KIDS DON’T WANT US TO SELL UP

Dear Coleen

My wife and I are both nearly 70 and would like to retire after working hard all our lives. We still have a mortgage that will not be paid off for another eight years.

One solution would be to sell our house and buy a static caravan on an all-year holiday park. That would leave us with no mortgage and money in the bank.

However, two of our three children think we are absolutely mad to even think of such a thing. Our other son is all for it and says it will be lovely for the grandchildren when they visit us on the holiday park with all the amenities. What would you do in our situation?

Coleen says

I’d sell up and live on the holiday park without a shadow of a doubt. Why not? You could retire and have the freedom to do all those things you’ve put off for years because you were working hard, and I think it could be good socially, too.

You’d be surrounded by people and there would always be something going on.

I have a friend who did exactly what you’re proposing. She sold her three-bed house when her kids moved out and bought a static caravan with a big veranda overlooking fields, and I’ve never known her to be happier.

This is your life and you should do what you think will make you happy. I’m slightly concerned that two of your children might be thinking of their inheritance rather than your happiness.

It’s your money and if that’s what you want, then do it.