What if the most important part of financial planning isn’t building wealth — but protecting it? In this episode, Trish Gregory shares her journey into insurance specialisation and explains why specialist advice can completely change outcomes for clients and families. The conversation covers trust, mental health claims, AI in advice, and the growing importance of protection in modern financial planning.
What if the most important part of financial planning isn’t building wealth — but protecting it?
In this episode, Trish Gregory shares her journey into insurance specialisation and explains why specialist advice can completely change outcomes for clients and families. The conversation covers trust, mental health claims, AI in advice, and the growing importance of protection in modern financial planning.
Reach out to Trish:
Website - hcis.com.au
Linkedin - linkedin.com/in/trish-gregory-finance
Key Topics
Introduction to Trish Gregory
Transition to Insurance Specialization
The Role of an Insurance Specialist
Client Relationships and Trust
Perceptions of Insurance
AI in Insurance
Future of Insurance
Soundbites
"Insurance is like a seatbelt; you only appreciate it when you need it."
"Specialization in insurance leads to better client outcomes."
"Building trust is essential for accurate risk assessment."
"AI is streamlining complex medical assessments in insurance."
Chapters
00:09 Introduction and Guest Background
01:14 Podcast Co-hosting and Audience
03:11 Career Transition and Specialization
05:43 Client Experience and Insurance Process
20:53 Addressing Insurance Misconceptions
35:14 AI's Role in Insurance
37:29 Future Trends in Insurance
46:43Closing Thoughts and Advice
The Priority Lane (00:00)
Welcome to the Priority Lane podcast. Today, I'm joined by Trish Gregory, CFP Certified Financial Advisor and Insurance Specialist at Hayes & Co Insurance Services. With close to a decade in financial advice, Trish has built a reputation for making complex insurance conversations practical, personal and empowering. She was named one of Australia's 50 most influential advisors in 2023. And alongside her client work, she's a passionate advocate for women and advice through her leadership with the FAAA
a Inspire community. Also last year she was named Financial Advisor of the Year, Insurance Advisor of the Year and most compliant by her licensee. well Trish, welcome to the podcast.
Trish Gregory (00:43)
Thank you so much for having me, Nigel. It's ik very exciting to be here.
The Priority Lane (00:48)
Very good and look, pleasure to have you on and I'll tell you what, that's quite an impressive list of achievements you've racked up over the last couple of years.
Trish Gregory (00:56)
⁓ it feels like it, my goodness. And and then I go, but it's just it's just a little old me. Like why do I I dunno It's fun, it feels good. Hmm Thank you.
The Priority Lane (01:02)
you
well, someone appreciates your work, that's for sure.
Now, you co-host the podcast yourself. Do you want to give us a quick rundown on what that covers?
Trish Gregory (01:17)
I do. So my I co-host a podcast w called Money Talk Real Talk with my co-host Suzanne Alexander. ⁓ and we
The Priority Lane (01:23)
Mm-hmm.
Trish Gregory (01:27)
talk about ⁓ we talk to midlife women about money and mindset so ⁓ she's a former financial advisor now a money and mindset coach and i'm a financial advisor who now specializes in insurance and so we both bring our different I'm very technical she's very the mind side of things so it's a wonderful blend ⁓ for really the midlife women who just like us about all sorts of topics all a variety of financial topics sometimes we have guests sometimes it's just us ⁓ and it comes out weekly
The Priority Lane (01:37)
Okay.
Trish Gregory (01:57)
Yeah.
The Priority Lane (01:58)
Okay, okay, great. And so what's the so midlife is there like, is that just a clunk of blurry sort of parameters? Or is it do you find it's this age to this age or?
Trish Gregory (02:11)
yeah, fairly blurry. Like if you think you're in l midlife you probably are. I'm w I'm I think we're both mid early forties is sort of the vibe. So a lot of your late thirties to maybe early fifties is sort of that vibe where there's
The Priority Lane (02:14)
You ⁓
Trish Gregory (02:28)
perimenopause happening, there's kids that are a bit older, there's mortgages, there's really ramping up with work, there's ⁓ you know, divorces, there's new relationships, there's all sorts of ⁓ that sort of thing. And we found that
⁓ we didn't feel like there were really a lot of Aussie podcasts out there talking to that section. Like there's some amazing, amazing money podcasts ⁓ that tend to be, it feels like, either talking to the much younger people or the people who are retiring who were like, we just want to talk to the people like us.
The Priority Lane (02:58)
right.
Yeah, yeah. As you there's a lot going on, a lot to consider. ⁓ Yeah, you know, just when you're going through that list, I started to get tired myself. ⁓ Now, ⁓ you're a financial advisor for a number of years, won a couple of awards, ⁓ and then moved into an insurance specialist firm. What was the motivation for the move from general financial advisor into insurance specialist?
Trish Gregory (03:11)
Ha ha ha.
Yeah, so I love being a holistic financial advisor. So doing all the things, your investments, your super, your insurance, your budgeting, your cash flow, your mindset, all of those sorts of things. But I did find that as a financial advisor who was doing everything for the clients, ⁓ I was feeling quite stretched.
