Income Protection Action Week (IPAW) dominated our output over the last seven days together with the mood in adviser conversations. The thread was simple. Your client’s income funds everything else. If you protect that, you protect their plans. The pieces below give you language, techniques and clinical context you can put to work now.
Monday set the tone with Turning client objections to Income Protection around. It tackles the usual barriers. Clients overestimate sick pay. They underestimate how little the state provides. They focus on gross replacement rates without thinking take-home pay. The post shows how to reframe these points and, for company owners, when an executive Income Protection (IP) route can evidence income more fairly than salary alone.
On Tuesday we marked Childhood Cancer Awareness Month with the impact of a cancer diagnosis on families and employment. It is a difficult topic and needs care. The practical message is clear. Parents often need time away from work for long treatment cycles. That creates an income gap. Use open questions to help families surface the risk themselves rather than “telling” them. Link back to how IP and children’s cover can steady household finances during treatment. Read it here: Childhood Cancer Awareness Month – The impact of a cancer diagnosis on families and employment.
Also on Tuesday, we published Learn Why not all Life Policies are the Same. Life cover looks simple, so clients default to the cheapest. But features matter. Terminal illness wording, separation options, indexation, guaranteed insurability, mortgage guarantees, access to GP services for adult children. Small details prevent foreseeable harm later. We also set out our free webinar series and how to get a 30-day trial of Protection Guru Pro so you can compare quality, price and value side by side.
Wednesday continued the IPAW theme with Gary Waters’ Turning outgoings into the ultimate income protection conversation. The technique is elegant. Build a clear list of essential bills during fact-find. Get explicit client agreement that each is non-negotiable. Then add IP to that list. You are not selling. You are placing the one line that pays for all the others when income stops. It reframes IP from discretionary spend to foundation cost.
On Thursday we switched to clinical detail for advisers with How do Critical Illness plans cover heart attack? Our doctors explain today’s definitions and diagnostics. Most insurers now require a rise in cardiac troponin and positive diagnostic evidence rather than insisting on ECG changes, which miss a material minority of cases. That nuance matters for claim certainty. This piece shows how wordings have evolved and what “good” looks like.
We also continued Eye Health Week with removal of an eyeball in Critical Illness cover. It sets out enucleation versus evisceration, why surgery happens, and how policies typically define and pay the benefit. It is rare and often cancer-related, so many cases are paid under the primary cancer wording, but the definition is objective and easy to evidence. Read it here: Eye Health Week – Removal of an Eyeball in Critical Illness Cover.
Friday closed Eye Health Week with Devic’s disease in Critical Illness cover. Naming matters. Modern wording should reference neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder to avoid disputes when clinicians use current terminology. The adviser takeaway is simple. Check the exact term in legacy policies and make sure clients understand the severity and claims criteria. Read it here: Eye Health Week – Devic’s Disease in Critical Illness Cover.
We finished the week with Mindset is the missing link in income protection advice. The argument is uncomfortable but right. Short-term IP is often the default because of adviser assumptions, not client needs. Make full-term the default. Use an Income Stress Test. Lead with conviction. Value beats price when you link cover to the life your client wants to protect.
Why last week matters for your advice process
IPAW is a useful deadline, but the habits should stick. Put IP first in every plan. Use clinical explainers to justify why wording quality matters in Critical Illness. Use the outgoings technique to ground the conversation in everyday reality. And keep your own mindset in check. Clients do not need a menu. They need a confident recommendation that protects their goals.
Wishing you all a great week ahead!
