The Intermediary – August 2026 - Flipbook - Page 45
"Are you sure the rules haven't changed since you played in 1997?"
education – tapping into housing wealth to
“Housing wealth dwarfs pension assets and
invest in the future of children or grandchildren
the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has
today rather than leave an inheritance
referenced it being the ‘fourth pillar’ in funding
upon death.”
retirement,” says Hale.
For wealthier clients, the thinking is also
“However, to unlock the potential of the later
becoming more strategic, according to Hale.
life lending market requires major changes in
He explains: “With forthcoming changes
customer awareness or understanding and the
to IHT on pensions, wealthier customers, and
their advisers, are also increasingly looking at
the sequencing of which assets to drawdown
distribution ecosystem.”
He adds: “The FCA is currently consulting
on its ambitions around holistic advice, but I
upon first in order to optimise the value of
think it is unrealistic to think that we can create
their estate – meaning that consideration of
an army of ‘super advisers’ that can be experts
housing wealth and use of later life lending
on all aspects of later life lending as well as
products is becoming a normalised feature of
covering pensions, long-term care funding, estate
financial planning.”
planning and so on."
Simon Hayton, managing director of Pure
Instead, he argues there must be a focus
Retirement, says gifting to family consistently
on improving generic knowledge across the
ranks among the leading uses of released funds,
intermediary landscape, at the same time as
behind debt and mortgage repayment.
“Our 2025 regional trends research found that
gifting was most common in London at 15%,
followed by the East of England (9%) and the
South East (8%),” he says.
“Our customer insight suggests older
homeowners are increasingly viewing housing
formalising referral arrangements between
mainstream mortgage advisers, wealth managers,
IFAs, solicitors, accountants and specialists.
Move away from siloed advice
Futcher believes that the 'Great Wealth Transfer'
is making intergenerational financial planning
wealth as part of a wider financial planning
far more collaborative, not least because it
strategy, balancing their own retirement needs
often involves multiple family members and
with a desire to support family members and
generations.
pass on wealth efficiently.”
Hale says regulators and policymakers are
increasingly acknowledging the central role
He says: “Increasingly, advisers are facilitating
conversations not just about investments and
tax, but about family objectives, fairness between
housing wealth plays, both in funding retirement
beneficiaries, and how wealth can be transferred
and supporting younger generations.
efficiently across generations.”
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August 2026 | The Intermediary
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