Lifestyle insurance is becoming more popular, especially among younger people.

Once wrongly dismissed as a type of payment protection insurance-plus product, given its short-term nature, lifestyle insurance has moved out of the shadows and into a more positive light as a stepping-stone product to get more people into the protection habit. 

While income protection can last for a specific long term, such as a 25 year period, lifestyle insurance can help cash-strapped millennials get started on their protection journey, because it is short-term, flexible and affordable.

This guide explores why lifestyle insurance is becoming more widespread, how more advisers are using it with younger clients and how this can get millennials into the protection habit. It will also analyse the pros and cons of lifestyle insurance compared with more traditional income protection products.

Contributors of commentary to this guide: Peter Hamilton, head of retail propositions for Zurich; Alan Lakey, founder of the CI Expert; Julie Higman, income protection product manager for Aviva; Paul Reed, co-founder of Cardiff-based Vita; Raluca Boroianu-Omura, head of health and protection for the Association of British Insurers; Emma Thomson, life office relationship director for Lifesearch; Andy Coles, development director at Lutine Insurance, part of Direct Group; and Andrew Sajo, spokesman for The Source; and Building Block.

simoney.kyriakou@ft.com