Dear Members,
The second quarter of 2019 has been among the busiest at my time at the Equity Release Council.
We have just hosted an extremely successful Parliamentary Reception in the Terrace Room in the House of Commons with principal speakers including Guy Opperman MP, Pensions and Financial Inclusion Minister and Anneliese Dodds MP, Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, with Crispin Blunt MP and Simon Thompson, CEO of Key Retirement Group who very generously sponsored the event (please do see some of the photographs from the event in this newsletter).
Not only did we have a record attendance from our members, Members of Parliament and Peers, it is yet another sign of the support that the industry receives as Equity Release continues to evolve into a mainstream solution for our customers.
There was also a serious purpose to the event, other than celebrating the achievements of our sector and this was to launch ‘Beyond Bricks and Mortar: the changing role of property in later life financial plans’ which monitors the importance of property wealth to different groups of people as they age. This report, kindly sponsored by Key, provides important insights to policymakers and journalists. For example – older homeowners – particularly those aged 45 to 64, the retirees of tomorrow – are reassessing the traditional role of property in retirement funding and inheritance – with more than half (aged 45 and over) seeing money invested in property as part of their financial plans for later life. Older age groups are not just the biggest owners of property; they also depend the most on its contribution to their overall finances. (Please find further information about this in the newsletter). We intend to benchmark this report annually, with other helpful reports to understanding the changing value of property wealth for people in later life in planning for launch later in the year.
There are also significant features within this newsletter – including a very helpful Q&A with Chris Pond, Chair of our Standards Board on the evolution of our standards. As the Council continues to grow the need to evolve our Standards focusing on outcomes and principles does too – to reflect the need to continue to deliver the best outcomes to our customers. In this context please read the blog by Harold Pritchard, Distribution Director at Legal & General Home Finance who writes a blog about how to make Lifetime Mortgages work for families.
In addition, I am delighted to announce that our 1000th member, Sarah Barlow Financial Solutions Limited, has just joined the Council – and Chris Fay, our Communications Manager takes the opportunity to interview Peter Maxwell-Lyte our first member. A terrific reflection of the success of our socially important sector as we continue to grow to meet consumer needs in later life. I was particularly struck by his comments in his interview “It’s a wonderful industry to find new ways of helping people plan to improve their lives…” and that ‘Being a member of the Council is the badge of professionalism.” Please do read it.
Also in this edition we have our first ‘week in the life of’ featuring Melanie Carroll a Partner in London based Bolt-Burden solicitors who shares a few thoughts about what has been impacting on her life over the course of the last week. I really enjoyed reading about Melanie’s week and hope you do to.
As we start to plan for 2020 – I would like to focus your attention on the Equity Release Summit 2020, which is scheduled to take place on 12 March 2020 in Church House, Westminster. It is our intention the one-day Summit will be the landmark equity release event in the industry’s calendar, growing and developing year-on-year in terms of impact, recognition, profile and credibility. Please read more about it in this edition. There will be further information about our outline programme and speakers and opportunities to sponsor and attend this – later this year.
I would like to share some welcome words of encouragement from AgeWage chief executive and respected blogger, Henry Tapper. Writing in his influential Pension Playpen blog Henry described the Council as a trade body he would be proud to be a part of.
In particular, he singled out the Council’s Chairman David Burrowes and Standards Board Chairman Chris Pond, both former parliamentarians. “They’re the serious politicians who may not be in parliament, but are still pulling strings,” he said. “To ordinary people in this country, property is the first thing they think of when they consider financial security in later life. So while the politicians laugh and joke about the mess they’re making of this country, these people are quietly getting on with the great work of solving the need for an AgeWage.”
As many of you will know, The Times has cited Henry’s blog as one of ten websites and blogs every investor should bookmark. You can read more here.
Finally, to let you know that we have moved into a new City-based office in Folgate Street, London E1 6BX – which provides the Council with a small but convenient base to deliver many of its services.
Kind regards,
Jim Boyd
