Five simple steps to the most comprehensive protection advice

Having the right financial safety net is absolutely vital for life’s unexpected curve balls. But it goes without saying that – if given the choice – most clients would much prefer not to need to claim at all. This is the essence of Vitality’s unique Shared Value insurance model, which rewards and incentivises healthy behaviour as part of a client’s lifestyle through the Vitality Programme.

Given the health challenges we face in the UK, this provides a powerful and proven way to not just make clients healthier – and help them live up to five years longer - but deliver much more tangible value from day one. While ensuring the best cover is in place should things go wrong, through building the benefits beyond protection into conversations, advisers cannot just deliver more value but help to prevent clients from falling ill (or worse) in the first place. Surely the best possible outcome!

The government’s decision to scrap the proposed cap on care fees means that more people will once again need to fund their own later-life care, whilst the freezing of the nil-rate band for Inheritance Tax and other changes announced last year will pull more estates into paying the tax.

Protection solutions like Vitality’s Dementia and FrailCare cover - included automatically on Serious Illness Cover plans - or Whole of Life with LifestyleCare Cover can provide vital financial support to help your clients fund later life care.

Meanwhile, products like Whole of Life Cover written in trust are an increasingly viable way for your clients to protect a potential IHT liability, ringfence funds outside of their estate or even just pay for funeral costs.

When presenting a protection recommendation for a client’s needs, we often look to offer the most comprehensive, multi-benefit product solution, but then adjust cover downwards for affordability reasons.

The great thing about Vitality’s unique Optimiser is that you can overcome this issue, by offering your clients the full range of cover they need, but at a lower premium than they’d otherwise have to pay. Meaning you don’t have to compromise on the quality.

What’s more, because Optimiser automatically unlocks full access to the Vitality Programme, it also helps to drive up higher engagement and deliver more of the immediate, tangible value I’ve mentioned already. In fact, last year alone Optimised members saved £43m through premium savings. This in turn drives down lapse rates, with Optimised members 46% less likely to cancel their plan.