In today’s episode – “Integrating Insurance Into a Wealth Practice” we unpack why so many wealth advisors struggle to bring insurance meaningfully into their planning—and why this challenge also creates real partnership opportunities for insurance‑focused advisors looking to grow revenue.
Joining us to break this down is Jaclyn Nemethy, Senior Director of Strategic Relationships at PPI. Jaclyn is part of a specialist team working exclusively with wealth‑focused advisors as they build—or rebuild—their insurance capability. She brings deep insight into advisor capacity, partnership models, and the real‑world habits that separate good intentions from actual implementation.
Listen to the episode:
This transcript has been edited for clarity. This transcript may differ slightly from the original audio to provide a better reading experience.
[Geoff Evans, Vice-President Marketing and Communications at PPI]
Jaclyn, what in your mind is driving the need for wealth advisors to explore the integration of insurance as a pillar in their overall offering?
[Jaclyn Nemethy, Senior Director, Strategic Relationships ]
Well, Geoff, client expectations are evolving. Clients are more informed and expect comprehensive planning, not just investment advice or management. They really want clarity on, “Am I gonna be okay? Will I be okay in retirement? And what’s gonna happen with my wealth when I’m gone?”
These are questions that are constantly coming up. So, wealth advisors are meant to connect all those dots and bring clarity to clients through those bigger questions. And that’s outside the scope of wealth management or portfolio returns. It’s about creating a financial roadmap. Connecting savings with spending and tax planning with retirement. As well as connecting legacy. So, all of these things get connected. And the wealth advisor brings the clear picture forward to the client and is able to say, “Yes, you will be okay. Yes, your retirement’s funded, and we have a full plan for your estate and your legacy.”
[Geoff Evans]
For years in my career, I had the opportunity to train new advisors. And I can remember very distinctly advisors would be excited to work with investments, but not as excited to work with insurance. They felt as though investments almost sold themselves while insurance required a lot of effort to sell. So that leads me to the question: in your experience, what are the common mistakes that you see advisors making when it comes to integrating insurance into their wealth practices?
[Jaclyn Nemethy]
So Geoff, you’re totally bang on. With the advisors I’m working with there’s a challenge for them to figure out how to integrate insurance into their existing processes because when it comes to investments, you know, clients sign the paperwork and assets move over – it’s a good day. Insurance, as we know, is a much longer process in terms of not only underwriting the clients and getting them approved for coverage, but the entire sales process is longer. Because insurance is this intangible thing that the client really has to think about. As a result, it can take multiple meetings even just to position insurance as part of the plan, show the value, and then take it to next steps. So we find advisors just struggle with the question: “how do I pivot into insurance when this other lane on the wealth side seems a lot easier?” What I find is advisors really don’t properly pick a lane when they talk about how they’re going to integrate insurance into their practice. They kind of dabble everywhere and then end up not doing much of anything because they just don’t have a clear plan.
So when I work with advisors, I say, “Okay, what do you want to achieve here? And a) do you want to do it yourself?” Meaning you’ve go to carve out some time for this. This is another pillar of your offering, so you need to put time into your schedule. When you’re working with clients, understand that this requires dedicated time. So, do you have capacity? That’s a question I ask all my advisors.
If you don’t have time, that means you don’t have capacity. So, do you have someone on your team that could take the lead with this. Could they take the leadership on insurance and make sure it is offered to your clients? If that’s not an option then what?
Well, there are a lot of great advisors in the industry who could be available to partner with you. So maybe the solution is outsourcing. A lot of advisors outsource all the time. It’s how you gain capacity without bogging yourself down with yet another task and then failing to complete the task at all or failing to do it well.
[Geoff Evans]
Okay, so how does an advisor make the decision between choosing to become the expert or choosing to partner with someone? I know to the wealth advisor this probably feels like a whole new world requiring a deep investment of time and energy, but I have to imagine there are extensive transfer of skills that happen between wealth discussions and insurance discussions.
[Jaclyn Nemethy]
Yeah. What we’re seeing is an aging advisor base. When they were younger and starting in the industry – I’m talking in general senses here – insurance was definitely forefront and part of every conversation because clients at that stage hadn’t necessarily amassed a lot of wealth yet. So insurance was the leading conversation while the client was working to build wealth.
