Who are the next generation of protection industry superstars, plus everything else from another busy week on our sites
Three weeks from today, I’m looking forward to welcoming not just the well-known names and current industry leaders in protection, but also many of the brightest and best emerging talents to the inaugural Protection Guru awards lunch.
This will celebrate the incredible efforts of people dedicated to protecting more families, more businesses, and generally the well-being of the people and things their clients love the most.
In creating these awards, the Protection Guru team was determined to complement the existing industry awards structure by focusing on areas that are not normally recognised and particularly those people and organisations who represent the future of our industry.
This week we announced the shortlist for the individual awards, it’s well worth reading. You may not know some of these names now, but you will soon, and they are going to have a massive impact on the future of our industry.
I’m looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible at the event on the 22nd. We do still have a handful of sponsorship opportunities remaining and a small number of tables, so if you want to use this great event to raise the profile of your organisation, or you would just like to join us in the celebration, please speak to our team on 020 3740 0000.
I was also delighted to see protection industry stalwart, Roy McLoughin named as Money Marketing’s inaugural Adviser Personality of the Year this week. Since Katey Pigden took over as editor of Money Marketing the level of protection coverage within the paper has significantly increased and while Roy is also an award-winning adviser in the workplace market, his tireless efforts to grow the protection market richly deserve such recognition.
Turning to our core analysis, this week Amanda Newman-Smith started with a topical insight, looking at which insurers can help with later life social care costs?
Following last week’s IP Awareness Week, we’re keeping income protection on the agenda and on Tuesday, our first insight of the day covered which income protection providers offer support for terminally ill clients? Later that day we also published an updated Scottish Widows critical illness showcase page, giving advisers all the information they need on the Scottish Widows proposition in one place.
World Heart Day is marked every year on September 29th, so on Wednesday to coincide with this important awareness day, Rob Harvey supported by our panel of doctors looked at how is a heart attack covered on critical illness plans?
Following The Exeter’s announcement that they were withdrawing their Managed Life product from the market, on Thursday Rob provided a detailed insight on what does the removal of Managed Life mean for The Exeter’s life offering?
We also published the first of the recordings/transcripts of our September Protection Forum. Beginning with the great session we had with Dead Happy co- founder Phil Zeidler, who joined us for a full and frank discussion on their approach to marketing and many other issues. This may not follow industry conventions but there were some excellent ideas discussed.
If you weren’t able to join us on the day it’s really worth listening to the recording which can be found here DeadHappy Approach: September Protection Forum part 1.
On Friday Rob Harvey finished the week by bringing you a round-up of product announcements and changes that took place in August & September, with his piece product news and updates from the last 2 months – 4 things you should read.
Finally, a reminder that our next Protection Forum meeting will be held online via Teams on Tuesday 5th October at 11am. The agenda for this session will be:
- What generic pre-underwriting information would make an adviser’s job easier?
- Added Value Services: product gimmick or valuable support services?
- Should all COVID restrictions now be removed and what is holding insurers back?
- Using claims stats to overcome client objections
Any advisers who would like to register for a free ticket to join the session can do so via this link. Insurers, reinsurers and any other service providers to Advisers who would like to attend should contact the Protection Guru team.
On Benefits Guru this week we were celebrating the success of different providers in our 2021 Workplace Pensions ratings, beginning on Tuesday looking at a clean sweep for Aviva with six overall gold awards covering their Designer, My Money Money and My Money (Master Trust) propositions plus on Thursday a double gold for Royal London.
Over on AdviserSoftware.com the week started with a look at two propositions in an area I now see as the most important part of an adviser’s technology, their client facing service. Specifically we explored moneyinfo’s Client Portal and their Personal Financial Management service.
Next we turned to Plan Happy the recently launched package that is aiming to provide an end to end advice proposition, builtby advisers, for advisers. We extended our summary to include the latest updates to their solution.
Practifi’s Family Office Management system was our subject on Wednesday. It originates in Australia and has been getting significant attention at the top end of the US advice market. It may have much to offer those who concentrate on the Ultra high net worth market in the UK, especially any organisations who are using Salesforce for CRM or any parts of their Financial Services Cloud proposition.
On Thursday we turned our attention to two of the most popular systems in the mortgage market the Iress Xplan mortgage practice management system and Xplan mortgage sourcing.
Finally, a heads up that our next Investment Forum on Tuesday 19th October will explore Why did Robo Advice fail and why will the next generation of digital advice succeed? More details of the speakers will follow shortly but you can request free tickets from the above link for what looks sure to be a fascinating session now.
Have a great weekend.