And I also wanted to start my own practice. ⁓ but there's this really there's this really typical thing that happens in financial advice, which is when you join a practice, and I've seen it so many times with so many of my peers. You join a practice and they say, of course, you'll be able to become a partner, you'll be able to buy your clients, we'll support you, but then that kind of drags on and just never happens. ⁓ it's very, very common in this profession, I find. And so I sort of went, well, I don't want
that to happen to me. I really do want to start my own practice. And so when I was looking for my next ⁓ job, my boss, Catherine, said to me, Trish, have you ever thought about insurance only? And I said, well, no, that sounds crazy. And she said, well, I have a proposition for you because I know you want to start your own business and we need more insurance advisors. I promise you, you will love it and never want to look back if you become a specialist. So I sort of took that leap and haven't love it. She was 100%.
right. So it was a bit of a leap, but it was also the next step to starting my own practice. So building my own business within her business, and then when I'm feeling like my family's ready for it, I'll start my own business with her love and support.
The Priority Lane (05:12)
wow, that's amazing. So ticks a number of boxes for you.
Trish Gregory (05:16)
a number of boxes, that's right, yeah. And I don't like being an insurance specialist, I'm I don't feel that stretch anymore. I'm able to really ⁓ focus on such a narrow part of this profession and just do it really, really, really well.
The Priority Lane (05:34)
Yeah, so on the client side, what would be the difference from me getting insurance advice from a financial advisor and then also an insurance specialist?
Trish Gregory (05:46)
between a financial advisor and insurance specialist, it would definitely depend on the financial advisor. So ⁓ you have access to the same products. So number one, it would just be how much time ⁓ or what the process is for the advice firm to take the client through that process. So when I was a financial advisor who did everything, insurance, and I think almost all of my financial advice peers who do this agree, insurance is the most frustrating.
The Priority Lane (06:01)
you
Trish Gregory (06:16)
most annoying, the slowest part of the process and the least rewarding, right? You know you need it, you know you need to do it, but it just it sucks. It's horrible. So you do it begrudgingly, it takes forever, it's that one that sort of just goes on and on. Whereas being an insurance specialist, I can go from meeting the person to getting their insurance in place in as little as two weeks.
Obviously some take longer. ⁓ it all depends on the medicals, but we're able to spend so much more time on ⁓ getting into the nuance of the medicals, pre assessing really well their medical situation and knowing much more which
insurer works better with this specific niche of person, whether it's lawyers, or whether it's people over 40 who are blue collar, or whether it's professionals over 50, or whether it's you know this client who works with horses can't get insurance with these three insurers, but can absolutely get insurance with these two insurers. So let's go there.
The Priority Lane (07:25)
Okay, okay, so when you were in general financial advisory, it was just, here's a solution, this looks as though it ticks the boxes, here we go type thing.
Trish Gregory (07:36)
Exactly, that's right. It was much more let's give it a go and then sort of deal with what happens afterwards. ⁓ and the the way I describe it is we had about I think the the rate is about forty percent of insurance
that P that re general advisors, so holistic advisors, about forty percent of their insurance policies that they're put with an insurer go into force, so are accepted.
We're at about 90% of insurance policies that we put to an insurer go into place. It's really only those wild cards that we didn't anticipate that don't go into place. you know, that's that's more than a 50% increase ⁓ for the same amount of work. So it's much better for the client, it's much better for the for the firm, and it makes it easier all around.
The Priority Lane (08:22)
Wow, yeah.
So that rate, is that the insurance company accepting the proposal or is that right? Okay. And what about at the other end with the payouts? Have you seen differences in what is successfully paid out as opposed to not?
Trish Gregory (08:41)
Mm.
No, not necessarily. ⁓ a whole bunch of advice firms don't help with the claims side of things. So they may write the insurance policy, but then they'll p might pass it off to someone who deals with claims or just says to the client, but you're kind of on your own. and look, most claims do end up tending to be paid. It's quite a high percentage of claims that do end up being paid. but
But for the one of the biggest reasons that claims don't get paid is actually down to non-disclosure, not because the insurer doesn't want to pay it. It's because a client either ⁓ by accident or on purpose lied when they were doing their application. But like
The Priority Lane (09:36)
Okay.
Trish Gregory (09:37)
What is it? Like death is ninety seven percent of insurance claims are accepted. Income protection is ninety four percent of claims are accepted. Total impermanent disability eighty-three percent of claims are accepted. So it pretty high rates.
The Priority Lane (09:53)
Yeah,
yeah, okay, okay. So I guess that theme of the last few podcasts we've done is about building that client relationship, knowing your client, getting them to open up to you. that's just as important to make sure that a successful claim is lodged.
Trish Gregory (10:03)
Mm-hmm.
absolutely. It's all in the setup. It's about how you make sure that the client discloses everything that the insurer asks without over-disclosing on things that the insurer has not asked. ⁓ that is a big problem in the profession, is clients ⁓ when they do their teleinterview with the nurse practitioner to get their insurance, it it can sort of feel like a bit of a counselling session. There the people on the other phone are very lovely and they tell them all the wonderful, beautiful things.
And then the insurer goes, you told us about that thing that we never asked, but now you've told us we can't ignore it, and then it'll decline.
The Priority Lane (10:46)
right.
Okay. Okay. So you almost need coaching before you get on that call.
Trish Gregory (10:51)
Mm, yes, yes.
The Priority Lane (10:55)
So you mentioned before you got it when you were approached by Cathy to move into the insurance industry. She said you'll love it. ⁓ You're a bit skeptical. So what's changed your perspective on insurance now that you're all in with it?
