What you need to know
When it comes to later life financial planning, most people are just concerned about having enough income to get by. They are also keen to maintain their current lifestyle for as long as possible, be this continuing to work in retirement or staying in their home.
This focus often means other aspects of later life are ignored, and people leave any financial planning until it becomes a necessity, or until it becomes too late. There are low levels of interest in later life financial products or paying for specialist advice. For those concerned about their retirement provisions, allocating funds to other aspects of later life or arranging dedicated products may seem a luxury they cannot afford.
However, increasing life expectancy has only intensified the need to make plans. The length of people’s retirement will grow, making it more important, and more difficult, for them to save enough to provide a desirable level of comfort. The number of people needing care will also rise, making it more important that people have the necessary funds set aside.
Products covered in this Report
This Report covers consumers and later life financial planning. This includes but is not limited to:
Planning for long-term care
Using property as a source of funds i.e. equity release
Inheritance tax planning
Life insurance
Will writing
Retirement income planning
Prepaid funeral plans.
The Report will explore the market environment for later life financial planning, such as the effect of increasing life expectancy and the rising cost of funerals. It will look at how much thought people have given towards later life financial planning, and how confident they feel about their plans. It aims to establish interest in later life protection products, along with expectations for future living arrangements. It will also seek to establish consumer interest in later life planning advice, touching on the potential for the new ‘Pensions Dashboard’ to go further in terms of offering a more rounded ‘later life’ service.
