Advisers have said they are comfortable with the level of life insurance cover they have in place for themselves and their families, but caution has been expressed about this outcome.
In our latest poll, at time of publishing, 77% of advisers have answered ‘Yes’ to the question:
Do you have appropriate levels of risk insurance cover in place for you and your family?
While this is a very encouraging result, there are two ways of looking at the outcome. Firstly, most advisers say they are ‘walking the talk’ when it comes to adequate life insurance cover, but conversely, almost one in five advisers have had the courage to declare they are not!
…like many members of the public, some advisers also believe they hold sufficient cover when perhaps they do not.
Adviser and riskinfo contributor, Barry Sheales has added a cautionary note to these results when he suggests that, like many members of the public, some advisers also believe they hold sufficient cover when perhaps they do not.
One suggestion made by Mr Sheales is for advisers to follow the example of legendary insurance agent, John Savage, who always asked another trusted adviser to review Mr Savages’ own personal cover and that of his family. The reason for this was that an adviser from the outside, looking objectively at another advisers’ insurance needs will always have a different and more dispassionate perspective, usually leading to suggestions and solutions that would not otherwise have been considered by the adviser him/herself.
Also commenting on this outcome, key risk adviser, Paul Underwood, said he would be very surprised if 77% of advisers were appropriately insured.
Mr Underwood told riskinfo that in the last five years he has not conducted a review on a new referred client where they have been adequately insured: “Some clients reviewed have had adequate levels of Death cover and Income Protection but very low levels of TPD, Trauma and Business Expense insurance, if any at all”, said Mr Underwood, who added that some clients are extremely underinsured in all areas and many non working partners have had no insurance cover at all.
Mr Underwood said that if 77% of advisers believe they are adequately insured he would expect a higher percentage of the clients referred to him for insurance reviews would also be adequately insured, and this is not the case.
But regardless of the outcome of this poll, its underlying message remains clear: “If you do not own the product, how can you possibly recommend it to others.”
So, are you certain that you have provided proper levels of protection for yourself and your family (health/underwriting issues notwithstanding)?
If you have not yet done so, Vote Now!
