The lender said that if the lifetime mortgages sector is to continue growing the market needs to do more to raise awareness about retirement lending.
While many advisers currently do not have the necessary equity release qualification, More 2 Life says this should not stop them introducing clients to lifetime mortgages and then referring them onto a specialist advisory firm should the client be interested.
Stuart Wilson, channel marketing director at More 2 Life, said that while the sector is currently developing at a fast pace buoyed by the supply and demand for equity release, it does not have the adviser numbers needed to support a tripling of the market size which is expected to happen by 2020.
“Lenders and funders are important, but so are specialist advisers who serve this market,” said Wilson. “We will not be able to grow the sector without them, but also can’t ensure that consumers are receiving the best outcome in retirement.”
According to More 2 Life, advisers need to ensure they raise lifetime mortgages as an option at the pre-, at- and in-retirement stages of any financial planning conversations.
Wilson added: “It will be no surprise to see residential mortgage and pension advisers moving into equity release, as this feels like an obvious add-on to their existing advice process. However, we would urge advisers from any background to consider whether specialising in equity release advice could be the next step in the development of their practice, so that we can secure a significant increase in adviser numbers before the year is out.”
