Your Personal Finance Questions: Is My Retirement In Danger If I Can’t Afford To Buy A Home?

Q I need to have a hip replacement. There is an outpatient procedure in the USA that is not as tough post-op for the patient. I know this as I had one hip replacement. The Surgery is not offered in Ireland. Is it possible that I could have my Irish Life 4D Health 2 plan cover this in the USA? A  Owning a home is one of the four pillars to building financial wellbeing, but it is not the dominant one, says Frank Conway, founder of financial wellbeing provider MoneyWhizz and a qualified financial adviser. Owning a home allows the owner to tax-efficiently build personal wealth through the pay down of the mortgage and rise in equity, but it is not without cost. When a mortgage is paid off, there can be a temptation to argue that the owner is without cost. Mr Conway says nothing is further from the truth. As a property ages, so will its upkeep costs and this needs to be factored into the household budget. Other costs like insurance, energy efficiency and even property taxes are always going to be a factor. There are so-called “reverse mortgages’ that can release home equity without the need for regular monthly repayments. However, as they are broadly based on an estimation of when the homeowner will die, they are not for everyone. Additionally, placing a lien against the family home will often draw objections from those that might expect to benefit from an inheritance and so, scupper the plans of parents to take this route, Mr Conway said. Enrolling in an…