"It’s not all about making room for the younger generation; it’s about working together and learning from our role models."
- Jacqueline Durbin, Global Head of Product (Life, Pensions & Mortgages) at Iress
In February, I posed the question, ‘Should insurers explore ASU as a ‘stepping stone into protection’ for recent university graduates?’ to Ian Sawyer, Commercial Director at Howden Life & Health (formerly Assured Futures), and Alan Richardson, Protection Expert at LifeSearch.
Overall, the consensus was ASU is simpler and rarely affected by medical disclosures but Income Protection (IP) will usually win the day, providing “clarity as to what is covered, or more importantly, what isn’t covered because of the underwriting at application stage.”
5 Should insurers explore ASU as a ‘stepping stone into protection’ for recent university graduates?
Earlier this year, MetLife UK published ‘The Last Word, Tackling the death and funeral planning taboo’ which revealed only 15% of adults in the UK have written a will. I spoke with Adrian Matthews, Head of Employee Benefits at MetLife UK & Europe, about his experiences with bereavement and how it’s impacted his perception of end-of-life planning support.
This year, I attended my first Women’s Recognition Awards (WRAs) at Troxy London. As someone who identifies as Non-Binary (NB), it was fantastic to celebrate those fighting for equity, diversity, and inclusion within Financial Services.
I asked Phil Jeynes, Director of Corporate Strategy at ReAssured, why awards for women are still important, to which he promptly quoted one of our foremost modern philosophers, Beyoncé: “who runs the world? [...] girls (girls).”
Next up, Victoria Harrison, Protection Proposition Manager at Scottish Widows, explored how lived experiences can help Gen Z recognise the importance of protection after a family member’s devasting diagnoses motivated her 18-year-old daughter (Charlotte) to purchase Critical Illness cover (CIC).
Charlotte explained that although her mum talked about protection all the time, it wasn’t until her grandad was diagnosed with Encephalitis a couple of years ago, and last year with Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s at the age of 64, that she considered buying protection for herself.
2 How do lived experiences help Gen Z recognise the importance of protection?
Finally, Jacqueline Durbin, Global Head of Product (Life, Pensions & Mortgages) at Iress, shared her thoughts on ‘part-time’ employment. She said it’s the “pressure you put on yourself and the little things that chip away at your confidence; sometimes it’s hard to avoid the ‘traditional’ and outdated views in the industry.”
1 Jacqueline Durbin: Yes, I’m still banging my drum for ‘part-time’ employees
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