We are all well aware of the way in which the government insisted on impressing upon us the importance of taking out a pension. Oh my goodness, how this has back fired on them and shown them up to be the crooks that they are! The fact is that pensions are not delivering anything like the amount of income we thought when we took these policies out. Retirees are struggling tremendously to make ends meet and everyday life can prove to be a real struggle for them.

This can be very frustrating and upsetting for a person that has worked all of their life and were actively looking forward to enjoying the latter years of their life. They probably had dreams of travelling to far-flung destinations, perhaps being able to visit the family more and once the house was paid off - a nice new conservatory may have proven to be just the ticket.

If you rely on the pension plans you had taken out, the chances are that these dreams will only ever remain a fiction. However, there are some ways around this and one is to consider a retirement mortgage scheme.

This does not mean to say that you will still be paying off the cost of your house, after retirement. A retirement mortgage is an annuity that is based on the equity in your house. Depending on your age, you can borrow a lump sum (of say 40%) and will not have to pay this amount back until the event of your death.

If you decide to go ahead with this plan, ensure there is a no negative equity guarantee - this way the lender would never be able to demand more money if the level of interest is higher than the equity remaining in the property.