Do your clients discuss their equity release journey with friends and family?

We recently surveyed 1,086 of our completed equity release clients to ask questions about their general finances and their attitude to equity release. We also asked the same questions to 1,014 members of the general public aged 55 and over.

More than 40% of the general public surveyed said that they get their financial information from their friends and family. The second most popular answer was internet research, with 36% citing this as their research method of choice.

On the whole, the vast number of clients that I speak to on a daily basis are now happy to talk to their family about their financial situation, in particular about the fact that they are exploring the possibility of releasing equity from their homes.

When we asked whether our completed clients felt comfortable discussing their equity release experience with their friends and family an overwhelming 79% said yes they had. Whilst over 61% of the general public also said that if they were considering equity release they too would discuss it with friends and family.

As part of our initial quotation we ask all of our clients if they have discussed equity release with their family. Equity release is a lifelong commitment and can impact on family members later down the line. We encourage anyone considering equity release to involve their family as early on in the process as possible. But we’re all individual, so there will always be people who simply prefer not to talk about equity release.

Some clients choose to involve their family in the fact find discussion so that they are fully aware of the decisions that are being made and can actively contribute. Even during lockdown, these family discussions have still been possible by using video calling which, like other advisers have also identified, has been very well received by most clients. The ability to involve multiple family members from far flung areas of the UK and beyond has been fantastic and I’m sure this technology will continue to be well utilised across the industry long after lockdown restrictions have ended.

Finally we can’t talk about family involvement in equity release without mentioning gifting. Like many brokers, at Age Partnership, we have seen a steady increase in the number of people releasing equity from their homes to provide a gift to their loved ones. These gift are often used to fund deposits for houses, something which is particularly pertinent at the minute with the reduction in stamp duty until March 2021.