How can retail financial services best change to meet long term care needs and serve an ageing population?
That’s a hot topic at the moment, as the financial services sector considers a demographic shift.
With more people living longer but not necessarily healthier lives, there is a growing need for long-term care planning and addressing the unique challenges that come with managing money in later life
Speaking last week at the Marketforce Future of Protection Conference, a representative from Royal London made some interesting points about the product innovation challenge for long-term care, whilst calling for change.
Debbie Kennedy is head of protection at Royal London and had this to say:
“To stop the ageing population becoming a burden on the younger generation, self-reliance and preparing for all eventualities of a long retirement will have to become the norm.
“The insurance industry will need to help people create new habits to not only plan for a steady retirement income but protect against health and financial shocks.
“The Department of Health predict 80% of people who are over 65 now will need long-term care at some point during their retirement.
“Like any other age segment, our customers in later life have diverse and changing requirements.
“We need to understand our customers better, deal with the trust issues people have with the insurance industry and engage with our customers more to produce better outcomes in later life.
“Advisers have a role to guide their clients through a number of financial decisions when planning for their retirement years.
“A series of decisions will be required throughout a client’s later life, not just at the point of retirement.”
Here at Informed Choice, we recognise that our clients are increasingly older people, including the elderly parents of our clients who are entering retirement.
In order to better serve this generation of clients, we are acquiring specialist knowledge and experience in later life planning.
I recently became a Society of Later Life Advisers (SOLLA) Accredited Later Life Adviser, after recognising the importance of this growing advice area.
Across the firm, we are exploring ways we can improve our understanding of the unique challenges faced by clients in later life.
