What advice can you offer your old whole of life clients?

Most Registered Financial Advisers (RFAs) have figured out that clients with whole of life policies issued before 1 January 2009 can be retained. But what, exactly, can you tell those clients?

Obviously you cannot talk to them about increasing their contracts - as that would be the sale of an addition to a category one contract - in fact, usually a separate contract altogether, clearly a category one product, and that would require you to be an appropriately qualified AFA. But what about other servicing tasks?

Mostly these contracts are being retained for two reasons: either they are so old that they are now accumulating bonuses quite quickly, and so to cancel them would cut off a good return on the next year's premium, or alternatively the life insured has medical reasons for retaining the cover, whatever the cost.

But both of these questions relates to the critical question of whether or not to dispose of the contract. Advice on disposal of the contract could constitute new advice, not merely servicing the old contract, and would therefore be a service on a category 1 product. For that you also need to be an appropriately qualified AFA.