In 2007 Mr & Mrs Atkins, aged 68 and 65 respectively, released £32,688 from their £190,000 home. They wanted the money for three things: repay their small mortgage, pay for a carer to attend to Mrs Atkinson’s daily needs and make some home improvements. The Retirement Plus Property Plan they chose gave them a 50% protected share. Retirement Plus had an initial 17.20% share of their home, which would increase to the maximum 50% after 19 years and 10 months. Twelve months later, Mr Atkinson contacted his broker to release further funds for his wife’s special needs. As they had protected 50% at inception, a further £32,594 was still available to them. The property value had remained static at £190,000 so, after releasing this further sum, the Retirement Plus share will now rise to a maximum of 99.90% after 17 years and 7 months.

The Atkins’ were certainly prudent in their choice of a Retirement Plus Property Plan. By opting for a 50% protected share of the value of their property, they left open the possibility of coming back for more money later. And, when they did need more money, they were delighted to hear that they would still own a large share of their property, albeit decreasing, for a long time to come.

“The flexibility the protected share offers, as well as the reassurance, was great in this particular case.  After re-evaluating his financial needs we agreed that it was best to alter the protected share and release more. The cream-on-the-top for the Atkins’ was that the whole process took only four weeks from application to completion – even we were impressed!” 

Ged Whelan, The Way Ahead