TAL encourages advisers to embed estate planning into their businesses

Life insurance specialist, TAL, is encouraging advisers to embed estate planning into their core business offering, citing the opportunity it has in improving advisers’ value proposition.

In TAL Risk Academy’s new courses on estate planning, TAL National Technical Manager, Scott Hoger, explains why including estate planning in a customer’s advice journey can provide significant value to customers.

Mr Hoger said, “Having a comprehensive estate plan in place is one of the most important things people can do for themselves and their loved ones. However, estate planning can be an overwhelming and confusing process that people can tend to put off until later in life.

“Financial advisers have a deep understanding of their customers’ circumstances and financial goals, and they are well placed to support customers with their estate planning needs. We believe that advisers who embed estate planning into their core business offering will differentiate themselves from others in the market.

“Including estate planning in a customer’s advice journey can provide significant value to the customer by helping them to feel more confident about their future and well-equipped to meet their long-term financial goals. Additionally, it can help advisers meet their obligations under Corporations Law and the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) Code of Ethics.

“It’s important; however, to consider how the estate planning process interacts with advice. For example, financial advisers have some degree of control over a customer’s largest assets: their property, their superannuation and their insurances. From an insurance perspective, financial advisers can play a key role in ensuring insurance claims proceeds are paid as intended. Additionally, each customer’s assets and liabilities have an estate planning consideration that can be facilitated by the adviser.

“Having the appropriate tools to understand an adviser’s role in the estate planning process is crucial. The TAL Risk Academy program has developed a series of courses and support tools to help advisers with their estate planning education. The four-course program includes estate planning fundamentals, with options to study the estate planning processes, technical strategies and techniques that advisers can use with their customers,” said Mr Hoger.

TAL Risk Academy’s estate planning courses run until the end of March 2021, with the Estate Planning Masterclass held on 29-30 March and all courses available on demand. To enrol in the Masterclass advisers can visit the TAL Risk Academy website. For further information, advisers can contact their local TAL Sales representative or visit the TAL Adviser Centre.