The tool also looks at some external factors such as how likely you are to be off work for six months or more, average length of claims on income protection policies and the state benefits people could be entitled to. It then reveals a risk level they could find themselves facing if they lost their income, ranging from low to high.
Tom Conner, director at Drewberry, said: “We want to arm people with as much knowledge on the risks of being unable to work due to illness or accident as possible, and we find that these interactive tools are a great way to achieve this.”
http://www.drewberryinsurance.co.uk/income-protection-insurance#income-riskometer
Protection needs tool
The Protection needs tool from Scottish Widows was deemed handy for a quick comparison of different plan types. It takes clients through basic details of income and expenditure, and then suggests levels of cover, showing example premiums.
Alan Knowles at Cura commented: “I think in reality experienced advisers would most likely just use a portal such as Assureweb, Webline, etc where they compare companies, but for a new adviser this type of tool could be handy to learn how the different plans could fit to a budget. Unfortunately income protection isn’t an option here which is a gap.”
http://www.scottishwidowsprotect.co.uk/ProtectionNeeds
Conditions covered tool
Ensuring clients understand exactly what can and can’t be claimed for under a critical or serious illness plan can be a difficult task for advisers. Clients will have varying concerns, depending on their own medical and family medical history. To help clients easily see what can be covered VitalityLife recently launched a conditions covered tool.
It enables the adviser or client to select an area of the body from an image, producing a list of the conditions relevant to that part of the body that are covered.
It explains the condition clearly, whether it is covered under primary or comprehensive cover, and what the maximum and minimum payout would be depending on the severity of the condition. It also shows whether the condition is something that is generally covered by competitors.
http://vitalityconditionscovered.co.uk
‘Finvincible’ test
The industry campaign Seven Families, whose aim is to raise awareness of the importance of income protection, launched a financial vulnerability test to be shared on Facebook.
The online quiz provides a ‘finvincible’ (financially invincible) outcome and recommends appropriate action as to whether people need to review their protection situation, speak to their employer about their benefits and seek advice from a professional adviser.
The test takes people through questions to give an overview of their lifestyle and financial security, such as who the key earner in the house is, whether there are any dependents, social behaviour such as dining out, smoking and drinking, as well as debt and savings levels.
