BR report 2018

40 41 Every year we gather the thoughts of advisers through our annual adviser survey. This year’s survey was slightly different as we conducted the survey over a three week period in March 2018, rather than throughout the year since the publication of the last report, in order to give a timely snapshot of the market. We received 50 responses from the adviser community. Readers should note that there is some bias in these results, as in many cases the advisers we reach out to are already involved in tax-efficient investments to various degrees. MARKET RESEARCH ADVISER SURVEY VIEWS FROM ADVISERS DO YOU RECOMMEND BR TO YOUR CLIENTS? FREQUENTLY NEVER SOMETIMES 30% of respondents said that they use BR frequently with their clients, up from 25% in 2017. 64% of advisers said that they sometimes use BR, an increase from 56% last year. This indicates that BR is increasing in popularity with advisers. As the baby boomer generation starts to age, the proportion of advisers recommending BR is likely to rise. 6% of advisers in our survey said they never use BR. The reasons cited include “lack of understanding” and “no call for it from clients”. WHAT’S THE AVERAGE AGE RANGE OF CLIENTS THAT YOU ADVISE ON BR? 55-65 65-75 75-85 85-95 <45 45-55 The most popular age range for advisers to recommend BR to clients is 75–85, with nearly 43% of advisers quoting this as the average age range. This suggests that BR is being implemented predominantly in later life, potentially for the speed of qualification for IHT relief. However, with many people living into their late 80s and beyond, there are still great opportunities for growing companies to benefit from BR, even after the two year qualifying period has been exceeded. It’s interesting to see that over 19% of advisers are suggesting BR for clients in the 55–65 age range. This means that BR assets could potentially be held for a very long time horizon. It also shows that BR is not merely the preserve of the elderly, and is used often with late middle aged clients. The most common oldest age for advisers to suggest BR to in our survey was 85. There were quite a few instances of clients using BR in their 40s and 50s, suggesting that advisers are increasingly recognising the need for estate planning from an earlier age to take account of longer retirements and greater care costs. It’s worth noting that estate planning will not only come into play for deaths from old age. There will also be instances where clients may have a terminal illness, for example. This explains outliers where an adviser used BR with a client aged 29, and one aged 39. WHAT’S THE YOUNGEST PERSON YOU’VE ADVISED ON BR? 28 44 42 40 38 36 34 32 30 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 0 3 1 4 2 5 6 7 WHAT’S THE OLDEST PERSON YOU’VE ADVISED ON BR? 52 68 66 64 62 60 58 56 54 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 0 3 1 4 2 5 6 7 8 30% 64% 6% 38% 19% 43%