Trish Gregory (11:00)
Catherine, Catherine.
well first of all just how quick and easy the process can be. So when you have a good system like we do and really good staff that know their stuff, it makes life so much easier. just means I'm able to be there for the client in the meeting. I'm able to ⁓ because I have a really good relationship with the insurers and the underwriters, ⁓ I can call them up, ask them a question. I don't need to email and wait for them to get back to me. ⁓ I can just call them and say, hey, there's this issue.
Which means that my day can move so much faster and I can solve the problems for the clients a lot easier.
Another thing that's quite handy is I have six BDMs. And so BDMs are business developer managers, essentially the salesperson of the insurer who helped me to understand the product better. when I was a holistic financial advisor, all the BDMs want to talk to you. The super funds, the platforms, the investment BDMs, the insurance BDMs, everyone wants to talk to you. Whereas now I have six people. that's it. No one else talks to me, because if they say, Hey Trish, ⁓
I would love to tell you about our product and I go, I would love to have a chat, but I only do insurance and they never mind. Okay. So it's a lovely way to say no. and I am honestly since I went to just Insurance I was just shocked. beyond shocked at how easy the process was.
The Priority Lane (12:30)
You
Trish Gregory (12:48)
when it works well, when you've got a good process, when it's streamlined, when you have good people working for you. I could not believe the stark contrast from every other firm that I've worked for versus ⁓ doing this one. It's it's quite incredible.
The Priority Lane (13:06)
Okay, okay, so it's like you've discovered a new world. So comparing your two lives, your holistic, well, your two main roles over the last few years, your holistic financial advice and your current insurance specialist. I get it, insurance specialist is you love your passion now. Are there areas of the old world, the holistic financial advice that you miss?
Trish Gregory (13:10)
Discovered a new world, absolutely.
⁓ look, I love getting deep into the weeds of people's lives and helping them solve those amazing problems in their world. ⁓ I that's kind of why I have the podcast, so I can still talk about all the other bits and pieces. ⁓ but I don't necessarily miss it. I would love to go back to it, but not at the detriment of my lifestyle. ⁓ but what I do
The Priority Lane (13:49)
Mm-hmm.
Trish Gregory (14:00)
do enjoy is now I get to refer out to so many amazing advisors who don't do insurance who do all the other bits and I then know that they're doing that bit really well and I'm doing my bit really well and the client is getting help throughout. I kind of ⁓ I suppose I feel like the soft weight in
to financial advice for people who might be hesitant, where I can help them out and I can make them feel comfortable, I can make them realise that this is important, and then I already see their financial situation, right? And I might say to them, look, I I think it might be a good idea for you to have a chat with a financial coach, or maybe it might be a good idea for you to go and see this advisor who does one-off advice just so you can double-check everything. Because I already know, I probably already have the solution in my head that would make
make their lives better, but I'm no longer going to do that, so pass them off. So yes or no.
The Priority Lane (15:00)
So what what yeah sorry go on.
Okay so which way do the refer... so I'm guessing you get referrals also from financial advisors. Is it kind of like an equal flow to and from or which way does it flow?
Trish Gregory (15:11)
Correct.
i I would probably say it flows more towards ⁓ me. ⁓ because when there's a quite a few financial advisors who don't want to do insurance and therefore they they send them to me, there's not too many there's there would be less people that come directly to me, ⁓
and then I and haven't already sort of figured out their solution, but the people who haven't, I definitely try to send off. the thing that people like for me, working with me, the financial advisors, is that I'm not going to steal their clients. All I do is insurance. So they can feel really comfortable that I'm going to look after the clients, I'm going to give them the information that they need. I'll be very responsive when they need the reports and I can just help them out and make them look good.
The Priority Lane (15:54)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. So when people think of financial advice, it's sort of, I guess a lot of it is the wealth creation type plan. And then you've got ⁓ the insurance side of things. Is there a, which is sort of the protection of that, I'm guessing that's sort of the protection of the wealth future, wealth future earnings. Is there a, what is the secret formula, the balance between the two or does such a thing exist or is it bespoke for every individual?
Trish Gregory (16:15)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
⁓ definitely bespoke for every individual and it certainly depends. There is always that balance between cost and insurance and how much insurance is enough. Because we'd all love to have ten million dollars of life in total and permanent Sorry. I'll start that one again. We'd all love t
The Priority Lane (16:56)
Yep, OK.
Trish Gregory (16:58)
We'd all love to have 10
million of life in total and permanent disability insurance, right? Like so that if we passed away our family would be totally fine. But that comes at a cost. And so for everyone, what what we aim to do is show them is have a really personal conversation first of all about what's important to you. Is your house going to be suitable if you're in a wheelchair?
Do you have family nearby that are going to be able to support you? Are you all on your own? How old are your kids? Private or public school? Those sorts of things. So every single person is going to be different. There is a formula that we use, right? We have a fairly strict formula that depends on your information that you tell us. And then what we do is we talk with each client about well, here's what it we're
cost if you had everything. Every single thing that you've talked about, if we could solve all those problems. So if you were ill or injured and unable to work or you got cancer or something like that, financially you'd be okay and you just have to focus on the medical side of things.
