Is it time to call in the star players?

One nil down, two-one up. While the whereabouts of the special one’s pooch was the highlight of the footballing weekend, I for one found a myriad of additional things to occupy my time during this season’s so called ‘show-piece’.

I played poker on-line, golf on my phone, read the weekend’s press - well some of it - and caught up with a few friends by text message. In fact, I realised that if all football matches were this dull I could do so much more with my life!

Of course like many I switched back and forth between the cricket and the cup final, hoping that when I returned to the football one of the teams, north or south, would break with tradition and make some kind of attempt to actually score a goal and win the game.

But unless the opposition are woefully naïve or hopeless at the back - or perhaps both - 4-5-1 is not an attacking formation, especially when both teams cancel each other out. Neither is it 4-3-3, as was often described by the TV ‘experts’. Sticking one man up front and knocking the ball long every time, presuming you could keep possession long enough to do so, is not the beautiful game.

So, what was more tedious last weekend – watching the FA Cup Final, cutting the grass or selling a bit of financial protection? For most, even the die hard footie fan, this is probably a close call.

In terms of pure entertainment for the neutral, this year’s FA Cup final was the protection industry equivalent of family income benefit sales – disappointing. This frankly stunning analogy got me thinking. Do we take protection seriously enough?

Has the protection industry been playing a 4-51 formation for all these years? Is our industry’s lack of innovation and advertising matched by our customer’s apathetic attitude to our products? Instead, could we go on the attack?

Could we throw on our expensive substitute Pedro Adverto? Pedro’s family have faired well in other financial services areas but for some reason product providers are reluctant to give him a chance in protection.

Sitting next to Pedro on the bench is Inno van der Vation. There are lots of players just like Inno in the league; bright, talented and different, who never quite make it to the field because the powers that be just don’t trust them. If they can’t guarantee a hat-trick on their debut the manager won’t take the risk of playing them.

Of course, the one thing both sides got right in the cup final, well for 115 minutes, was their defence, and like any defence financial protection is the foundation which everything else is built upon. Sound financial planning is as much about looking to protect the client’s vulnerabilities as it is about maximising their investment return.

Protection might be as dull as watching Chelsea, but as with any defence if we don’t get it right the rest might just not matter at all.

Kevin Carr is head of protection strategy at Lifesearch.

The views expressed are those of the author and not those of the company he represents.