Now, we have this older advisor base. Their clients have now shifted and aged along with their advisors, and they’ve amassed wealth. Now advisors are focusing on wealth management and growing that wealth. And hopefully, they should be starting to think about what happens when this client ends up passing? There’s a ton of estate planning opportunities requiring them to now shift conversations back to insurance because, even though they focused on risk management when their clients were younger – “if you died tomorrow, what would happen to your family… maybe putting some disability in place, covering income.” Those are the things you had to do when you were younger. Now we’re facing clients that are maybe 60 plus. They hopefully don’t still need mortgage insurance -they might if they still have a mortgage for sure – but you’re now looking at estate planning and you’re now looking at the next generation and how do we transfer this wealth. So advisors that really did great insurance work 20 years ago have to shift back into the mindset of: “okay, now we can leverage this planning tool of insurance and integrate it into the go forward plan along with your wealth strategy” – but it’s uncomfortable for them because they’ve been away from it for so long. So this is the struggle. And now you have to relearn how to ride that bike. And this why I’m saying they’ve got to dedicate the time to relearn how to do this and how to pivot the conversation. Because the conversation before was about risk protection while now it’s about estate planning. So it’s a different conversation
[Geoff Evans]
So you mentioned there’s three different approaches an advisor can take. One is that they become the expert themselves. One is they find someone on their team to become the expert. The third is that they choose to partner with someone who is already actively focused on insurance. So I guess the next logical question is: How does an advisor make the decision between which of these three different approaches would make the most sense for them?
[Jaclyn Nemethy]
It’s a great question. I really think that although the learning path required to do it themselves is a noble path – they have to be honest with themselves. Do they have capacity to take this on? Because, as I said, there’s going to be a little bit of a learning curve to get back in the swing of having those conversations. Feeling confident not only to be client-facing, but then handle what comes with the administrative side of filling out an application, submitting it to underwriting, handholding the client through the underwriting process, placing that insurance policy, and servicing that policy. So, if you do it yourself, there’s a number of things you’re going to have to take on.
So if there’s capacity and this advisor’s in a place where they’re like, “I’m wanting to grow my business, and I have capacity to dedicate to this,” then that’s great. love those advisors. I’m going to work with you. Let’s create a business plan. Let’s set up regular check-in meetings where we’re going to work together and open client files. Let’s look at three files this month. Let’s talk about those clients. Let’s position insurance. Here’s the presentations you can use. Go run with it. But you’ve go to have capacity. And that’s what I usually say to my advisors: “Just be honest with me. Are you running on fumes right now? Because if that’s the case, I don’t know where we’re finding capacity to do this correctly. And then you end up putting the insurance on the back burner where it’s already at and remains on that back burner all year.”
And then we revisit at the end of the year, and they’re at zero production. So, to me, it’s just about having an honest conversation. I think I’m getting better at these conversations, where advisors are like, “Okay, she’s not messing around. She really wants to help me.” I just don’t want advisors wasting their time. I don’t want clients missing opportunities to have that conversation with an expert and getting the protection in place while they’re healthy. The worst thing is – and I’m dealing with many advisors that say – the client’s now dealing with cancer, and they want do that estate plan now. I’m like, “oh shoot! we really should have looked at that earlier.” But maybe we can help some other clients. Maybe we need to get moving on this integration of insurance planning. So again, being honest, do you have capacity? If you don’t, then let’s pivot. What are our other options? Well, we could look to build someone on your team up if you have someone that has capacity on the team. But if not, we’ve got some great insurance consultants within this market space who are really focused on insurance only. They’re not wealth managers. They’re not here to come in and compete with your business on the wealth side. They are top of their game when it comes to insurance, and they want to partner with you to help you fulfill that need for your book of business.
[Geoff Evans]
I can imagine, having been a business owner myself, that there’s a sensitivity and a fear. If I bring an external person into a meeting – where I have spent so much time and energy nurturing that relationship, building trust – and someone comes in and potentially turns the apple cart upside down. Or somehow that expert builds a new deeper relationship and credibility and steals that client out from under me. So the idea of partnership, I think there must be a lot of layers of fear that could come with that. So if partnering with an expert is a strategy I’m interested in, how would I go about navigating this to avoid all of those pitfalls?
