LATER LIFE ACADEMY BRINGS HODGE LIFETIME ON BOARD AS PRODUCT AMBASSADOR
25 March 2014
Retirement market specialist, Hodge Lifetime, has today (25th March 2014) been announced as the latest Product Ambassador of the Later Life Academy (LLA) – the commercial and training organisation for later life advisers.
Each LLA Ambassador focuses on a specific sector within later life advice with Hodge Lifetime supporting and assisting members on lending into retirement and retirement mortgages.
Hodge Lifetime is one of the pioneer providers offering retirement mortgages – a new type of interest-only lifetime mortgage filling the gap between residential mortgages and the existing roll-up equity release products.
The retirement mortgage is one way in which the traditional equity release sector is seeking to establish new, more flexible arrangements for those individuals who want, and have the ability, to pay the interest on their loans.
Hodge Lifetime will be working with the Academy and its members to grow their understanding of the options available to clients looking for loans in retirement and, in particular, the retirement mortgage itself. Hodge will be active in developing learning and training modules in this area and will work with members in order to help them develop their business volumes.
LLA was launched earlier this year and offers later life advisers across product areas such as equity release, long-term care, and annuities, with access to training and sales support. At the same time it is developing commercial opportunities for members through its relationships with Product Ambassadors such as Hodge Lifetime.
Stuart Wilson, Managing Partner of Equity Advice and Later Life Academy, commented:
“In a very short space of time we have already built a roster of Product Ambassadors who are absolutely committed to the Academy and ensuring we can help improve standards and professionalism across the later life advice space. To bring Hodge Lifetime on board with a specific focus on lending into retirement and retirement mortgages means we are able to cover off a significant and growing sector – one which advisers and their clients are increasingly interested in. Our recent launch events for members have shown the depth of demand for this proposition which focuses on both standards and delivering commercial advantages. The Later Life Academy Ambassadors are at the heart of this process and we will be bringing them all together in the spring for a round-table event in London in order to shape our strategy and planning for the year ahead. This session will be chaired by an independent expert in the later life space who will be able to set out the path for the Academy and ensure we become a united voice for better standards of consumer delivery.”
Jon Tweed, Sales Director at Hodge Lifetime, said:
“As the need for professional advice in retirement continues to grow we are delighted to be working with the Later Life Academy in the area of lending in retirement and in particular, the Retirement Mortgage, which gives advisers another option for customers looking to borrow past their retirement age and who wouldn’t have seen existing equity release products as a natural fit for their circumstances.”
For further information on the Later Life Academy, please visit: www.laterlifeacademy.co.uk. Membership applications for the Academy are now being accepted.
For more information on Hodge Lifetime, please visit: www.hodgelifetime.com
ENDS
For further information please contact:
Stuart Wilson, Managing Partner, Equity Advice/Later Life Academy, Mobile: 07966 535259; enquiries@laterlifeacademy.co.uk
Rob Griffiths, White Dragon Communications Ltd, Mobile: 07983 641566; rob@whitedragoncomms.co.uk
Notes to editors
About Equity Advice/Equity Release Club/Later Life Academy
• Equity Advice was launched in 2006 – its primary focus is supporting members of its Equity Release Club (ERC). It is an FCA-regulated firm.
• The ERC has over 3,500 members with a core membership of approximately 500 equity release advisers writing business.
• The ERC offers its members enhanced commission terms obtained via its bulk distribution capability.
• Equity Advice also offers compliance and other support services to its members.
• The Later Life Academy (LLA) was officially launched in January 2014 and began accepting membership applications from the start of February 2014.
• The LLA has been designed to raise standards amongst later life advisers and to provide access to training, learning, additional income streams, new providers and products, in order to enhance adviser’s business in this marketplace.
• LLA aims to have over 250 members in its first year and works with providers and Ambassadors to provide a constant stream of learning modules and events.
Equity Advice/Equity Release Club/Later Life Academy
Later Life Academy
95 Northgate Street
Gloucester
GL1 2AA
Tel: 01452 310777
