The 6 Myths and Misconception of Protection

05 July 2021

When it comes to giving advice, helping a client see the benefits of insuring against the financial impact of illness, injury or death should be high on our agenda.

In the first of a series of blogs, Robert Betts, Market Development Manager at Legal & General, introduces the latest Deadline to Breadline report, the common myths and misconceptions of protection, and what you as an adviser can do to help bust them.

How comfortable are we asking questions in our role as a financial adviser? After all, this is what we do for a living day in, day out. Probing into people’s lives can seem intrusive: are we a little afraid of the answers we might hear? How do we cope when the answers are guarded, or maybe disagree with us?

Legal & General’s latest Deadline to Breadline research PDF: 8.7MB was commissioned to ask those probing questions, to help us to understand people’s perceptions of their financial situation, savings habits, the value of protection insurance and how it fits in with their needs. These insights are designed to give advisers a heads up of the answers people typically give. They also offer ideas and tools to help guide the conversation so the client can see the need of a financial resilience plan, and where protection fits within it.

Handling the protection conversation

Typically, a protection conversation may lead to one of two outcomes. One scenario is that the adviser backs off because they have failed to demonstrate the worth of protection to their client, leaving the conversation unfinished and the client unprotected. On the other hand, an adviser could use their questions to help the client better understand the need and benefits of protection. By handling the situation with care and empathy, backing it up with insight, statistics and skill, advisers can genuinely demonstrate their value and help clients achieve the financial security they didn’t realise they needed. 

Bringing protection to life

Some people may not have had the benefit of a discussion with an adviser about their protection needs, and they may not have considered their plans if the family lost the breadwinner’s earnings.

In the coming weeks, we share the 6 most common myths and misconceptions about protection, as revealed by Legal & General’s Deadline to Breadline research. We’ll investigate whether these views are based on reality, or are perceptions of people’s own situations – and most importantly, what you as an adviser can do to help

Because if we plan a strategy on myths and misconceptions, our strategy may not be as robust as we thought. And this is where advisers really add value to their clients.

Read the full Deadline to Breadline report