Biz-res, if you hadn’t guessed, is marketing-ese for “business residence.” By 2020, the insurer sees the average pensioner living in a home that acts as both workplace and living quarters as they seek to supplement their shrinking pension incomes.
Instead of a dining room there may be an office, or the spare room could be rented to lodgers, as diminished investment returns, falling annuity rates, inflation and an inadequate state pension force older homeowners to find new ways of boosting their retirement funds.
Research by the Future Foundation, on behalf of Friends Life, found that a growing number of people set to retire over the coming years expect to continue working in some way, with many doing so from their own homes.
Biz-res is clearly a cringe-making marketing buzzword. But from trading online and direct selling to running a nursery or letting out rooms, it’s easy to see how more pensioners are already turning to their homes as a solution to their financial problems.
Make sure there’s no reason for HM Revenue & Customs to take an interest in your new income stream – it is certain to be looking.
Jess Salway, The Scotsman