But then people can make that decision, is that the right amount based on the cost, or should we take some insurance off to reduce the cost? Are you okay with self-insuring, taking on some of that risk yourself instead of sending that risk to the insurance company and paying for it?
The Priority Lane (18:25)
Okay, okay. Okay, so is there like a holy trinity of insurance cover, or is it just again, like would you say, okay, you wrote this, this and this, that's a starting point, and then we work from there, or is it again, based on each individual?
Trish Gregory (18:43)
look, there is ideally everyone's getting all of the insurance, right? ⁓ income protection, trauma insurance, child trauma insurance if you have kids, total and permanent disability and life insurance. most people, if they have default insurance in their super fund, have income protection, total and permanent disability, and life. So that's what people tend to think of when they think of this insurance these insurances.
When we think about like what should people have, ⁓ it's really about how much risk are you willing to take if something goes wrong? Income protection has one of the highest acceptance rates. Trauma insurance is has a lower acceptance rate, but it's still higher than total and permanent disability. Most people tend to look at insurance and say, well, what happens if I die?
How will I protect my loved ones? But they forget that it's more usually more expensive to be unable to work and still be alive. ⁓ so there's usually a lot of coaching around, well what happens if, what happens if
So that people can realise that actually we do have some savings, we do have some money in the offset, we might have an investment property we can sell. But if I was injured or ill and we did all of those things and I could never go back to work again, I'd still be screwed. So we we build ⁓ from can you get everything? If you can't get everything, what's going to be most important and most impactful?
The Priority Lane (20:22)
Okay, so I guess you go into a much deeper level than the holistic financial advisor in that circumstance and that's why they refer on to yourself.
Trish Gregory (20:32)
Yeah, yeah. Look, ⁓ not to throw f holistic financial advisors under the bus, a whole bunch of them do a really, really good job. It's just that it's one piece of their job, whereas it's our whole job. that's kind of the difference.
The Priority Lane (20:41)
Yep.
Yeah, yeah, like you're the specialist. Yeah, yeah. Now, ⁓ insurance ⁓ does seem to have an image problem at times, which no doubt you've encountered. Now, a ⁓ common comment around insurance is that ⁓ it's only worth something if something goes wrong.
Trish Gregory (20:47)
Yeah, exactly. that's right.
Doesn't it?
The Priority Lane (21:09)
which is I guess why it's there, is do you come up against that a lot or I'm guessing the people that come and see you have been referred to you or they're in the market for insurance anyway, so they've overcome that themselves. But is that something that comes up in the conversation and how do you counter that?
Trish Gregory (21:11)
Mm-hmm.
absolutely. I've certainly heard people say, well, this insurance was useless. I never got to claim you know, I never got the money from it and I've paid for it all of these years. And to that I say, you are so lucky. Because you've never had to claim on your insurance. You've never been ill or injured enough and had to claim on that insurance, my gosh, are you lucky? Because as as someone who ⁓ has lived with someone who had ten years out of the workforce because of their injury.
⁓ I can tell you that we would have much preferred that he stay in the workforce and not be injured and therefore not have the money. So
The Priority Lane (22:04)
Yeah.
Trish Gregory (22:06)
I I often use that that story, like the reason my partner and I were able to have our third child and buy our home was because he had a little income protection type policy and therefore we were okay for me to make the decision to become a financial advisor. We were okay to take risks because we had a little trickle of money coming in. But yeah, I mean, so some older people tend to think
They think it's unfair that insurance policies don't have a dollar value at the end like it used to be. There used to be you it was like an ⁓ insurance slash investment policy. Those don't exist anymore because insurance products are much insurance products are great and investment products are great and they don't need to be tied together like they used to be. But I tell my clients at the very, very beginning.
The Priority Lane (22:55)
right, okay.
Trish Gregory (22:59)
I hope you never have to claim on this. that is the goal. I am selling something I hope you never have to touch.
The Priority Lane (23:03)
well, that's it, isn't it?
Basically telling peace of mind, you can sleep at night.
Trish Gregory (23:11)
Ex exactly, it really is giving people peace of mind. And I you know I experience that personally. Not that I do anything particularly dangerous, but especially when a as a mother my mind goes to the worst case scenarios. And it's like that's okay, because even if the worst case scenario happens, my family will be okay financially. I'm a money person. I think about that all the time.
The Priority Lane (23:34)
So talking about perception, I went to AI. And so I asked common perceptions on insurance. And do want to hear what I got back, which you probably already know anyway. Okay, right. ⁓ He's a snapshot of a few. It's too expensive. I probably won't need it. It's too complicated. Insurers won't pay anyway. Insurance is about fear.
Trish Gregory (23:39)
Mm-hmm.
Go for it. Yes please.
Mm-hmm.
The Priority Lane (23:59)
and advisors only bring it up to sell something. Now, there were a few more, but there weren't any positive ones in there. They were all along the same vein. So how do these come up in conversation? Again, I know people are coming to you because they're, you're not out on the street corner in the shopping market giving out, know, PDSs. But how do you counter those conversations? Is it the same type of thing about using that example of, well, look what could happen?
Trish Gregory (24:19)
Yeah.
⁓ to a degree, yes, it is, because people
The way that we look at insurance is the old way of looking is you're building a house, right? Insurance is the foundation. You can build all the investments in the world. You can have investment properties, you can have amazing shares, you can have your super all set up. But if something happens and stops you from working, and if something happens and you need to pay for it from a medical perspective and it's quite expensive, what are you going to do?
