Given Britain’s over-55s hold roughly £1 trillion in housing wealth, it is unsurprising that equity release is fast filling the gap being left by the largely historic defined benefit pension. After all, saving enough for what could be three decades of retirement without a final salary scheme is particularly difficult for many savers.
A new blend
We know that retirement has changed and that it is no longer the one-size fits all that it was just a generation ago.
This change means that a different approach to advice, and the way in which providers operate, is needed.
We must work together to promote public trust in our industry because, in spite of the high stakes involved in making retirement income decisions, an increasing number of people are using non-traditional sources for guidance and advice, such as TV, radio programmes and review sites.
As a result, we have to find new ways to show the true value that can be gained through life planning advice, and really start to step away from just talking about products.
We also need to challenge how we think, so that we can begin to layer multiple retirement solutions upon one another, rather than trying to decide which one is the best.
Taking this approach is not only likely to help achieve better client outcomes, but will also provide a better blend of security, flexibility and control.
Being willing to embrace new solutions for retirement planning is clearly important, but we will nonetheless continue to champion more traditional guaranteed income solutions too, because we believe that these have a key role to play in retirement advice.
Emma Byron is managing director of Legal & General Retirement Income
