Sanjay Gadhia (pictured), head of sales at later life lender Standard Life Home Finance, certainly thinks so – he’s urging a greater focus on financial planning for our senior years.
“Property wealth plays a significant role in retirement planning, but many people don’t start thinking about it early enough,” Gadhia told Mortgage Introducer. “Encouraging earlier planning could make a big difference. One of the key challenges politicians should address is how to help people plan for retirement earlier.”
What is the perception of later life lending?
There were 284 retirement interest only mortgages advanced in Q1, worth £28 million. Yet Gadhia noted that later life lending is still seen by some as “a product of last resort”, despite how the sector is changing.
“The market has evolved and now has products which support a wider demographic,” he said. “In the next 12 months, I’d expect later life lending solutions being considered alongside more mainstream product options. With features like an early repayment charge period of only eight years and downsizing protection from day one, modern lifetime mortgages offer clients flexibility should their circumstances change in the future. I believe we’ll see more widespread adoption and understanding of these benefits.”
Knowledge is power, in Gadhia’s view – and continued education is vital, not least for intermediaries, whom he suggested need to keep properly across developments in the market.
