Protect
Risk Assessment
A risk assessment measures the distance between the cover you hold and the cover your family would actually need if your income stopped tomorrow. It covers life, health and the emergency fund that sits underneath both. Most people discover they are either badly underinsured or paying for cover that does very little.
Who this is for
- Anyone whose family would struggle financially if their income stopped
- People holding several old policies nobody has reviewed against current income
- Households relying entirely on employer health cover
You will leave with
- A requirement figure based on your obligations, not on a rule of thumb
- A plain summary of what each existing policy actually does
- The size of the gap, and what it would realistically cost to close
How it works
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Work out the requirement
What would actually have to be paid for: outstanding loans, years of household running costs, a child's remaining education, and a buffer. That total is the requirement, before looking at a single policy.
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Audit what you hold
Every policy, what it actually pays out, what it excludes, and what it costs. Investment linked policies get separated into their protection part and their investment part, because they are usually poor at both.
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Show the gap
Requirement minus existing cover. If the answer is negative, you are over-insured and we will say so. If it is a large positive number, that is the thing to fix before anything about investing is worth discussing.
Protection comes before growth
There is an order to this, and it gets ignored constantly. A carefully built portfolio does not survive one uninsured hospital admission or one earning member’s death with a home loan outstanding.
So the risk review comes first. Not because insurance is exciting, but because everything else you build sits on top of it.
Cover is sized against obligations, not salary
The common shortcut is a multiple of annual income. It is quick, and it is arbitrary.
The more defensible method starts from what would actually have to be paid if you were not there: the loans that must be cleared, the number of years your household needs running costs for, the education you have already committed to. Add those, subtract what you already hold, and the remainder is the honest gap. Sometimes it is far larger than a salary multiple would suggest. Sometimes it turns out you are already covered and can stop worrying about it.
What you should expect us to tell you
That some of your existing cover is fine and should be kept. That a policy bought for the tax deduction fifteen years ago is doing very little and you should understand what you are paying for. And where a gap is real, what closing it costs.
Insurance is distributed under separate regulatory arrangements from mutual funds, which is set out on our disclosures page. Cover, exclusions and claim outcomes are determined by the policy document issued by the insurer, not by any summary here.
What should you prepare for this conversation?
List dependants, outstanding loans, household spending and existing policies, including employer cover. Check policy schedules for cover amounts and end dates. The aim is to identify an uncovered obligation before comparing new policies.
Work through the obligations method. See how the first meeting works and how Harbla Finserv is paid before booking.
Updated 10 September 2026 · Contact Pardeep Yadav
Common questions
How much life cover do I actually need?
Enough to clear outstanding debt, fund your family's running costs for the years they would need, and cover any remaining education commitment, minus what you already hold. Multiples of salary are a rough shortcut; the obligations method is more defensible because it starts from what would actually have to be paid.
Is employer health cover enough?
It is a good start and a fragile one, because it usually ends when the job does, often at the worst possible moment. It also tends to be sized for an individual rather than an ageing parent or a growing family.
Are investment-linked policies bad?
Not universally, but they should be judged separately as protection and as investment. Sold as one product, a weak version of each is easy to hide. We separate the two so you can see what you are paying for.
Explore before you decide
Try a related calculator or explore another assessment.
Talk it through.
Ask about suitability, costs or the next steps for your situation. Leave your name and number to discuss this topic; you do not need to choose a product to get in touch.
Not sure what to ask? Start with what you want to achieve and when you might need the money. Read how we are paid before deciding.