In this episode of the Just Covered podcast, Hazel and Wayne meet Senior Financial Consultant, James Hindley from Embrace Financial. During the conversation, James reflects on a lifetime selling protection and critical illness cover - including how he harnessed his skills, knowledge, and adept understanding of the industry. He also discusses his entry point into financial services starting in sales, what’s changed over the years, and the continued power of storytelling, compassion, and empathy in offering meaningful, holistic advice to customers.

This episode also covers:

• How to take customers on a personalised, memorable journey by incorporating tangible stories and relatable value-added advice, based on different demographics and needs, while also meeting expectations around Consumer Duty.
• The importance of ongoing learning and continuous improvement for staying afloat in an evolving financial and legal landscape.
• Changing attitudes towards protection and critical illness cover, and how growing awareness around mental health and wellbeing is affecting uptake in advice services.

In this episode, Hazel and Wayne had the privilege of speaking with Beth, a Legal & General colleague who shared her heartfelt and poignant story about her husband Pete's battle with cancer and his unfortunate passing last year. Beth discussed the importance of having insurance, specifically critical illness cover, and life insurance, and how it impacted her family during such a challenging time.

We also cover;

• Financial flexibility and choices that having insurance provides.
• The importance of mental health support, and the need for open conversations about insurance and its long-term impact.

Overall, Beth's experience sheds light on the lasting effects of illness and loss, the need for comprehensive insurance coverage, and the ongoing support required for individuals and families facing such challenges. Thank you, Beth, for sharing your story.

You can also watch Pete’s story here - https://www.legalandgeneral.com/adviser/protection/adviser-toolkit/our-claims/case-studies/people-stories/#pete

In this episode of the Just Covered podcast, Hazel and Wayne are joined by Chartered Financial Planner, George Laidlaw from Gilson Gray Financial Management. George shares his inspiring journey from working in the banking industry to where he is now and why it was important to him to achieve Chartered status despite raising his young family. Throughout George’s career he has adapted how he brings the topic of protection into his client conversations through the use of cashflow modelling and we loved exploring this with him.

This episode also covers;

• Building professional connections with law firms, allowing both parties to offer comprehensive services to their clients, covering both financial planning and legal advice.
• Goal-based planning, aligning protection with clients' overall financial goals, rather than viewing the protection conversation as a disturbance or a negative aspect of the fact find
• The importance of building a community of peers in the industry. George emphasises the value of learning from others and staying connected with fellow advisors. By sharing knowledge and experiences, advisors can enhance their skills and provide better service to their clients.