So when I talk to people about the risk
I need to help them understand the risk of doing nothing has a real tangible issue if something happens to them. Statistically, it's not going to happen to them. I see it all the time when it does happen to people, unfortunately. So things like it's too expensive. well, it depends on what job you do and how old you are and how sick you are. I can get people really good quality income protection, life insurance, total and permanent disability, and trauma insurance for like under.
$2,000 and most of that's coming from your super. Like it can be really, really affordable, and I always try and find the most affordable. You can have bells and whistles, you can have the basics. ⁓ the I don't need I probably won't need it. Sure, you probably won't. But what if you do? Are you going to start a GoFundMe? How many people are gonna pay for that GoFundMe? Are you gonna live on your mum's couch forever?
The Priority Lane (26:05)
Yeah, which I mean, it's funny everyone no one balks at getting car insurance. You get a car you get car insurance. Yes.
Trish Gregory (26:05)
Not sure about that.
Pet insurance. People get pet
insurance. Their pet is not making them money. one way that we do this is we show people the impact of their income.
So people say, I'm earning $100,000 a year, you know, I'll be fine for a couple of years. And we go, yeah, but what happens if you can't work until age 65? that might be $2 million, $3 million, $4 million if you never earned a pay rise. And that can really help people visualize, ⁓ actually that's quite a lot of money that I'm missing out on. And this $2,000, $5,000, $10,000, whatever it is, policy, actually, if I need to claim, I'm gonna get back way more.
And I can direct people to our website of all the claims that we have helped. ⁓ people on
The Priority Lane (27:01)
Yeah, yeah, I that on your website. So basically, it's just common sense really, isn't it? It's, yeah, you're insuring your car and look, fine, if you don't claim on it, well, you've led a pretty happy and carefree life.
Trish Gregory (27:15)
Exactly, that's right. Like we don't wear seatbelts when we drive a car because we hope we get in an accident. We we do it because in that moment in time, if you get in an accident, it's too late to put your seatbelt on. It's the same thing with insurance. Most people look at their insurance when they have a claim, and by that point it is too late to do anything about it. You get what you get and you don't get upset. well, you can probably get upset. that's what I tell my kids when they don't want to eat their veggies.
The Priority Lane (27:20)
No, that's true.
Yep.
So is there, so one fairly there's that sort of negative perception, I guess, or is the industry as a body, are they working on changing this perception and how do they do that?
Trish Gregory (28:00)
Yeah, absolutely. Look, it's a I find that anyone who has ⁓ dealt with a good financial advisor loves the profession. Loves financial advisors, thinks what they do is amazing, loves insurance advisors. And everyone that I know, everyone that I'm surrounded with are all amazing people who do amazing things and just want to help. You know, you had Kira Sharak and you had
who else did you have on? Nicola, that's right. I'll start again. You had Kira, you had Nicola on the last two episodes, and they are both amazing people who all they want to do is help. And that put that came through quite strong in their podcast episodes. that's all the people I know in this profession.
The Priority Lane (28:25)
Nicola.
Trish Gregory (28:44)
So, what we're doing from a perception side of things, there's a group called ⁓ Cali, Accounts of Australian Life Insurers. They put out a lot of ⁓ information and white papers and statistics. And if you actually look at the numbers, you'll see that the insurers are doing the right thing, right? They're staying solvent, which is very important for longevity. They're making sure that they pay out claims, and they're trying to keep their policies as affordable as possible.
⁓ unfortunately life insurance is getting more expensive.
One of the issues is that the commission rate for ⁓ what insurers paid to advisors went down. So a lot of advisors stopped doing insurance because they weren't getting paid as much. ⁓ it used to be 110% of upfront commissions the advisor would receive in the first year. Now it's 66%. that's counted from New Zealand, it's like 250% commissions. I think that's a bit outrageous.
The Priority Lane (29:45)
wow.
Yeah, yeah.
Trish Gregory (29:48)
but but that's just how you get paid because people especially the younger people like they need the insurance. They can't afford four, five, six can't afford four, five, six thousand dollars to pay the advisor to put the insurance in place.
The Priority Lane (30:06)
Yeah, yeah, okay, okay. So have you found like there's different attitudes to insurance from different groups in the community, whether that be gender based, cultural based, age based, or is it pretty much well, everyone's got the same type of attitude towards insurance?
Trish Gregory (30:27)
Mm, I find that the people come to ⁓ who come to me have ⁓ a healthy level of scepticism.
The Priority Lane (30:35)
Mm-hmm.
Trish Gregory (30:37)
But they don't, you know, they haven't written it off, obviously, or they wouldn't be there. And then once it's explained to them the difference it can make in their lives, if they need to claim, they tend to be quite, quite on board. They don't stress, they're like, actually this will help reduce my stress. This will mean that no matter what happens, I'll be okay. ⁓ so
Yeah, most people th there's varying levels of scepticism, right? Like when I was younger I thought insurance was a scam. So I can understand that other people think insurance is a scam. I thought insurance was a scam and my partner had just gone on his mental his
The Priority Lane (31:08)
You
Trish Gregory (31:20)
I thought insurance was a scam and my partner had just gone essentially on his income protection claim, which is hilarious, and I hear that cognitive dissonance all the time. ⁓ and then, you know, you sort of realise, no, the reason we can live our life is because he has an income protection claim. This is bizarre. Why did I think this way? So you know, it's I understand I understand that ⁓ this profession has gone through
The Priority Lane (31:40)
You
Yeah, well, I...