[Jaclyn Nemethy]
I completely agree that in the past maybe this fear was a barrier. I’m feeling that there’s been a shift in the market. I think there’s more trust than previously because people are more specialized. They’re not trying to do it all and trying to cover multiple lines of business. I think people are choosing that lane they want to specialize in and work with clients. So as I said, when it comes to an insurance consultant and picking that partnership, you want to pick someone who really has chosen the lane of insurance. They’re not wealth managers. They don’t handle money. They actually go, “No, I don’t deal with investments. I don’t touch it. I don’t hold a dual license – MFDA, IIROC, whichever. My role is to be specialized in insurance and help to create clarity around an estate plan, wealth transfer, risk mitigation.”
So I think a) defining who you’re looking to partner with should be highly specialized in that field. And I would say b) as an advisor, you want to protect yourself and your clients because you’ve worked hard to build their assets. So you should have a written agreement outlining roles and responsibilities with respect to the client. What servicing looks like in terms of partnering with that advisor. Are they not permitted to reach out to the client unless you’re CC’d? Spell out how you’re working with that insurance consultant and how they are integrating into your practice. You’re the wealth advisor. You’re in the driver’s seat. That is your client relationship. They’re parachuting in as a specialist. So this agreement should outline everything in terms of how that relationship works going forward. And then the agreement would also outline who’s going to be servicing the client. I tell a lot of wealth advisors: “Look, you could be servicing advisor, but it’s a lot of work sometimes to service, and it’s not usually hugely profitable. There’s still potential revenue in it, but does it outweigh the time spent to complete an address update or a beneficiary update? What if you have to reach out to the carrier because they missed a payment. Do you want to deal with that?” Even if the insurance consultant is handling servicing, at any time you can sever that agreement and just complete an Agent of Record transfer form and redirect commissions back to yourelf. As the wealth advisor, you’re in the driver’s seat. So having a written agreement is another key thing.
[Geoff Evans]
So when we’re talking about this partnership, we’re not talking about partnering with an employee at an MGA like PPI. This is a partnership with another advisor active in the industry who has their own client base. They’re just going to partner with you on specific cases as you’ve outlined in whatever your agreement is.
[Jaclyn Nemethy]
100%. And, the degree of your partnership is up to the wealth advisor. So I always say, “Look, some wealth advisors are comfortable with more straightforward term insurance. They’ve got a process around that. They’re capturing that opportunity.” When it gets into complex estate planning – they’ve got a client with corporate structure or trusts – they may get overwhelmed, and then they just say, “You know what? I just feel like a fish out of water. I just don’t want to touch it.”
That’s where maybe they could bring the insurance consultant in. So you’re in the driver’s seat. Do you consult and work with the insurance specialist on every case? That could be your model. You could also say, “You know what? For the complex or the cases that are going to take a lot of heavy lifting and a lot of time up front – because I’ve got to not only have a conversation with the client and position insurance to the client, but I now have to meet with their advisors… their accountant. I’ve got to position this to the accountant. I have to get the accountant on side.” So to me, that might be the case for outsourcing because you’re going to have a specialist there who’s extremely proficient at talking to the accountant about insurance strategies and how they integrate into the overall tax plan. As opposed to a wealth advisor who might not really be sure how to have that conversation. And then the case might just die. The client doesn’t move forward because they don’t understand the recommendations or you haven’t really positioned it well to the accountant, and the client’s looking to the accountant for their agreement. So to me, it’s really about how the wealth advisor wants to do this. Do they want to lean on the insurance consultant 100%? Do they want to just pick and choose specific clients and specific cases? Totally up to you as the advisor.
[Geoff Evans]
Now, in your experience, you find that wealth advisors who go down this path of finding an insurance specialist, is there an interview process for determining values alignment? How do you recommend a wealth advisor go through that vetting process?
[Jaclyn Nemethy]
That’s a great question. I work really closely with a wealth advisor to understand how they run their practice. How they service their clients today. What type of client base or what kind of markets are they in. That will help me really understand what is most important to them and help me identify potential insurance consultants. I think it’s worth setting up a meeting, having a chat, seeing if there’s good synergy. Because you still have to decide if you like this person. Are you going to enjoy working with them? You have to like the person and you have to have similar approaches to managing the client because the wealth advisor does not want to handoff the client where there’s a completely different client experience on the other end. They want to know that the service model is consistent throughout an insurance consultant partnership.
