However, more needs to be done. She says: "Full responsibility lies with our profession. We need a big shake-up and the only way to lower obstacles for everyone is to increase diversity in our workforce and simplify the way we speak about and recommend protection.
"When we talk to clients they still really don't understand protection and health insurance."
But over recent months, that shake-up among advisers may have started to happen.
People in the wealth management community are finding themselves having deeper conversations with their high-net worth clients about insurance and the ways in which family wealth can be preserved and passed on using insurance policies.
Paul Yates, product strategy director at life and pensions platform iPipeline, says: "iPipeline’s data has shown a marked increase in the proportion of business emanating from IFAs and wealth managers in 2023 and into 2024.
"Protection has not been at the forefront of a large proportion of IFA and wealth manager conversations with their clients traditionally.
"However, we are increasingly seeing this challenged and revised by firms focussed on full financial advice and planning for clients and their families."
Greater technological assistance
Part of the reason for insurance sitting in the realms of protection specialists rather than wealth advisers is that it can be so complicated.
Reading and understanding medical notes and knowing which conditions are covered for various clients - and explaining these to clients - is a full-time job in its own right.
For this reason, protection specialists say wealth managers have often passed on protection questions to them and their peers, working more collaboratively across the profession.
But Kathryn Knowles, co-founder of Cura, says that, especially with the Consumer Duty regulation that came into force last year (2023), wealth managers are having protection conversations more frequently with clients.
She says: "No longer can advisers ignore things like protection. It can be complicated when you consider all the different options, or doing technical things around business protection and IHT, but overall it's a simple concept: life insurance pays out when you die."
Knowles said advisers often do need more support from networks and companies in terms of bringing protection into the client fact-finding process.
But, as technology improves, along with the ability to integrate systems more efficiently across the financial services spectrum, Yates of iPipeline says it is becoming easier to access the necessary information and bring protection advice into the mix.
For example, he says: "The protection needs for older clients can often require more involved planning and effort in sourcing and writing protection. iPipeline has been working to reduce these barriers and ensure protection is the bedrock of all financial planning.”
