Whole of Life Cover is a Growth Area for Brokers

If you aren’t recommending Whole of Life cover to your clients, leading protection specialist Royal London is encouraging Financial Brokers to give it due consideration as it believes they are missing a huge opportunity. The Whole of Life market in Ireland is around €8.3 million* and according to Royal London its Whole of Life proposition with the unique Life Changes Option has contributed to its success in growing its market share over the last number of years.

Daragh Feely, Head of Sales at Royal London commented by saying, “Our Whole of Life cover is one of the best offerings in our arsenal, and it can be one of the best products a broker can recommend to their clients. I believe it’s a policy which is underutilised by some Financial Brokers because they were burnt by the reviewable products of old. However, one of the key features of Royal London’s Whole of Life contract is its guaranteed premium and guaranteed sum assured. So, this is one of the reasons why we see the Whole of Life market as a growth area which provides a fantastic opportunity for brokers.”

A Whole of Life policy has many purposes and it can be used for inheritance tax, family protection and funeral cover.

Daragh continued, “It’s true that the largest sum assured Whole of Life cases that we see at Royal London have been set up for inheritance tax purposes however, they make up a lot less of the Whole of Life applications we receive in total. Some Financial Brokers, thinking that it’s only useful for inheritance tax planning, might dismiss Whole of Life cover but the majority of cases that we write for it are for family protection and funeral cover. Recently, we are seeing more brokers adding Whole of Life cover onto an existing sale, for example instead of a client just taking out Mortgage Protection their broker is advising them to take out a Whole of Life policy for 15k or 20k which will also provide them with funeral cover.”

Life Changes Option – The Gamer Changer!

Royal London’s Life Changes Option, if selected, means for 10% extra in premiums your clients have the security of knowing that while their cover continues their premiums will cease at age 100, so the maximum amount the policy can cost is fixed. Even more importantly, it means after having had the policy for at least 15 years, they can choose to stop paying their premiums at any point and adapt their cover to suit their current stage of life, choosing between:

Option A) Protected Cover: A lower amount of money will be paid out on death.

or

Option B) Protected Cashback: Cash-in and end the policy and get up to 70% of premiums paid back.

Daragh commented, “It’s been remarked to us that the Life Changes Option is probably one of the biggest innovations in the life insurance industry over the last few decades. If you’re not already familiar with the Life Changes Option, here’s three things it can offer your clients.

• Firstly, a guarantee that they will know the maximum amount of premiums they will ever have to pay into the policy.
• Secondly, Protected Cover – at any point after 15 years they have the option to stop paying premiums and get a reduced sum assured or
• Finally, Protected Cashback – at any point after 15 years, cash in and end the policy. Some Financial Brokers use this facility and display it as an asset in their client’s overall financial plan.

“We are proud that the Life Changes Option is unique to Royal London and available from no one else in the market – your clients will not be able to buy it from a bank as it’s only available via Financial Brokers.”

Instant TLC (Temporary Life Cover)

When recommending Royal London’s Whole of Life cover, it’s possible to offer your clients Instant TLC (Temporary Life Cover) straight away. It means brokers can provide their clients with life cover instantly, without having to wait for their application to be reviewed or forms to be returned. Instant TLC has been used really effectively by some brokers to really maximise their sales and is available on all Royal London’s life products. In addition to this, while Royal London compete on the quality of their Whole of Life Cover, they won’t be beaten on price either – price-matching is available on Whole of Life up to €3 million.

Daragh finished by saying, “If you would like more information on our Whole of Life product including our innovative Life Changes Option, please feel free to reach out directly to me (daragh.feely@royallondon.ie). Alternatively, you can contact your Royal London Broker Consultant or Case Manager, they would be delighted to hear from you!”

You can catch up on Royal London’s recent webinar ‘Inheritance Tax and Section 72 Insurance’ which is now available as a CPD-accredited webcast in the Ideazone section of its Broker Centre; www.royallondon.ie/brokers

Pull out quote:

“We are proud that the Life Changes Option is unique to Royal London and available from no one else in the market – your clients will not be able to buy it from a bank as it’s only available via Financial Brokers.”

*Royal London market share analysis, 2020.