belief that they will use the equity they’ve built up over the years to provide an income in retirement.

These days more and more people, even those who have made reasonable provision for their retirement, may need to look to their home as a source of income in retirement.

 What are your options?

There are three main ways you can generate an income from your home:

        • Rental income.  If it’s big enough, you can rent part of your home.
        • Downsizing.   A move to a smaller house can release money to provide income
        • Equity release.  These schemes mean you can stay in your home, but still release money.

Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages, which we’ll explore in more detail in this section.