Hi everyone, I’m back with a short episode on how you can use life insurance to protect against the tax made on gifts. A lot of people think of gift planning as something that millionaires do and whilst that can be the case, many people are making gifts all the time without realising it. Giving a financial gift is a lovely thing to do, but without the right protection in place the person who receives the gift could face a rather unexpected surprise of a tax charge. The tax on gifts is for 7 years from the date of the gift if the person making the gift dies during this time, and there are some ..read more

Hi everyone, I have Cillian Tierney with me on the podcast to talk about the way that insurers in the EU are responding to the Right to be Forgotten. This legislation require insurers to give consumers the right to not disclose that they have had cancer when they apply for some protection insurances. The rules are different across countries and some might choose to say that you don’t need to tell the insurer that you’ve had cancer after 2 years, 5 years or more. It might be applied to all protection products or just certain ones. Cillian is the Global Head of Medical Underwriting Propositions ..read more

Hi everyone, I am back with a short episode focused upon how you can protect against IHT with life insurance. Huge disclaimer from the start I am not a full financial adviser and there are lots of ways to do estate planning, I am just giving insight into how life insurance can work. The key takeaways: With a joint life second death policy one of your clients might be declinable, BUT, they can still be covered by the insurance. Two case studies to show the price difference for joint life second death whole of life, depending upon age. Cautionary tale about HMRC and terminal illness benefits ..read more

Hi everyone, I am talking about a very emotive topic today after being approached on social media as to how insurers view assisted dying. With recent debates on passing assisted dying laws in the Scottish and Isle of Man governments, it is something that is likely to be discussed by UK insurers at some stage. I have been very clear not to provide an opinion about whether assisted dying should and shouldn’t be allowed, instead focusing on the facts of how the majority of life insurance policies in the UK would behave if a claim was made following someone choosing to die due to their health. At ..read more

Hi everyone, I am back with another look at an insurance product that can be incredibly useful, especially for small business owners. Protecting your income is one of the key things that any of us can do, to try and give ourselves financial security for the future. As with any protection insurance it’s something that we hope to never have to claim on, but we will forever be grateful for if we have taken it out. In this episode I am explaining some of the main ways that executive income protection is different to personal income protection, how to explain the benefits of the policy if you get s ..read more

Hi everyone, I have Matt back with me and we are focusing upon protection insurance options for people living with atrial fibrillation. It can be quite interesting when speaking with clients who have this condition as the medical world and the insurance world can view atrial fibrillation quite differently. The key takeaways: You are 5x more likely to have a stroke if you have atrial fibrillation The types of information you need to know to get a clear underwriting indication for life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection. Two case studies of arranging life insurance and inco ..read more

Hi everyone, I am back with another focus on a business protection product, rather than the usual underwriting deep dive. This time I am going through the key points of relevant life insurance. In the podcast I discuss how relevant life insurance is an employer and employee relationship. It’s a thank you for your service to the company. I forgot to mention that one of the key ways to check if someone is eligible for this is if they are on the payroll (taking PAYE). Relevant life insurance is probably the simplest business insurance product that we can arrange for our clients. The key takeaways ..read more

Hi everyone, I have Matt back with me for the first time of Season 9 and we are focusing on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. HCM is a heart condition that affects approximately 1 in 500 people in the UK and it can potentially be a higher risk for a life insurance claim. We talk about the different types of cardiomyopathy, how they affect the body and the usual causes of cardiomyopathy. Matt takes us through the two types of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and how they can affect the outcomes for protection insurance applications. The key takeaways: There is a genetic link to HCM and it can come up in ..read more

Hi everyone, I am back with Season 9 of the Practical Protection Podcast and we are taking a look at keyperson cover.  Hopefully one of the simpler business protection policies that we can arrange, but I have certainly had some interesting conversations with people that don’t understand what this kind of insurance does. I remember quite a specific debate with a tax adviser who was saying their client needed keyperson cover because they wanted the tax advantages of the premiums, but what they needed the insurance to do was shareholder protection. I stood my ground! The key takeaways: Keyp ..read more

Hi everyone, I have Matt back with me and this time we are focusing on Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). This is an autoimmune condition that increases the chance of someone developing blood clots. More women than men are diagnosed with APS and at the moment there is no specific reason why APS develops. It is thought that a mix of environmental factors can lead to APS developing, but there are still people that are diagnosed with APS where no known cause is found. When applying for protection insurance most insurers will want to know if a person has been diagnosed with APS. It is very likely th ..read more