Karen Playfair, Senior Marketing Consultant
A few months ago my brother casually dropped into conversation that he hoped it was ok that he’d put me down as the guardian of his three daughters in his will if something happened to both him and his wife.
I was pleased that he’d thought about his will and guardianship of his children but really shocked that he didn’t seem to realise what a serious request this was, and the ramifications for me, and them, if the worst happened.
I suppose that because I work at Royal London, I’m pretty well informed compared to a lot of people, so I made it my mission to make sure my brother was too! We talked about what this would mean for me – moving from Scotland to the South of England and giving up my job resulting in loss of income. I explained to him that he would need to have some protection in place for this eventuality, which would allow me to do all of the above and still have the funds to look after and bring up his children in the way he and his wife would want. As a result, he put the relevant policies in place and we now all have peace of mind.
Of course, we all hope that such an awful tragedy won’t happen, and fortunately the chances are very slim, but we need to make sure our families are looked after if we’re not there to do it for them.
There are lots of other far less extreme circumstances that your clients need to think about if they have children. Royal London’s Good Parent Portfolio can really help you talk to your clients about the different aspects they should be considering to ensure their partner and children are protected in a range of different circumstances – most of which they probably don’t want to think about.
Some good questions for your client might be:
- Do you have life cover in case you die?
- Do you have critical illness cover in case you become seriously ill?
- What about if you had an accident or illness that wasn’t critical, do you have income protection?
- Do you have enough money to pay off loans and maintain your lifestyle if anything happened to you?
Using a more holistic approach to your clients’ protection needs means that you’re not only giving them cover, but you’re treating them fairly too. And we can help you do this with the Good Parent Portfolio.
