AM Best Interview: PRMSbyHerSide

Celia Santana, President and CEO of Personal Risk Management Solutions and founder of PRMSbyHerSide was interviewed by Lori Chortas for AM Best TV.

Welcome to AM Best Audio. Each year, millions of women face life-altering transitions, such as divorce or widowhood, and it is important that they receive the support, empathetic guidance, and insurance coverages they need to navigate those transitions. Personal Risk Management Solutions recently launched PRMSbyHerSide, a new initiative spearheaded by its female-led executive team to help bridge the gap in property and casualty insurance services available in the market to women-led households, particularly those navigating significant life transitions. I'm Laurie Chortas for AM Best TV. And joining us now to discuss that is Personal Risk Management Solutions President and CEO, Celia Santana. Celia, welcome. It's wonderful to see you. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Celia, can you tell us about PRMS By Her Side and how the idea for it came about?

Sure. So, Laurie, I guess I founded my company about 17 years ago, and early on in our business life, we had a situation with a client who was getting divorced and we did not have experience with the wife, but the wife called and said, hey, I'm not going to leave you just because he's a jerk. And that planted the seed in my mind. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. This is an opportunity for us.

So that was sort of where it all started. But we also work with many wealth advisors and trusted advisors that focus in this area. So those two things coupled with all the research that we see in the media about how women feel unheard, feel that they don't have trust-based relationships with their financial providers, women who it's reported up to 70% of them switch advisors if they experience a divorce or the death of a husband. And so for us, this is an opportunity we believe that makes sense because we want to help these women. We want them to have competence in their insurance. And there's a huge need in the marketplace.

What types of insurance coverages do women need today, especially in women-led households and for those navigating life-altering transitions like divorce or widowhood?

So what I would say to you is that women that are experiencing these life-altering transitions are typically emotionally exhausted. They're stressed out. And more than ever, they want peace of mind because they have experienced this significant transition. And I'll give you one example that I am working on right this minute. I have a client who is young, whose husband died unexpectedly. Her name wasn't on the policy. She experienced a very large claim, $200,000 plus water damage claim. The check was cut in her husband's name and the mortgage company. She's not on the mortgage. And she spent months trying to figure out how to cash the check. And so that's just one example of the things that we see. I think what ends up happening is a lot of times these women, they may not understand who the provider is even. They may not understand what the coverages are. And so for us, we go to ground zero. Let's peel back the layers of the onion. What are the exposures? What are the coverages that you need? And what are the best choices for your family? And that's how we try to guide them.

And how did those needs differ today than just five, 10 years ago?

So I believe that generally it's very similar with the exception of what's happening in the market right now, right? So right now we're in a hard market. Consumers have less choice. You know, they're paying a lot more. And so I think it's always back to the same question. Do you have the right coverages that you need? But I think it's pretty similar with that exception.

Do many women currently lack the necessary coverages they need? And how does the program help identify critical coverage gaps?

Lori, that's an excellent question. So one of the things that we did was we surveyed approximately 200 clients, women within our client base that fit this demographic. And what they reported to us, 62% of them said that we helped them identify gaps in coverage. So we know we are doing that. And what does that look like? It's really different for every single client that we see because it's a tailored program. And what we do is, you know, we'll start even at their home, just walking through understanding what the lifestyle is so that we can have a better understanding of what we need to do on the insurance side.

The program also offers women informed decision-making support to ensure that areas of risk are identified and addressed. Can you tell us more about that?

Sure, Lori. I have two examples for you in this area. So one is an example of a client who came to us who had been divorced over a year. And we sent her an analysis of her valuables items. We wanted to make sure it was correct. So she looked at the list and she said, I have no idea if this is correct or not. And the only way I'm going to know is if I go through every single item. So I went over to her house. She went into her safe. She pulled out every jewelry item she had one by one. And then we walked over to her bank vault and she did the same thing. So what we ended up figuring out was there were pieces that weren't on the policy. And in addition, she was paying approximately 15,000 in premium for her husband's ex-husband's watches. And so that was an example where we, I mean, it took me half a day to do this with her, but afterwards she said, thank you so much.

Another example that we have is a client who was divorced and essentially her name had never been added to the policy. She married someone and I believe they lived in the same homes he already owned. And to make a long story short, they divorced, they separated, they moved to different places and her name wasn't on the policy. So it turned out she had no umbrella coverage. Now this was a woman that's, you know, high profile. So, and this was a divorce that had been in the press. So this was a situation where the first thing we had to do was add her name to the policies and then figure out how to divide things up, what needed to be changed.

