Life companies are coming back strongly, and with more than a product. The bigger names are putting a wider solution in front of advisers, built around how a client saves, invests and then takes an income. More are working with asset managers and DFMs to broaden it, and those with a strong retirement offer are co-manufacturing with their own asset management arm or with third parties.
That gives them real weight. They already have the brand and the clout. Add a broader investment and retirement solution, use data and MI properly, and they're well placed with the national networks and consolidators that now make the big decisions.
Many also have a big workplace pensions book, so a large part of the job is looking after existing customers as well as winning new ones. That means servicing legacy books in line with Consumer Duty, getting ready for Value for Money ratings from 2028, and helping members move through to the advice or support they need. Targeted support and simplified advice are what interests me most right now. They'll sit alongside what the banks and neobanks are building, and the people who can run them well are hard to find.
With unused pensions coming into the inheritance tax net from April 2027, a lot of later-life planning is about to be looked at again too. Retirement is firmly on the map.
The roles I place at life and retirement providers
- Investment Proposition and Product Directors
- Heads of Retirement and Decumulation Proposition
- Workplace proposition and member engagement leads
- Distribution Directors and Heads of Intermediary
- Business Development Directors and key account managers
- Strategic partnership and co-manufacturing leads
Who I've worked with
With over twenty years in the market, I've worked with pretty much every life company. I'm currently running a retained search for a Director of Investment Proposition at a major UK life company.
How I work
Exclusive or retained, one brief at a time. That means a proper look across the whole market rather than the first ten CVs on a database, and a shortlist of people I've actually spoken to. Usually four, not forty.
If you're building out a retirement or investment proposition, I'd like to hear about it.