The downsizing deniers

Equity release is a great idea in theory, says Merryn Somerset Webb. But the reality is that anyone who wants to release cash from their house should just sell it.

I spoke at an event on Scottish independence in London this week the first time I have done so in the south. The audience wasn't particularly interested ("why should we care", asked one) until someone on the panel noted that a vote for separation might mean a collapse in Scottish asset prices and a nice opportunity to pick up a few grand Georgian townhouses in Edinburgh or Glasgow for peanuts. Then they perked up nicely.

That reminded me yet again that if there is one thing that every single Brit likes to talk about (regardless of the actual topic in hand), it is house prices and how to make money from changes in house prices.

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.