So I think, yes, do a little bit of a dating game. Get to know this advisor. Let’s see if there’s synergy between the two of you. At the same time, I’ve gotten to know the advisor and these insurance consultants very, very well. And I’m bringing them forward because I really think they fit with the advisor’s business, so I think it’s worth exploring. And then we consider working on a single case together. Maybe it’s not an A client. You know what? What case is on your desk right now? Why don’t you just spitball and have a conversation around that client? Can the consultant bring some value to you with what’s on your desk today?
[Geoff Evans]
From the conversations you and I have had, I think one of the really unique opportunities that is available at PPI is the existence of your team – the strategic relationships team – where you can help the wealth advisors navigate this whole world. But of course, your team does not exist outside of PPI. So for those advisors who are not with this MGA, where would they go for this type of coaching and support? Are there experts out there or is PPI just really unique?
[Jaclyn Nemethy]
So I would say other MGAs will have sales support. But a wealth advisor may not be on anyone’s radar unless they put their hand up. So if you’ve decided that insurance is going to be part of your practice going forward, put your hand up. Find out from your MGAyou’re your sales contact is. Sit down and have a planning meeting because if you’re really going to start to look at integrating insurance into your existing process then you’ll likely need help. So I think it’s just about identifying yourself and I think the majority of MGAs have some type of sales support.
PPI is unique just because we happen to have this very unique channel, and we’ve now worked with these wealth advisors for years on end. We really understand not only the dynamics of being a wealth advisor and the complexities of looking at insurance as part of a bigger picture, but also knowing the nuance of the wealth firm. Who are the key players within that wealth firm? Who’s leading the charge? Is insurance part of the bigger mandate of that firm? Do we have support from upper management? What’s the messaging that advisors are receiving? So we have some unique insights that maybe wouldn’t exist elsewhere. But in general, there is definitely sales support, and you just have to identify yourself as someone who wants to embrace insurance, and I think you would get some support there. It might not be as catered or as unique or special, but I think you could still get that support.
[Geoff Evans]
That’s great. I imagine that for some advisors, they might have been on the fence thinking: “Do I need to add this insurance pillar into my practice? Will it help me build fences? Will it help diversify my income?” So they might be buying into the idea now.
I would like to leave them with one or two new habits or behaviors that they could start implementing. Helping them take that first step towards the addition of insurance as a pillar. Because I can imagine that this would be an overwhelming thing to consider. So what is the first step or two that they could take?
[Jaclyn Nemethy]
I would reiterate picking the lane. How do you want to embrace insurance? Then, once you’ve picked that lane, the implementation doesn’t just magically happen. Sometimes I work with advisors where we create the plan and then months go by and nothing happens. and I ask them: “Did you change your process? Did something change in order to start or ignite that insurance conversation so that you can bring the specialist in at the right time?” Because if you haven’t changed your process and you’re going to just continue to put your head down, collect Assets Under Management, and manage money, then the clients don’t even know you’re doing anything new.
So does the wealth advisor’s process need to be tweaked? I’m not suggesting a major change here, but there does need to be a little bit of a shift. A little bit of a new habit to start talking about insurance. And how do we do that? So I say to advisors, “Look, you’re mandated to conduct annual reviews with your clients at a minimum. So, you’re in front of your clients at least once a year.” Most advisors I work with are meeting with their clients almost quarterly, so there’s a lot of touch points with these clients. Put an “insurance review” on the agenda. What does that mean? Does the advisor have to analyze what coverage the client currently has or have quotes ready? No. Don’t do any of that, especially if you’ve partnered with an insurance consultant. Just put “insurance review” on the agenda. Then you can tell the client, “You know what? We’ve expanded our team and we are actually now partnered with an amazing advisor within the insurance space. We haven’t done a review for a number of years now for your insurance, so I think we need to do a deep dive there. I’m going to connect you with them, set up some time, go meet with them, and complete this review.”
So, it’s a tweak in the process. It’s putting it on the agenda and introducing your specialist by saying, “They will reach out. They will book time. It’s part of our process. It’s part of our value add.” So there is a little bit of work, but I don’t think it’s too, too much.