OpinionJul 1 2015

Gospel of James

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Gospel of James
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Sometimes it is a privilege to be a journalist specialising in the complicated world of personal finance. Not always, especially when threatening legal letters come winging your way in response to something you’ve written. But sometimes.

I say this because occasionally you (as a journalist) get to meet – or speak to – quite extraordinary people. Individuals whom maybe you do not really deserve to meet but have the opportunity to do so because you are a member of the Fifth Estate.

Some are super stars who blow your mind away  – sporting icons such as Dame Kelly Holmes who I had the pleasure of talking to at a splendid event recently hosted by Just Retirement to mark their 10th anniversary (a picture of the two of us adorns my wall at work and will do so until I vacate it). What an amazing person – and nice with it.

Others are legendary practitioners such as Alan Steel of Alan Steel Asset Management who remains as fervent and excited about quality financial advice today as he did when he set up his eponymous business 40 years ago. He is a Scottish whirlwind.

Spend 20 minutes in his company and you will understand what I am saying. If only more financial advisers shared his enthusiasm for life and his profession.

His energy should be bottled and sold to practitioners thinking of giving up  the ghost after the latest 10 per cent fee hike imposed by the FCA.

And then, most striking of all, there are people out there who make you (that is, me) realise how fragile – but beautiful – life is, and that in a country where financial services is generally denigrated, some financial products are still worth their weight in gold.

If only we sung about these products as enthusiastically as we sing “All things bright and beautiful” on a Sunday morning while the vicar prepares to deliver his sermon and the woodpecker hammers away in the wood outside (life is good where I live).

The insurance in question is financial protection – cover that last week the mighty Aviva said families had less of than pet insurance

So, step forward James Lindon-Travers, a mortgage broker who until 10 days ago I had never had the privilege of speaking to. Wow, did he leave an indelible mark on me.

He has diced with death, dealt with death (tragically so) but come out the other end – his finances protected by insurance that most advisers do not bother to sell and consumers are not interested in purchasing.

The insurance in question is financial protection – cover that last week the mighty Aviva said families had less of than pet insurance.

While one in five households have pet insurance, only 8 per cent possess income protection cover and 11 per cent critical illness insurance.

Alarming statistics do you not think? Especially given the fact that less than half of British households possess a pet while we have all beating hearts. Eighty per cent of households are barking mad.

James, 50, is a self-made businessman. On the surface, he has got it all: a long-standing business, a strong marriage, two wonderful children in their teens both privately educated, a magnificent house in Surrey and a whippet called Brian who would give Dame Kelly a good run for her money (now – not necessarily in her prime).

Yet, scratch a little deeper and you soon realise there is more to James than meets the eye. Two years ago, he lost his 14-year-old autistic son George as a result of a colloid cyst on the brain.

In typical James fashion, he now pays homage to his beloved George by sponsoring a race at Sandown Park in Surrey, in the process raising money for four charities close to his heart.

A couple of weeks ago, £30,000 was donated by guests attending the George Lindon-Travers Memorial Handicap, adding to the £30,000 from last year’s event.

James has had his own dice with death. In May last year, he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. One almighty operation later, resulting in a 3.5 centimetre tumour being removed as well as 35 centimetres of colon, he’s now fighting back.

Back in hospital last week to have a ileostomy bag removed, he told me – in his typical upbeat way – that he has a 75 per cent chance of the cancer not returning.

Life is good, he said, and he was looking forward to returning home and having a glass of chilled chardonnay with wife Julia.

It has been a battle and a half. But it has all been made a little easier by the fact that 13 years ago, he purchased a critical illness policy just in case anything like nasty bowel cancer came along to derail his life.

The maths is simple. In return for £23,000 paid in premiums, he has received a tax-free pay-out of £400,000. A reassuring financial cushion at a time of great upheaval in his life.

As a mortgage broker, James sells financial protection insurance for a living. But despite his passion for the cover, he is unable to convince three in four borrowers of its importance.

Maybe, once he is back at work, and fortified by his own experience, he will be able to urge more of his clients to protect their finances.

I truly hope so because the facts are straightforward. A third of us will get cancer at some stage in our lives – but most of us will have little or no protection in place to provide a financial comfort blanket at a time of great stress.

To all you mortgage brokers and financial advisers out there, make it your duty to protect your clients. If in doubt, speak to the extraordinary James Lindon-Travers.

Jeff Prestridge is personal financial editor of the Mail on Sunday