Yes.
Trish Gregory (31:50)
a lot, right? We had a Royal Commission in twenty eighteen, which brought out the worst of the worst. It was really talking about all the things that went wrong in the industry. And
It all and then we had a lot of legislative changes. We brought in the degree requirements, we took away the ability to ⁓ receive payments from superannuation and investments ⁓ or commissions rather. ⁓ and so now we're at this point where really the only people left by a a decently large majority are the people that want to help. And so the perception is shifting over time.
I know I'm good. I know the people that I believe I'm good. I should say no. You never know. I'm sure every psycho thinks that they're wonderful.
The Priority Lane (32:34)
You
Trish Gregory (32:38)
But but I know that the people that I surround myself with are really good people who who just want to help. And so from a perception perspective, it's really just a one client by one client getting to know their advisor, becoming really comfortable, feeling safe, feeling like they're on their side. And I think every advisor ⁓ has a part to play in that. You know, my goal is to make people feel comfortable. They talk about some really ⁓
Mm.
awkward medical things and it's just like it an everyday for me. I'm like, yep, tell me tell me all of the weird and wonderful things that have happened to your body and your mind. ⁓ so I can note them down and I can deal with them. And I think it's just quite ⁓ takes people's guard down. They don't stress as much. They're like, yeah it's just very practical and important information and a very safe space. So they they tend to open up and not stress too much, which is lovely because they shouldn't.
The Priority Lane (33:39)
Yeah, and I mean that's one thing. Because people are generally guarded about that type of information. Obviously on your side, there's got to be a great skill set for yourself of how to draw that information, make people comfortable, create an environment where they're comfortable talking about those things because they're deeply personal. do you get a...
Trish Gregory (33:48)
yeah.
The Priority Lane (34:03)
Do you sense there's a fear of being judged when they're telling you these things? Like they're worried about you may judge them or anything? Because there's a lot of deep personal stuff you need to dig through.
Trish Gregory (34:15)
There is. ⁓ I don't know if I've ever noticed anyone feeling n ⁓ look.
The Priority Lane (34:20)
You probably will from now on.
Trish Gregory (34:22)
Looking looking like they do I do everything
virtually, so maybe that's easier for them that they feel like they've still got that little bit of a safety guard there. ⁓ I do find that people won't put everything in the questionnaire that we send them beforehand. And then when I explain to the importance of me knowing literally everything, they tend to open up. ⁓ I haven't I know in the past when I wasn't a specialist, I have had people say, Look, I'll just tell the insurer, I won't tell you and I'm like that
that's cool, that's fine. ⁓ but now that I'm a specialist and we do things a bit different, yeah, everyone everyone just opens up. They just tell me all of their deepest and darkest issues, and I go, okay, cool. that's cool. I'll see what the insurer says.
The Priority Lane (35:04)
You can write a great book about this. ⁓
Now, AI is creeping into a lot of industries or marching into a lot of industries. Is it playing a role in the insurance industry at all at this stage?
Trish Gregory (35:23)
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely. ⁓ we use it from a a business perspective. ⁓ we find it incredibly helpful for some more ⁓ complex medical scenarios. So when people are telling us quite a complex medical situation, ⁓ they're rattling off all of the information. ⁓
and you know we need to get specific information to tell the insurer. We're finding that quite handy to disseminate a whole conversation into something that the insurer needs to see. The insurers are doing things like ⁓ I mean I'm not sure if it's AI or if it's just really good coding. Who knows? I'm not behind the scenes.
The Priority Lane (36:04)
you
Trish Gregory (36:05)
⁓ but I but they there are a bunch of times where I can get an automatic acceptance for an insurance policy.
Because ⁓ the person hits the parameters that it's not an issue for the insurer. So I imagine there's some AI engine behind the scenes there saying all of these things are non-problematic. So yes, we'll just go ahead and give you the insurance straight up. ⁓ it is certainly becoming more prolific, I have noticed. You know, every single conference you go to, there's something about AI. Every single conversation you have, there's something about AI.
The Priority Lane (36:40)
Hmm.
Trish Gregory (36:41)
I think the big things there is the safety and security aspect because as financial advisors we deal with such personal information with clients to make sure that their very, very sensitive personal information is kept very, very safe.
The Priority Lane (37:00)
Yeah, I mean that you're right. that's big concern, isn't it? So looking ahead, the future of insurance, where do you see it heading? Lives are becoming more complex. How do you see the insurance industry in say 10, 15 years from now?
Trish Gregory (37:20)
Mm-hmm. well, to start with, I'm hoping the commissions will be a little bit higher, like eighty-eight percent, so that more people will feel comfortable ⁓ doing insurance. So look, you know, give them a little bit more money, which means that we can have more people getting insured because there's more people able to support them. that would be lovely. ⁓ I think
There will be at the moment the large majority of total and permanent disability and income protection claims are because of mental health, mental ill health. And I think that's only going to continue because we are so much more aware of it these days. and also life seems to be getting so much harder. ⁓ I think I
The Priority Lane (38:02)
Mm.