 

But I think they're just, there's so many things that come up and these women don't understand it. So in this recent survey that we did, what we found was that approximately 20% of the respondents said they were not comfortable at all with their insurance policies and programs before they met us. And about 50% of them were somewhat comfortable. And after working with us, what we found out was that 65% of these women were now extremely comfortable with their insurance programs and 35% of them were somewhat comfortable. So we know it's a matter of taking the time to ask the questions, to listen to what they have to say, to understand what their concerns about risk are, so we can help them make sure that they have something that's going to help them sleep at night.

Celia, how can women today navigate the complexities of property and casualty insurance when they move or change their living arrangements due to a life transition?

So we see that all the time in what we do. And I'll give you one example of a client who was divorcing and she called to let us know that her husband informed her he was going to come over to the house and take a piece of artwork off the an expensive piece of artwork and drive it home to hang it up in his new apartment. And so we said to her, you don't want to do that. There's a huge risk of loss during transit. And so it needs to be professionally packed and moved and hung. And she said, I'm going to call and tell him that right away. And in the end, he ended up becoming our client. But that's just one example of something that can happen when you're moving.

Another example would be if there are children involved, right? The children, are they going to live with mom? Are they going to live with dad? Are they going to live with both? If they're driving the cars, whose policy should they be on? Whose umbrella policy should they be on? And so it gets really complicated.

This is an antiquated business that we're in and being able to focus on those details really matters. Sometimes even the real estate is retitled. We have one client who retitled the home in the name of a trust for the benefit of the children. And so all of these things really need to be looked at carefully. And how about for insurers? How can insurers tailor their products and services to better meet the needs of women experiencing significant life changes? And what support mechanism should be in place? So I think that it's difficult for insurers to, because this is a state regulated business, in terms of their contracts, I think it could be difficult. In terms of services, I really believe this is where the broker makes the big difference.

So if you have a claim, having an advocate on your side that's helping you get through it is really what makes the difference. And in order for that to be smooth, you have to have the right coverages. So our insurers aren't really involved in that part of it. So I really think that falls on the agent's shoulders, and we're happy to rise to that challenge.

How can insurers improve their claims process to offer more empathetic and timely support to women dealing with property and casualty losses during emotionally challenging times?

 I think again, I think insurers, the insurers we work with, all offer white glove claims service. So we work with Chubb, we work with Private Client Select, Berkeley One, Pure, and Cincinnati, and they all offer red carpet treatment. The problem is that in any claim, insurance is like speaking a foreign language. And so you need that translator. And that's the role that we play.

We come in and we navigate between the contractor, where are the estimates? Has it been approved? What's missing? What are the questions the insurance company has? We come in and we make that go away. So I have an example of a client who divorced, moved from the West Coast to the East Coast to Greenwich, Connecticut, and within the first couple of months, had a major pipe burst in the basement. It damaged the finished basement, which is where her kids would be spending the majority of her time. She was so stressed out from the move, from the divorce, trying to set up, getting the kids in school. It was a lot. And so we showed up, we met with the adjuster, we got all of the invoices and expenses and estimates. We got the approval. And basically all she had to do was hire the contractor and get moving. But if you can imagine already having that much on your plate, being able to be empathetic, responsive, just answering the phone, this happened on a Saturday, just being available and saying, okay, we're going to help you through this.

And how can insurers collaborate with legal and financial advisors to create comprehensive service packages that address the multifaceted needs of women, especially those navigating life altering transitions?

So what I would say is that the insurers are really, they're relying on us as the brokers to make sure that we're triaging with the other trusted advisors to make sure that policies are correct. We find that we're often on the client's team. So we're talking to the client's lawyer. We're talking to the client's wealth advisor. We're talking to the people in our clients' lives that they're relying on. That could even be a car dealership or a realtor to make sure that we are taking away as much of the red tape as we possibly can. But that is a really important role as a broker to do because when you connect those dots between the clients, among the client's team, it makes all the difference in the world.

If an asset is retitled and the state attorney is telling you, that's work the client no longer has to do. And so we take that off of the client's plate and try to navigate that for them. I'm not sure really how the insurance companies could get involved in that part of it. But what I can tell you is that they're very responsive when we come to them and say, hey, we're working with a client who's recently gone through this transition or is just a woman led household and just needs, you know, better coverage and better advice. They really work well with us to address those situations.

And Celia, what are your future plans for PRMS by her side?

So we just launched it last month and we're so excited about it. Our team is so passionate about it. I think what we envision this becoming like a huge ecosystem of resources for these women, like a community, a sisterhood where, you know, they can connect with each other. They can have access to expertise that they need, where they can even maybe have some fun, maybe, you know, how to be interactive, but, you know, kind of helping them get through this process and understand that they're not alone and that we're there with them. But I promise as soon as we have more features about the program, I promise to let you know.