The rise of the silver saver

The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was no exception however. It scored a 37 per cent Rotten Tomatoes rating and was described as juvenile and unworthy of being presented as a comic-book genre film. I have to agree.

What the movie-makers should have gone for was a more mature film, something far less juvenile. Because I know quite a bit about silver surfers. And none of them - well, perhaps one or two who shall remain nameless - are pretty clued up.

Admittedly, a feature-length film about pensioners going online to buy their groceries or play around with their portfolios of shares isn’t going to appeal to the mass market of film buffs, at least until demographic trends really take hold. However it is important that we in the financial services industry make a feature of the internet when it comes to older clients.

Too often I have heard accusations that older people can’t be expected to go online to check their bank accounts because they’re not comfortable using the internet.

I’ve heard that pensioners should not be expected to use the internet to find out information or use find-an-adviser directories because they were not brought up on a diet of Amstrads and Macs.

And today I heard someone saying that it was not good expecting people to manage their own portfolios because the client was 60 and all the portfolio information had been put online.

I think this is too simplistic.

Okay, I’ll admit in the following areas, driving everything online can be problematic for the very elderly.

1) Health, eyesight and hearing issues can preclude some pensioners from using computers

2) Many older people have an intrinsic distrust of anything that is not perceived to be ‘safe’. Younger people are used to using computers every day so we accept knowledge about hackers and phishing and spam, and generally we know how to deal with it. Older people who only use computers occasionally are naturally less trusting.

3) Explaining for three years to your mother that McAfee updates need to be downloaded and the computer needs to be allowed to scan for viruses, only to get a call during work that ‘something has happend to the computer and can you help’ when a) you’re not an IT technician and b) you can’t see the screen is pretty annoying.

However, we denigrate older people if we assume they cannot and do not use the internet. They do. They are intelligent human beings who may not be 18 but still have a desire to learn new things. A computer may be daunting for first-time users but computers have been around in offices since the late 1980s. We’ve been using them in daily life at home and at work since the 1990s. There’s a lot of pensioners now who will have spent at least 20 years using a computer of some sort in some capacity.

It’s obvious they know how to use it. They’re on Facebook, writing weird things on our statuses and using the wrong emoji. No gran, that’s not a sweet little brown Hershey Chocolate Kiss with eyes. It’s an emoticon expressing something completely different.

They’re on Friends Reunited. They’re consuming news daily online. They may not be experts and they may not all yet do internet banking, but they are using the internet to find what they want - and to read forums.

1) Information

Sites such as findawealthmanager.com and VouchedFor.co.uk are fast becoming go-to areas for people who have retired or gone part-time. They have the time to read reviews about the services that providers and advisers offer. They have time to read articles about the sort of service they are getting.

I know this because increasingly Financial Adviser has been getting phone calls from pensioners who have read our stories.

I know this because more people have been using the internet to find advisers and ask for help with their pensions. Recently, findawealthmanager.com has been seeing an increase in wealthy older people coming for the first time to get independent advice.

2) Investments

People who think older people will not use the internet to manage or at least keep an eye on their investments need to rethink this - and quickly. Last week NS&I’s website went down as thousands of pensioners in the UK logged on to find out about the Pensioner Bonds that were launched. Silver Surfers brought down the servers at NS&I.

Wouldn’t that be a nice problem for an IFA to have? So inundated with pensioners looking to engage with that adviser online, to view their portfolios on the adviser’s website, that the site goes down? Well, perhaps that fills you with horror. But consider the possibilities of connecting with your older clients and giving them the power to interact with their own money online, through your own website? They wouldn’t have to go elsewhere or to a large firm or provider.

3) Pensions guidance

The 65s are going to become newly rich in just a few months’ time. They will end up with pots of £30,000 or £40,000, perhaps the largest lump sum they will have ever had to manage.

Although CAB and TPAS have been using MAS to provide underlying pensions advisory systems, according to a recent conversation with MAS, and providers have been using MAS documentation for wake-up packs, it is not inconceivable to suggest that come April 2015, there will be a million sharks out there circling the waters, trying to lure people away from government-backed guidance into dodgy territory.

The internet will become awash with all sorts of dodginess (if there is such a word). How can pensioners see who is genuine and who is not? Using the internet wisely now, engaging with older people now, by offering existing and potential older clients an online guidance and information service they can trust will be crucial. It will help trusted financial advisers and concerned providers to give the right information and help people steer a clear path towards a better retirement outcome.

So... Don’t be afraid to challenge older people about using the internet well and wisely. Like Barclays offering help to its older customers, engage with them in ways that do not patronise but enable them. In 20 years’ time the pensioner population will be completely computer literate. Give the silver surfers the right tools now and you will help secure them for a better financial future.