Trish Gregory (38:07)
truly believe that you should have a specialist insurance advisor if you're going to be doing insurance, whether that's an in-house person who just does the insurance side of things or whether that's you refer out to a specialist.
because having seen both sides of the coin, I think you get a much better service from someone who whose whole focus is just insurance because every single policy is a tiny bit different, every single PDS, those lovely documents, ⁓ is a tiny bit different. They all have their sweet spot. so that is definitely what I think the industry should become.
Compl will it become more complex? I don't know. The insurance continues to consolidate, is the challenge. So there's like one insurer that is three insurances, and there's another insurer that's buying another one, so there'll be three insurers with one insurer. And so they can't. I think there used to be like 50 when the insurance industry started before before my time, and now there's six.
The Priority Lane (39:17)
OK.
Trish Gregory (39:17)
And soon there'll
be five. well, there's seven and now there'll be six. So we hopefully we will see that the insurers, ⁓ we don't just have one or two. We don't want to have a Coles Woolies situation here. We want to we want to have competition. ⁓ but I definitely don't think it's going anywhere. We just may find that
The Priority Lane (39:31)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Trish Gregory (39:43)
It's really only in the space of the specialists in the future.
The Priority Lane (39:47)
well, it sort of makes sense.
as industries or technology or anything, as it evolves, it becomes more specialized. So therefore you need specialists. I mean, we don't have, you know, a GP doing everything. ⁓ You know, you have your specialist. So yeah, yeah. Now we're going to get a bit more serious now. ⁓ Yeah, here we go. Okay. Okay. So serious hats on. So what I've done, I've ⁓
Trish Gregory (39:58)
Mm.
okay, let's go.
The Priority Lane (40:13)
We've been talking a bit about perception, obviously. So ⁓ I, from our chat we had the other day and from, you know, just talking to people, I've personified insurance specialists in my mind, okay? So I've got a character or a personification of insurance in my mind and what that looks like and what they do. And I've asked AI to come up with three movies.
Trish Gregory (40:28)
Ha ha ha
Mm-hmm.
The Priority Lane (40:41)
that match this personification that I've come up with, okay? And I'm gonna ask you to see, I'll read out the movies to you. I'm gonna ask you to see if you can find the common thread, whether you can unravel what's going on in my head. So a bit of a tough ask, but we'll see how we go. So you're ready. Okay. Drum roll. Movie number one, Dave Made A Maze. Movie number two.
Trish Gregory (40:50)
Mm-hmm.
Let's go. Yes, go for it. Drumroll. Can we do a drum roll?
Da what what is the movie?
Dave Made a Maze.
The Priority Lane (41:14)
Dave Made a Maze, obviously very popular, no doubt one of your top three movies. ⁓ Second movie, John Dies at the End. ⁓ Third movie, Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension. Now I've got three seconds, do have any comments? Look, I'm sorry, AI said you knew these movies.
Trish Gregory (41:31)
What?
The Priority Lane (41:42)
Do you me to read them again? Okay,
Trish Gregory (41:43)
They are very niche and no.
The Priority Lane (41:49)
look, I do have a backup list that you may be familiar with. Okay, let's try these ones. Ghostbusters. Number two, Jurassic Park. You've heard of that one? Yeah, Jurassic Park, heard of that one?
Trish Gregory (41:51)
Okay. Whew whew, thank you.
Mm-hmm. Heard of that one. Fantastic. Uh-huh. Yep. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
The Priority Lane (42:04)
and probably
the biggest of them all, although this one did go straight to video, it wasn't at the cinemas. ⁓ Scooby-Doo, the legend of the phantosaur.
Trish Gregory (42:14)
okay. well I might stick with Scooby-Doo in general because I don't think I've seen that specific one. ⁓ but I know the premise of Scooby-Doo. We love Scooby-Doo. Take me back to my youth. Okay. so the question was like what is the what ha what do they have in common with their risk advisor?
The Priority Lane (42:21)
right?
you
It's a like the common thread.
Yeah, so basically, I looked at what happened in these movies and kind of like, yeah, overall what happened in these movies and I saw insurance specialists reflecting the heroes in the movie. Can I say it that way?
Trish Gregory (42:42)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mmm.
Mmm. well, if we think about like Ghostbusters, ⁓ people kind of don't take them seriously until there's a huge problem or a big ⁓ Michelin man type thing going down. ⁓ in Jurassic Park they all think they can do everything perfectly until it all falls apart. And then Scooby-Doo, it's
The Priority Lane (43:07)
you
Trish Gregory (43:19)
you know, there everything's always being dismissed as like harmless or fake until, you know, someone has to deal with the consequences. So realistically, this is what insurance specialists deal with every single day, right? Like the risks are real. The consequences of not being believed or not or ignoring the risk can be life altering. But most people don't see the urgency because it hasn't happened to them yet.
The Priority Lane (43:49)
Yeah, yeah. well, that's... Go on.
Trish Gregory (43:50)
⁓ so I think
I I think what this is is ⁓ people like if we talk about it from an insurance perspective, people assume that they'll be fine. Like all of these movies, they think it won't happen to me, I'll deal with it later, I'll tick that box at some point, ⁓ until something serious happens and then it's very, very real. ⁓
Dinosaurs chasing you, ⁓ a ghost is trying to, you know, cover you with slime, ⁓ or the evil person is behind the trapdoor. ⁓ so the the thing is we're very much like all of those because we step in before the chaos. We try and because all of these are invisible risks, right? Like those invisible risks
The Priority Lane (44:24)
you
Wow.
