Excuses / reasons you've been given for not having insurance

I had a mother talk her son and his partner out of Critical Illness Cover because she thought it would jinx them and they’d get a critical illness. I challenged this view point but ultimately ‘Momma knows best’ and they went on without it.

Too many people think they are invincible. They say it won't happen to them, their mate down the pub doesn't have it, their parents have said we will be fine, they will ask their friends and family for support or, worst still, 'I will just set up a GoFundMe page'. People need to take responsibility themselves and realise things do happen. Our hospitals are at breaking point, which underlines why protection is key.

Yes — the daft excuses are memorable, but in my view the real issue is usually not the excuse itself, it is what sits underneath it. Most people do not avoid protection because they are irrational, they avoid it because they have not been educated on it properly, it is introduced at the wrong time, or it is sold to them badly. If someone has come in focused on getting their mortgage over the line, their head is already full, so trying to load a big protection pitch on top of that can switch them off immediately. Then add advisers overselling it, talking products before purpose, and making people feel like they need to buy everything at once, and of course they shut down. The most common problem is not that people do not care, it is that they do not yet understand the value of protecting the income, health or life that everything else depends on.

"I'm Vegan, so I don't get ill"
"I do yoga regularly"
"It won't happen to me" - said by a builder who just explained to me someone was hit by a forklift truck the week before

I once had a client who took the advice of his doctor that a drop of red wine was good for him, and on his medical questionnaire declared he drank a bottle of red a day. Strangely the insurers were not quite as keen on the medicinal benefits of alcohol and rated his premiums 3 times the standard price.

The classic is because they are fit and healthy so don’t need it. Yet I also hear the opposite, I’ve got xyz so it’s too expensive, which is ludicrous as it’s more expensive because you’re more likely to claim!

Only yesterday I asked someone why they insure their dog, and they said because vet bills are so expensive, and didn’t understand the irony :)

Unfortunately we are in an era when people leave their problems to other to sort out, whether that parents, children or go fund me!