Life risk education goes online
In a first for the financial services industry, The Risk Store has launched what it calls a ‘webinar’ series covering life risk insurance.
The web-based seminars are streamed to advisers via the Internet, with the first of these delivered in early November by Peter Bobbin, senior partner, The Argyle Partnership Lawyers.
The webinars are designed as an educational tool, with users able to provide their compliance or training manager with a transcript in order to earn a continuing professional development point for self-learning.
While others have presented online webcasts before, Peter Wincott, general manager, The Risk Store, believes they are the first to adapt this medium for educational purposes.
Wincott said one of the advantages of an online forum was its transcendence of geographical boundaries, bringing the seminar to the audience rather than requiring participants to physically attend a presentation.
Because of the format, participants are able to stop the speaker at pertinent points to take notes or replay parts they may have missed initially.
Bobbin said that in preparing his seminar, he stayed mindful of his audience, ensuring he used nontechnical language that would be understood by advisers, but could also be used in explaining topics to their clients.
“Probably 80 per cent [of content] would go directly to advisers’ understanding, and 40 to 60 per cent would be picked up by their clients,” he said.
While the webinars are not geared specifically to the general public, Wincott said their relevance to advisers’ clients depended on the topic at hand, with some suitable for advisers to pass on.
The most recent seminar held in December featured Dani Peer, who spoke from his personal experiences of an accident, outlining the costs and hardship he would have incurred had he not held appropriate life risk insurance, which was strongly suggested to him by his adviser.
Wincott said initially he is simply “trying to get people used to the technology”, taking “baby-steps”, with plans to make it more interactive in the future via a chat-room or teleconferencing facility.
The webinars are free for members of The Risk Store, and discounted for members of the Financial Planning Association or the Independent Financial Adviser Association.
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