You're really good at this.
Trish Gregory (44:43)
are are invisible until something happens. And so we help people translate those invisible risks into a plan. Because life is not like the movies. Real stuff can go wrong and you don't just get to like rewind and start from the beginning again. Is that a good answer?
The Priority Lane (45:02)
Wow, wow, that is really impressive.
that is a fantastic answer. ⁓ Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you the...
Trish Gregory (45:07)
Good I'm glad we had
I'm I'm glad we had a second go at the movies 'cause those first ones I would not have could not have had that answer.
The Priority Lane (45:18)
No, look, I have to say, after I got these three, I said, can you give me three really bizarre movies with weird titles that no one's ever heard of?
Trish Gregory (45:28)
good, good. It's not just me that's out of date.
The Priority Lane (45:33)
Yeah, I mean, John dies at the end. I think I know what happens in that one. But the answer that it gave me with the movies is pretty much what you said. Insurance specialists can be a bit like the underrated character in a movie. The one people don't pay much attention to until the critical moment. And then it turns out they're absolutely essential.
Trish Gregory (45:37)
Mm mm.
We'll go for it.
Yep. Sounds about right. Yep, no and nobody wants to believe them. Everyone's no, it'll be fine. It's the Aussie way. She'll be right. She'll be right.
The Priority Lane (46:00)
So.
Yeah, she'll be right. She'll be right. So
look, excellent work on that. Congratulations. that was very good. Now just to finish up. Yes, just to finish up. So we normally go to what 30 minutes, 40 minutes. We've gone over again, but it's been a fantastic chat. So thank you. No, no, no, not at all. I could have stopped at any time. So don't worry. ⁓ Where are we? Okay.
Trish Gregory (46:12)
well thank you. Good choices, AI. well done.
⁓ no, sorry.
The Priority Lane (46:34)
One last question for you. What is the one thing you'd say about the importance of insurance and the one bit of advice you could give our listeners about finding the right insurance specialist for them?
Trish Gregory (46:46)
Mm-hmm. So the one thing I'd say about the importance of insurance is what I s said before is you you most people look at insurance when they have a claim, which is too late. So the idea is
It's c most people think about it saying getting insurance when they say when I have a mortgage and I have kids because then I'll worry about insurance because they're thinking of the life insurance. But actually the way to do it is to get the insurance when you are so healthy and you think nothing is going to go wrong for you, because that's when you're going to get the best medical outcome and you're going to lock in really good insurance that is going to hold you steady for the long term through all of the ebbs and flows. Because I don't know about you, but I've
I find that as you age the body just starts to do really silly things, Nigel. It might just be a woman thing, but you know, the creaks and the groans and the blood test that isn't quite right and then the perimenopause and obviously you wouldn't have experienced that sort of thing. directly, maybe indirectly. So if you can get insurance young, do. My partner had his first spinal surgery at 25 years old.
The Priority Lane (47:39)
Yes.
you
Trish Gregory (47:59)
He did not think he was going to need spinal surgery at twenty five years old, but thankfully he was already had that insurance sorted.
And one bit of advice to give the listeners about finding the right insurance specialist for them. ⁓ I would say insurance advice is not expensive, right? We cost $330 for you from you, and then we take commission. So most insurers will take commission and therefore charge you a little bit. It might be a couple of hundred dollars, it might be a thousand or two dollars. The best place to go
is advisoratings.com.au you can you can filter by your area if that's important to you. Most people tend to be remote these days, so it doesn't necessarily matter. But you can filter by your area, you can filter by the specialisation and you can see the reviews that their real clients have given them as well as their information about them.
The Priority Lane (48:44)
Mm-hmm.
Trish Gregory (48:57)
And that can be really helpful for just narrowing down if you don't already have someone that knows a really good insurance specialist. that's the way to narrow down who you want to look at the website of or check out on social media.
The Priority Lane (49:13)
Yep, okay.
Trish Gregory (49:13)
They don't have a social presence. ⁓
It may be that they're just old school. It may be that actually there's a reason why. I think most financial advisors these days tend to have a social presence, but advisoratings.com.au is an amazing resource, not just for an insurance specialist, but overall for any financial advisor who's on the ASIC register.
The Priority Lane (49:25)
Yep.
Okay, okay, great. And well, as he said, over the last decade or so, a lot of the less desirable advisors have been weeded out from the industry and the the good ones are left. Lastly, the amazing ones are less sorry. Yes, yes, yes, of course. Okay, Trish, look, it's been an absolute pleasure having you on the podcast. Thank you for taking the time to have a chat with us today. And look,
Trish Gregory (49:44)
Yeah.
Amazing ones are left, exactly, that's right.
The Priority Lane (50:03)
All the best with everything that you're doing.
Trish Gregory (50:07)
Thank you so much. It was lovely to chat with you, Nigel. Thank you for having me on and have a wonderful rest of your day.
The Priority Lane (50:12)
I will do my best and you too and everyone else. Look forward to seeing you on next week's episode of the Priority Lane podcast. Thank you.
Trish Gregory (50:19)
Alright.
Bye.