What happened on Protection Guru over the Easter fortnight?

It has been clear from the level of out of office messages received in response to our emails over the last two weeks much of the industry has taken a well-deserved break over some of the Easter period. Consequently, I thought it would be good to summarise all the analysis Protection Guru has produced in the last fortnight for anyone that wants to give themselves a quick catch up.

Before I do, a couple of other things if I may. Health & Protection magazine are currently inviting nominations for their awards. These include an award for the Best Pandemic Response. Last year Protection Guru put a huge effort into creating a COVID19 Microsite which we know many advisers used regularly. If you feel this was of use to you, we would really appreciate it if you could nominate us by visiting their voting page here, you need to go to top of the second page top find the awards we are hoping to be nominated for. If you also felt able to nominate us for Best Marketing and Sales Support for Advisers, and Company of the year as well that would be amazing.

Also, a reminder that next Protection Forum takes place on Tuesday 13th April. The agenda for the session includes:

• Sick pay matching: How can we be more flexible to meet the needs of clients with nonstandard sick pay terms?
• Claims statistics: How do advisers use these and what more would they like to see from insurers?

These monthly events are gaining a reputation as a great opportunity to understand what advisers who are dealing with customers every day really want from products and services to support them. Over 100 people having already registered and if you haven’t yet got your ticket you can request one here.

So what did we focus on over the last two weeks. Back on 29th March we had the launch of a new showcase page exploring Specific products for specific audiences – what are the key USPs of The Exeter.

The same day Amanda Newman Smith examined Helping clients recover after a critical illness – how insurers compare and Adam Higgs provided his thoughts on Holloway Friendly extend payment holiday option.

On Tuesday Amanda investigated Which insurers have the best buyback options? Followed by another study from Amanda examining Children’s funeral cover – how insurers compare. 

Adam Higgs rounded off the short week with his summary of How children are covered on critical illness plans, the latest in our popular “everything you need to know” series.

After the Easter holiday we resumed with an insight focused on World Parkinson’s Day – how do critical illness plans cover Parkinson’s disease? where Adam Higgs and our medical panel examined the symptoms and prognosis of the disease and how policy wordings differ between insurers.

On Wednesday Amanda Newman Smith looked at How do insurers help income protection clients needing a career change? and authored a further study on Thursday investigating Which insurers offer free over for critical illness?

Adam concluded the week with his Mortgage specific plan features – everything you need to know coverage.

It was also a busy fortnight at our sister Benefits Guru site. On 30th March Jason Green published the second half of his analysis of Investment Pathways – how they work and what workplace pensions providers have already implemented.

This was the followed by a two part study on Savings Vehicles – what ISA products are available from providers and how do they work? with the second part appearing on 6th April  Savings Vehicles – what ISA products are available from providers and how do they work? 

Jason’s  study on What pension and protection products do workplace pension providers offer? may be very relevant to the Protection Guru audience as well.

Finally I’d like to give a brief call out for our April Investment Forum on 27 April at 11am where we will be focusing on how technology will help advisers address ESG. During the session we will hear from the following expert panellists:

• Andy Pettit, Director, Policy Research, EMEA at Morningstar
• Terence Moll, Head of Investment Strategy and ESG at 7IM
• Leon Saunders Calvert, Head of Research & Portfolio Management, LSEG at Refinitiv 

ESG is going to have massive ramifications for the advice community and these sessions have proven extremely popular. If you or a colleague would like to join you can request a ticket here