Around eight out of ten advisers at equity release firms believe that family members need to engage with the advice process – but 50% said clients are unwilling.
More positively, most advisers (82%) think that family members are happy that their relatives are upgrading their lifestyle by releasing the riches locked in their houses.
Positive Aspects of Family Involvement
Stuart Wilson, more 2 life’s corporate marketing director, commented on the important role families play in getting behind older relatives. A huge majority of families feel upbeat about equity release and how it can support older family members. Not only are families who are engaged with the decisions of their relatives more supportive, but they are less likely to complain once the products are redeemed, he said.
Mr Wilson noted that those in the industry put in great efforts to maintain standards of advice and product innovation, so it is very frustrating when people complain that they didn’t know their parents had used equity release.
The Importance of Education
Mr Wilson believes the industry needs to both educate potential customers and raise awareness amongst younger clients that it’s possible to have a financial impact on their parents’ options.
Three-quarters of advisers (75%) said that relatives involved in the advice process ask follow-up questions to better understand the product. This has broader benefits: 71% of advisers feel that getting the wider family involved could mean fewer complaints.
For sound advice, equity release Marlborough-based firms include https://chilvester.co.uk/equity-release/.
Saga has more information relating to equity release here: https://www.saga.co.uk/money/equity-release/lp/er-landing-page?campid=ERPPC&to=ERPPC&scid=ppc-g.
Among those clients involved in the advice process who didn’t involve their families, a large majority (84%) said they left them out so they could make their own financial decisions. More than half (53%) of advisers had clients who hadn’t mentioned equity release to their families because they were suffering financially and had too much pride to divulge this.
Almost half (47%) said some older clients didn’t want to help relatives out financially, as they believed they had already passed on enough money to the younger generation. In addition, 59% of advisers commented that relatives involved in the advice process showed an interest in finding out how equity release might assist them too.