Are Income Protection opportunities hiding in plain sight?

Perhaps it's someone with a mortgage. A family. A regular salary and clear monthly commitments.

But what about the renter building a deposit for their first home? The business owner who appears financially secure? A higher earner with significant commitments? Or someone getting closer to retirement?

Whilst every client's circumstances might be very different, income can play an important part in maintaining their lifestyle and achieving their future plans. And there's one question worth asking in every case:

What would they want to happen to their current commitments and future plans, if their income stopped or reduced due to illness or injury?

Look beyond the obvious

It's easy for protection conversations to be shaped by what we think we already know about a client.

• They have savings
• Their employer provides sick pay
• Their business is doing well
• They have significant assets
• They're approaching retirement

None of those things necessarily tells us how financially resilient that client would be if their income stopped.

Nor does it tell us what their income is helping them achieve.

A client's earnings may be supporting the obvious commitments, such as their mortgage, rent and bills. But their income could also be helping them build a deposit, contribute towards retirement, invest for the future or maintain other commitments that matter to them.

So perhaps the question isn't simply “Does this look like an Income Protection client?”

It's “What does this particular client's income make possible for them?”

Look again at the clients you already know

This creates an opportunity to think beyond clients who might traditionally prompt a protection conversation.

Take someone saving for their first home. They may not yet have a mortgage to protect, but they're already relying on their income to cover today's costs while building towards tomorrow's goal.

Or consider someone approaching retirement. A healthy pension pot or other assets might create an impression of financial security, but it doesn't automatically tell you whether their retirement plans still rely on several more years of earnings.

The point isn't that these circumstances automatically create a need for Income Protection.

It's that they shouldn't automatically rule out the conversation either.

That could be a useful prompt to revisit existing clients' circumstances and check whether their current protection arrangements still reflect their needs.

Stay curious

This isn't about deciding that every client needs the same solution. It's about making sure assumptions don't decide the answer before the conversation has taken place.

• What would happen if their income stopped or reduced due to illness or injury?
• What support do they actually have, rather than what we assume they have?
• How long would it last?
• And which of their current commitments or future plans would be affected first?

Those questions can reveal far more than simply looking at someone's occupation, income, age or current assets.

And importantly, the answers won't always be straightforward.

A salaried employee, sole trader, company director or someone receiving income from several different sources can present very different considerations. That's where recognising an opportunity is only the beginning.

From recognising the opportunity to navigating it

Once you've started looking beyond assumptions, the next question is inevitably: what does this mean in practice?

In the Inside Income Protection: Opportunities hiding in plain sight webinar, Jordan Clark and Nicki Plews take that next step, using practical client scenarios to explore some of the questions advisers encounter when circumstances and income aren't quite so straightforward.