Expanding Risk Advice Opportunities in Professionals Market

Advice businesses should consider the significant and expanding opportunities to deliver life insurance solutions to the professionals market.

This is one of the key messages advocated by respected industry contributor, Mark Neil, speaking to advisers around the country at the Riskinfocus 24 Risk Advice CPD event series in March.

Neil argued that the changing make-up of the Australian workforce, combined with the ongoing commercial challenges associated with delivering life insurance advice to the mums and dads market means advice practices should consider turning their attention to higher net worth individuals.

In supporting this proposition, Neil utilised an advice complexity scale to segment the consumer market, highlighting Professionals and Business Succession as two of the ‘sweet spots’ when it comes to new growth opportunities for all advice businesses.

Arguing there is less demand for life insurance advice within the higher-end Affluent and Family Office segments, Neil noted the relative complexity of the advice needed for Professionals and in Business Succession when compared with that of the Family market segment.

He referred to data indicating approximately 70% of the Australian workforce now operates in the white collar sector and that the professionals cohort is growing rapidly, noting the number of Australians aged 15-74 with a bachelor’s degree has increased more than six times over the past two decades.

Neil advocated a tailored approach when serving the life insurance and broader advice needs of high-earning professionals, who he says generally seek personalised solutions, convenience and efficiency – and are prepared to pay for it.

Referencing a PPS Mutual study on accounting professionals and extrapolating those results, Neil noted many professional individuals lack confidence in the level of their insurance coverage – especially for the living insurances of TPD, IP and Trauma insurance.

He added higher net worth individuals need professional advice when navigating a compounding set of circumstances that often attach to this segment, as outlined in the slide below:

Distilling to a single element, Neil told advisers the key to delivering life insurance and financial advice solutions to high-earning professionals rests in the convenience factor, which include areas such as:

• Developing collaborative partnerships with other service providers and project managing all things financial
• Time efficiencies and savings
• Flexible meeting options
• Customised, succinct reporting
• Utilising digital platforms
• Accessing educational content via webinars and podcasts