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[00:00:00] John Adams: That's really what differentiates our business with respect to working with middle-income Canadians. Anxiety doesn't turn into action. Confidence turns into action. Once you get a plan of action in place, then all of a sudden the confidence increases and the anxiety starts to go down. 

[00:00:22] Paul Lucas: Hello everyone and welcome to Insurance Business TV as we meet one of the Insurance Business Canada Awards Excellence Awardees. Now, back in November, Primerica Life Insurance Company of Canada was an excellence awardee in both Life and Health Insurer of the Year and the Securium Canada Award for Outstanding Customer Service. Today, we find out how it achieved that double nomination and what it's doing to differentiate itself in the new age of customer prioritization. And in particular, what role does tech and human interaction play in that success? And to do that, we welcome the company's Chief Executive Officer for Canada, John Adams. John, welcome to Insurance Business TV. 

[00:01:03] John Adams: Thank you, Paul. It's great to be with you today, and it's an honour to achieve the award that we did through Insurance Business Canada. So, really appreciate this opportunity. 

[00:01:13] Paul Lucas: Very glad to have you with us. And John, recently you conducted a survey that shows that 68% of middle-income Canadians are not interested in using AI tools for personal financial tasks. So, What do you think is driving that resistance and how should the financial services industry respond to it? 

[00:01:33] John Adams: I think, Paul, first of all, it's so new and there's so many things going on in the cyber world, particularly around scams and things like that. And not necessarily with AI, but as a result, there's a lot of lack of trust out there, how information is going to be used and protected. and just a very circumspect view. we got from our interviews of middle-income Canadians. 

[00:02:00] Paul Lucas: And you've said that there's a preference for human guidance, and then that shows just how much they value trusted, personal guidance in challenging times. So just tell us a little bit, what do you think specifically are human advisors providing that Canadians perhaps don't feel that they're getting from those AI-driven tools? 

[00:02:20] John Adams: I think in addition to what I said earlier, Paul, it's being able to sit down with a family and working through their specific situation. So for example, what's their debt situation? What's their retirement situation? How about the kid's education? Do they have aging parents to deal with? Working through all of those things specifically with a family, coming up with a plan of action to address them, and then over time working with that family and staying with them so that they achieve those goals or at least help them achieve those goals. They have an understanding that there's a trusted advisor there working for them in their interests in a plan that's specifically set out for them. And I think that's the real differentiator, Paul, that this is done over a period of time and working with that specific advisor. And to us, that's really what differentiates our business with respect to working with middle income Canadians. 

[00:03:20] Paul Lucas: Yeah, you can't put a price on that relationship, absolutely. But just to dive a little bit deeper into that survey, if I can, it also finds that 87% of middle-income households are worried about paying more for everyday essentials, and indeed 71% fear that they won't have enough money to retire when they want to. But only 16%, just to keep those percentages going, are engaged in all five core financial preparedness behaviours. So how do you explain that gap? between anxiety and action? 

[00:03:53] John Adams: I think, Paul, to start with, anxiety doesn't turn into action. Confidence turns into action. So when you have somebody worried about the increasing costs of food, the difficulty in Canada of obtaining a home and paying for a home or paying the rent, other uncertainties in the world, it just creates anxiety and worry and not knowing where to turn. And so I think that's what we're seeing, that people don't know what to do, what to turn, and they just worry about it. And I'll say they're frozen, don't know how to move forward. 

[00:04:32] Paul Lucas: One of the ways perhaps to ease some of that anxiety is to work with a licensed financial professional. And you, of course, found out that those who do work with those professionals are significantly more likely to score a B or higher on your financial security scorecard. you Can you walk us through what those advisors are doing differently that seems to move the needle in terms of those real world outcomes? 

[00:04:55] John Adams: I think, Paul, it's coming up with a plan of action, something that's very specific and can be worked on and monitoring that over time. So putting that in front of a family in a very objective way, not having that anxiety at the table, but working with them on that, putting it in front of them, and then over time, seeing how they progress through that. Once you get a plan of action in place, then all of a sudden, confidence increases. And the anxiety starts to go down. And people can move forward and say, have a few wins there and start to see progress in a positive way towards their goal. And once you have that confidence going, then the uncertainty starts to slip away and results happen, good results. 

[00:05:43] Paul Lucas: I'm just going to quote your survey at you one more time, if you don't mind, John. It does suggest that access to trusted financial advice is more important than ever. and securing it should be within the reach of everyone. That is the quote from the survey. So what changes, either from industry players like Primerica or from policymakers, are needed to ensure that middle-income Canadians can actually access that advice? 

[00:06:08] John Adams: Well, like everything else, Paul, things are becoming more and more complex and more and more costly. There's a cost of compliance there. So first of all, I think a balanced regulatory environment. There's no doubt. that we have to operate in a regulated environment. I'm not questioning that at all. In fact, we couldn't operate without being in that environment. But there's a balance. Making sure we have the right regulations for the right protections in place to protect middle-income Canadians, but not going too far, not having regulations that really aren't achieving any goals. So having that right balance is the first thing. And the second is doing something on a cost-effective basis. it's getting more and more difficult to achieve everything that we need to do. And so working with people with the right products at the right price and the right things that they need to move forward, making sure that they can achieve those on a cost-effective basis, those are the really two things that stick out for me, Paul. 

[00:07:07] Paul Lucas: Yeah, let's hope that the regulators are listening today. Fantastic tips from you, John. Huge thanks for your time. And indeed, congratulations again to... Primerica Life Insurance Company of Canada for its double excellence awardee success. 

[00:07:23] John Adams: Thank you, Paul, for your time today. Nice to meet you. Greatly appreciate it. And thanks to Insurance Business Canada for the great honor that we achieved. 

[00:07:31] Paul Lucas: And for more of the industry's very best, well, keep it right here on Insurance Business TV.