Yahoo Finance Why you probably can’t afford a Thursday Murder Club retirement
The latest instalment of the Thursday Murder Club series has hit the shelves, and will no doubt be a at the top of the bestsellers lists for the rest of the year. It seems we can’t get enough of the Octogenarian Detectives, and their crime-solving escapades in Coopers Chase, a fictional luxury retirement village.
For many people, this is the first we’ve heard about posh retirement villages, but they’re on the rise. They offer a mixture of retirement properties, along with a health club and spa, restaurants and bars – plus anything from tennis courts and a putting green, to a games room and a private cinema. On site support includes hair and beauty, concierge services, and access to care services.
But if you fancy treating yourself in retirement, you need to steel yourself for the costs involved. First you need to buy a property, and they tend to be pricy. A two-bedroom flat can easily cost anywhere between £600,000 and £1m. For a larger property or a house, you can expect prices north of £1m. And in some locations, they go even higher: one London residence costs up to £3m. On top of that, you need to cover the monthly fee. It’s not unusual to pay £1,000 a month, and some places will charge up to £1,800 depending on the property.
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You also need to be aware of the fees when you sell, which usually means handing over a percentage of the sale price. They vary, and in some cases will depend how long you’ve lived in the property, but check the small print because they can be 15% or more. On a £1m apartment, that’s £150,000.
Even if you’re prepared to forgo the whistles and bells, and opt for a less luxurious retirement village, it might still cost far more than you expect. The initial outlay will be lower, but it will still be more expensive than the equivalent outside the village. The monthly fee will also be lower, but you can still expect to spend between £500 and £700 a month. The exit charges are based on a percentage of the property, so will be cheaper, but may still eat into 15% or more of the value of your home.
It means the lifestyle enjoyed by the residents of Coopers Chase may well be beyond the pockets of all but the wealthiest. Even less luxurious retirement villages may well be a stretch for anyone with modest retirement savings. And if you can afford it, there’s the impact on your family to consider too.
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If someone in these villages passes away and you struggle to sell the property, you’ll need to keep paying the monthly fees. Given the delays in probate at the moment, you could end up paying fees on a home that has been empty for a year. You may also be unaware of the impact of the charges at the end of the contract, and to add insult to injury, because the exit fees are often based on how long you lived there, the longer it takes to sell, the more these fees can rise. For anyone who was relying on an inheritance to fund their retirement, if a parent faces all these costs, it may mean you’re even less likely to be able to afford this kind of lifestyle when you come to retire.
It means for a lot of people, a luxury retirement village is a pipedream. So we need to focus on enjoying this lifestyle vicariously through the residents of Coopers Chase, rather than holding out any hope of ever being able to afford it ourselves.
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