Help with financial planning for retirement

Save up to £13k a year on care

The average person in a residential care home pays £32K a year.  Someone in a McCarthy & Stone Retirement Living PLUS apartment with eight hours of care per week pays on average £18,730 a year.^‡

1. Talk to your dedicated consultant

Found a retirement property you love? Every development has its own friendly, approachable consultant, who can offer support in understanding the costs involved in the property and its features. They are here to help you make the right choice for you – and that includes financially.

As well as outlining the lifestyle and services, your consultant will be able to explain the practical things – like the pros and cons of buying outright or renting your retirement home, for instance. They will take you through affordability checks and put you in touch with our free entitlements advice service. We’d also recommend you talk to an independent financial advisor, too.

2. Talk to our amazing Entitlements Advisor

We’ll put you in touch with Aleks Clayton, our Entitlements Advisor. She can offer free advice to ensure you are getting all the money you are eligible for, so you can factor it into your financial planning for your retirement. Here is Aleks’s list of the things you might be entitled to:

Attendance Allowance

This is paid by the Department for Work and Pensions to people of state pension age or above who have a long-term health condition which impacts on their daily lives. It is not means-tested – income and savings are disregarded.

It is important to check current rates on the UK government website for an estimate of what you can expect. 

Pension Credit

This is also paid to people of state pension age or above by the Department for Work and Pensions. It is means-tested and is assessed on income and certain savings amounts. If a person qualifies for Pension Credit, they may be eligible for other benefits, for example, free dental treatment or a free TV licence, if they’re aged 75 or above.

Council Tax Reduction

This is means-tested and could result in a partial or full reduction of Council Tax.

Council Tax Disregard/Discount/Exemption

These are not means-tested and are paid if your circumstances meet the criteria.

Housing Benefit

This is means-tested and could result in a partial payment towards the rent of an apartment.

3. Flexible occupancy options to suit different budgets

We offer a range of flexible occupancy options so you can find the right fit for your circumstances. Here’s a brief overview:

Buying

You can purchase your retirement apartment or bungalow outright, but we can also help you get a mortgage if needed. Buying is ideal for people wanting to invest and enjoy the security of knowing their home is their own.

Renting

Renting your McCarthy & Stone property is a flexible alternative to buying and often you can move in much more quickly. You’ll also benefit from a simple, easy-to-manage monthly payment, which includes the service charge as well as the rent.

Shared Ownership

Shared Ownership allows you to purchase a 75% share of your retirement property, with nothing to pay on the remaining 25%. Or you can purchase 50%, and pay affordable rent on the outstanding share. This can be a more cost-effective way of owning your new home.

4. Financial (and practical) support to help you move

Our Part Exchange and Smooth Move services can help you manage the costs of your retirement, as well as take the hassle out of the moving process and give you a more relaxed means of settling into your new retirement property.

• Learn how our Part Exchange works and how you can enjoy a simpler, and quicker sale process, no estate agent fees and free removals.
• Learn about Smooth Move, our free specialist removal service. As well as support with things like decluttering and packing, we’ll pay towards your estate agency and legal fees.

5. Financial incentives and special offers

It’s worth subscribing to our weekly Newsletter to keep an eye out for our competitions and seasonal special offers. You can also find out more about them at our events and open days

Did you know that buying a retirement property off-plan is often cheaper too?

Explore off-plan properties and bag yourself a bargain.

6. Service charges that cover more than you think!

As is usual for apartments or developments with communal areas, you’ll pay a monthly service charge when you buy or rent a McCarthy & Stone retirement property (when you rent, the service charge is included in the quoted rental price).  But our service charge covers so much more than your average apartment, giving you a wealth of services and amenities to make your retirement more enjoyable.

Despite this, we keep costs as low as possible, and many homeowners find that service charges work out less than what they were paying for comparable services on their old home.

Service charges can save you money

In a McCarthy & Stone retirement apartment, you could save over £3,000 a year compared to the cost of running a typical home**.

This is due to lower heating, water and other utility bills, including Council Tax, lower home insurance, and the procurement of more efficient and effective services by McCarthy & Stone. All gardening, decoration and maintenance in the beautiful communal areas and gardens is taken care of. Homeowners also benefit from extra services that they may not have had in their previous home, such as the House Manager, communal facilities, emergency call systems and on-site bistros.

Service charges vary depending on what is available at your development

For example, if you choose to live in a Retirement Living development, your service charge covers:

• Paying for the House Manager – they ensure the development runs smoothly
• All maintenance of the building and grounds, including window cleaning, gardening and upkeep of the building exteriors and communal areas
• A 24-hour emergency call system
• Monitored fire alarms and door camera entry security systems
• Buildings insurance, water and sewerage rates
• Maintaining lifts
• Heating and lighting in communal areas

And if you live in a Retirement Living PLUS development, your service charge is for:

• Everything you receive in a Retirement Living community, plus: 
• Staff on-site 24/7 for your peace of mind
• The running costs of the onsite bistro/restaurant (there is an additional subsidised charge for meals/drinks)
• One hour of domestic assistance per week.

Each development’s service charge varies depending on location and facilities. The number of bedrooms in your retirement property is also a factor. Here are some example prices:

• To buy a one-bedroom Retirement Living apartment in Stoke-on-Trent, you would pay a service charge of £40.06 per week.
• To buy a two-bedroom Retirement Living apartment in County Durham, you would pay a service charge of £69.09 per week.

You can find out more about McCarthy & Stone service charges here; additionally, each development listing provides a breakdown of costs to help you budget for your retirement property.

7. Money can’t buy benefits

Peace of mind is the biggest benefit of the McCarthy & Stone service charge. You don’t have to worry about looking after the development or its communal areas, personal safety or high energy bills. Instead, you have more time to focus on enjoying your retirement and the busy social calendar of informal gatherings and regular clubs, events and meet-ups you’ll discover on your doorstep.

Retirement properties with good returns

When the time comes to move on, we have an exclusive specialist estate agency for people selling McCarthy & Stone retirement properties. Our unique skills and expertise mean we’re better equipped to achieve a faster sale at a better price than traditional estate agents, and, for some developments, we have a waiting list of people keen to move in.

We outperform local estate agents when it comes to sale price and achieve a net price increase on average for the properties we resell. For example, the net increase averages 6% for properties bought new in the last three years and then resold. Find out more about our resales service.