What is the difference between a house and a home? A house is a building, bricks and mortar, an empty, inanimate object. A home has a soul. It is a place that feels safe and welcoming. It’s filled with emotions, memories and connections. It is easy to forget a house; a home stays with you forever.

 

A home is a foundation from which you can build your life. It binds families together, providing vital security and stability from which to prosper. When you think of a home in these terms, it makes perfect sense to protect it. This thought should be front of mind, so why is it so often an afterthought?

 

In the latest AMI Protection Viewpoint report, only 39% of respondents recalled their broker asking about protection insurance, but 99% of brokers said they asked their clients about it1 . This represents an enormous disconnect. Why is there such a chasm between what consumers and advisers remember?

 

These results indicate the protection conversation happens as an afterthought, tacked on to the end of the discussion, part of a tick box exercise. There is a tendency for advisers to concentrate on the bricks and mortar part, helping people with the finances to buy a house. There is far too little discussion about the emotion attached with that move, what that home will mean and why it is so important to protect it.

 

This lack of consumer recall means that protection is ignored or forgotten, with too many people not having the cover they need to be financially resilient in the face of the mishaps and misfortunes that are part of daily life. To change this, we need to talk about homes and what they mean.