We’ve got life insurance on the brain at Cherry Godfrey this week – and who better to talk to than Richard Le Ruez, the Associate Director of our Jersey Office? Richard has been a broker for over 25 years – and is one of the most experienced and expert brokers on the Island, in fact! – so we were thrilled to get a chance to pick his brains about how life insurance works, and who might benefit from it.
Hi, Richard! It’s great to talk to you. To kick off, could you tell us a little about your background and Cherry Godfrey’s approach to life insurance?
I’ve been at Cherry Godfrey for seventeen years and a week! Primarily, I deal with mortgages and mortgage-related life insurance, but I have a breadth of experience. Often people come in to see us to get an idea of what they can borrow for mortgages. We’ll ask them the standard questions (how much do you have in savings, how much rent do you have to pay), and we analyse their position. This gives us an idea of lifestyle overall, which can be helpful for life insurance.
We’re with our customers from start to finish. Once we get the mortgage in principle agreed, that’s usually the time that we’ll start to talk about life insurance, and can work on providing a quote based on all the information accrued so far. We cater for the two main ends of the scale: basic life insurance (which would pay off the mortgage), or life insurance and critical illness, which is more expansive. But it’s fairly bespoke, and this is something we can offer that goes beyond what others might provide: we get to know our clients, so we can assess everything based on affordability and suitability. If a customer doesn’t want the truly basic life insurance but can’t afford the top tier – or the top tier wouldn’t be suitable – we can customise and perhaps meet in the middle, with basic life insurance plus partial critical illness, or something like that.
Who needs life insurance?
In a word: everyone! It’s not simply for those with mortgages or perhaps at a later stage in life. Life insurance can be helpful in many scenarios - perhaps you’ve left a job where you had benefits and now need to replace that; or you’re considering having children with a partner, and want to ensure childcare and finances would be manageable should something unforeseen occur. Even if you’re single, it’s worth considering who would take care of your financial affairs were something to happen.
What about using a ‘Compare the Site’-style platform to buy life insurance – is that a good idea?
We’d advise extreme caution, especially for people living on the Islands. Many insurers are only available to UK residents and this isn’t always clear unless you scrutinise the fine print. Furthermore, because we have direct contact with insurers, we have access to the best deals and have a lot of experience dealing with them.
Insurance companies can’t give advice. A broker like Cherry Godfrey, by contrast, is looking at you holistically: getting to know you, your lifestyle, and what you’re able to afford, and is able to guide you towards the best deal for you specifically. You’re asked to disclose quite a lot of information when applying for life insurance, and we can also make sure that your insurer knows everything they need to know (you’d be surprised how easy it is to miss something off the list and this can cause issues if you need to make a claim).
We’re also able to advise based on what cover you might have already – something that you might not have considered. Through work, for example, you might get income protection, or death in service. But we might review your situation, discover a gap, and find an affordable, separate policy to ensure all bases are covered: including elements your existing cover doesn’t cater for, or protecting you should you leave your job, for example. We’re able to deep dive into your circumstances and make suggestions so that, whatever happens, you’re protected.
What are the main benefits of life insurance?
Protecting yourself and family – and peace of mind. Misfortune does occur, and when it does, it’s easy to spiral if you don’t have any cover: you might have children, but can’t afford childcare, and then would be panicking about how to look after the children and go to work, and then, on top of that, how you will pay bills and rent (or cover your mortgage).
But it’s not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. It’s important to consider who would be in a financial loss position if you passed away. If the answer is no-one, perhaps you need income protection or critical illness cover. There are facets of the cover that are useful whatever stage of life you’re at. And it’s important to keep reviewing your cover as your life progresses and your circumstances change (if you buy a property or get married, for example).
What is special about Cherry Godfrey’s approach?
One of the most important things to mention is that everyone at Cherry Godfrey works on a salary and not commission. This means there’s no danger of us making recommendations based on what we get in return: we’d never sell people what they don’t want, don’t need or can’t afford. We make decisions based on the best interests of the client. We really pride ourselves on supporting the community and giving the best advice, and it’s an ethos we’ve nurtured over many years and that we’ve become known for – in fact, I now have clients coming in saying ‘you provided the same service for my parents back in the day!’.
We also do everything under one roof and will be a point of contact that can refer clients to other colleagues, should we be able to support them in other ways. We try to build longstanding relationships with customers so we can look after them in all areas.
Ultimately, I want to make sure my customers are getting the best options and the best advice – I have nothing to gain personally – and so I get to know them, and I’m honest about what’s available to them based on their lifestyle and affordability. Transparency is so important and it’s a cornerstone of our approach.
