Policy changes & flexibility: 3 things to understand – ip awareness week day 4
In the second series of our dedicated income protection content to coincide with IPTF’s IP Awareness week, we bring you three insights focusing on different aspects of the benefit amount and claim duration.
Selecting the correct benefit amount for the client is vitally important, as they’ll need to survive on this to pay their bills and other outgoings in the event of a claim. As the benefit will in most cases be linked to the client’s earnings, understanding any limitations imposed by insurers is essential in ensuring the client isn’t over-insured. There will be times however when traditional financially assessed plans won’t be suitable, particularly for self-employed clients, so advisers may need to turn to non-financially underwritten plans as an alternative solution. Finally, for client’s on a tighter budget, full-term plans that pay the benefit indefinitely may be unaffordable, in which case advisers can turn to short-term options.
We’ll be bringing you a range of insights each day, focusing on different aspects of the income protection journey, so look out for tomorrow’s round-up which will focus on underwriting.
INCREASING INCOME PROTECTION WITHOUT UNDERWRITING – HOW DO insurers COMPARE?
Guaranteed insurability options (GIOs) enable client to increase their cover without underwriting in specific situations. Given the frequency of change that can happen, sometimes within a relatively short period of time, this saves clients the time and trouble of going through underwriting every time something happens that will alter their protection needs. In this insight we look at what options insurers offer and how they compare.
WHICH INCOME PROTECTION PROVIDERS OFFER THE BEST MINIMUM BENEFIT GUARANTEE?
Everyone expects their earnings to rise over time, however life doesn’t always follow the perfect template. There are times when a client’s earnings can dip – sometimes through choice, sometimes because they have no alternative. In this situation, a minimum benefit guarantee is useful feature to have on a client’s income protection plan. It cushions them from the impact that lower earnings could have on their income protection benefits. In this insight we look at which insurers offer this and the differences between them.
Unique employer change promise from the exeter
For a long time, we at Protection Guru have urged insurers to do more to keep income protection relevant when inevitably a client’s life changes. One particular problem we have discussed many times with insurers and in our forums is the lack of flexibility if a client’s sick pay changes due to a change of employer. The Exeter have clearly been listening as they went some way to solving the problem with their employer change promise, included in their new Income First product launched earlier in the year.
