Speaking to ifa’s sister publication, Risk Adviser, Michael Baragwanath of Charter Financial Planning-aligned practice Enva said advisers are the “best first point of call” for helping with an insurance claim, and the site would help draw more attention to which advisers can help.
“We need to get better at letting the community know that we can help,” Mr Baragwanath said.
“I’ve seen examples of law firms charging in excess of $25,000 to secure a claim,” he said.
“Once I investigated the details of one example: The client had a clear-cut situation where he was disabled due to mental illness.
“Did the client need to see a lawyer? Maybe, maybe not. The important point is that they were not even aware that an adviser could help at all and thought they had to either go it alone or get legal assistance,” he said.
“The legal profession has an important role to play in achieving an outcome for clients; in my experience, it’s best that an adviser work with a lawyer but only once the standard claims process fails.”
According to the campaign – which is being conducted via Go Fund Me – the website, Claim Connect, will have a list of advisers willing to help people, free of charge, with their life insurance, disability or income protection claims.
However, the campaign description adds that advisers are able to charge a client for advice on what to do with the money.
Overall, the campaign is looking to raise $2,500 for the building, hosting and promotion of the site.
The site for the campaign can be found here.
RT: You’re right, the servicing adviser should be there to pick it up and in most cases they are but no one is there to support the thousands of direct and group (ISN) scheme insurance that exist. More often than not the process is painless but it happens at the most painful time as we know. To be totally honest I’ve found that being good is good for business. We’ve received meaningful investment work and numerous referrals from almost every client claim we’ve been involved in. What I’m hoping we can deliver here is a true win, win, win – the claimants benefit from having someone to support them. The adviser benefits from the work that comes from the assistance and insurers win by dealing with an experienced practitioner.
We often talk about the fact that people dont want advice and insurance must be sold. Ive come to realise that people DO want advice, they NEED guidance. Its up to us to make sure they know what we can do and that they trust us to be there.
Ultimately we need to be seen like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?…
Every point in that ad has a corresponding need for financial advice and no one knows it.
[quote name=”Melinda Houghton”]Could we have the link, this is a great initiative to promote the positive side of what planners do. #PerceptionCorrection[/quote]
Sure!
Here is the link
https://www.gofundme.com/5jjss…
Could we have the link, this is a great initiative to promote the positive side of what planners do. #PerceptionCorrection
Sounds like a good initiative. But isn’t it sad that some good ethical, advisers have to do pro bono work which should be dome by the advisers, and licensees, who have received upfront and renewal commissions for the initial sale.
From personal experience some licensees have had dedicated experienced staff who will champion a disputed claim and fight for fairness for the client. But I also know that some of those licensees have now made those roles redundant in the name of efficiency.