lending comes up in broker conversations it can often be framed far too narrowly. The discussion quickly becomes about whether a lifetime mortgage is suitable, rather than whether accessing housing wealth makes sense in the first place, and, even it does, how that fits into everything else going on in that client’s life.

Recent research from Air, “The home belongs in the plan”, puts into words something many of us are already seeing in practice, that older clients are rarely dealing with one-dimensional decisions.

The over-55s we come across aren’t just asking how to raise money. They’re trying to balance competing pressures like helping children onto the property ladder, protecting retirement income, planning for care, managing inheritance tax, or simply staying in the home they love without feeling financially boxed in.

In many cases, their house is the biggest asset, yet it’s the one that can be the most awkward for them to talk about. Pensions and investments tend to be reviewed routinely. Property often sits on the sidelines until the conversation becomes urgent.

The research shows just how common this is and illustrates where we come in. As tax thresholds remain frozen and more assets are pulled into inheritance tax, doing nothing with housing wealth is becoming less of a neutral choice than it once was.

Lifetime mortgages absolutely have a place. I’m not anti-product, yet I do think there’s a risk when later life lending is treated as a product problem rather than a planning one. A firm can be very good at arranging lifetime mortgages and still not be equipped to answer some of the harder questions older borrowers need help with.

Questions like: Should the home be used at all?

What are the alternatives and what are we giving up by choosing this route?

How does this affect income, flexibility and inheritance over time?

Who else in the family needs to understand this decision?

Air makes the point that good later life advice isn’t about “selling later life loans”, but about explaining trade-offs clearly and testing whether the benefit, be that financial or emotional, is genuinely worth the cost. That’s a very diƯerent skill set from product placement.

I wouldn’t have thought that many mainstream mortgage brokers are set up to do that level of later life planning and neither do I think they should feel pressured to be. In fact, I’d argue that referral is often the most client-centric option.

Referring a later life borrower to a true specialist doesn’t mean handing the client over and stepping back. When it’s done well, it keeps the broker firmly at the centre of the relationship, while ensuring the client gets advice that genuinely reflects the complexity of their situation.

The key, for me, is who you refer to. There’s a big difference between a firm that happens to do lifetime mortgages and one that specialises in older borrowers as a cohort. The latter will typically spend more time on objectives, alternatives and family involvement, all the things Consumer Duty expects us to take seriously.

The research also shows that referral can work commercially without distorting behaviour, provided it sits within a clear, duty-aligned framework. This is all correct, but it should also always be secondary to “doing the right thing”.

Consumer Duty has sharpened my thinking on this. Not considering the home at all, or reducing the conversation to a single product, increasingly feels like a risk to clients and advisers alike. Older borrowers are making decisions with long tails. The consequences may not show up for years, but when they do, they matter massively. That’s why Air’s argument that harm can arise through omission as well as action resonates so strongly with me.

Having a trusted referral pathway to a specialist who understands later life in the round feels like one of the most practical ways for brokers to meet that standard without overreaching. The key take away here is encouraging better conversations, earlier on and making sure the right expertise is involved when the stakes are high. Later life borrowers need clarity, context and confidence. That comes from working with a specialist who understands ageing, family and finance, not just lifetime mortgages.

As Air’s research puts it, the home belongs in the plan. My view is that the right specialist belongs in the conversation too.

Malcolm Davidson is managing director of UK Moneyman