Advantages & disadvantages of purchasing insurance directly from companies vs through financial advisors/consultants.

[HeHaHoHu777]

Hey all, just wanted to understand more with regards to the advantages & disadvantages of purchasing insurance directly from companies vs through financial advisors/consultants.

Would deeply appreciate if anyone can provide a comparison list in the comments!

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (because I'm not quite familiar with how purchasing of insurance works, never dare to purchase insurance before), but all the insurance policies/premiums can be purchased directly from the insurance company itself right instead of through a FA/FC? That way, I believe, would enable me to save on the comission fees for the FA/FC right?

 

[sohguanh]

Hey all, just wanted to understand more with regards to the advantages & disadvantages of purchasing insurance directly from companies vs through financial advisors/consultants.

Would deeply appreciate if anyone can provide a comparison list in the comments!

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (because I'm not quite familiar with how purchasing of insurance works, never dare to purchase insurance before), but all the insurance policies/premiums can be purchased directly from the insurance company itself right instead of through a FA/FC? That way, I believe, would enable me to save on the comission fees for the FA/FC right?

Not all insurance policy can be bought direct from them. Some must go through their engaged agents to ensure they got rice bowl feed own family or I coined the term exclusive. Of cuz a lot more can be bought direct key is come to claim ownself DIY not your agent do but hear nasty stories agent don't do eagerly also.

To your question yes cheaper to DIY if the insurer got sell to customer direct.

 

[JuniorLion]

For term/life policy that you can DIY, refer to comparefirst.sg. They are cheaper in terms of premiums (no commissions to agents). However, there is a limit to the life insured value.

 

[BBCWatcher]

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (because I'm not quite familiar with how purchasing of insurance works, never dare to purchase insurance before), but all the insurance policies/premiums can be purchased directly from the insurance company itself right instead of through a FA/FC? That way, I believe, would enable me to save on the comission fees for the FA/FC right?

It’s mostly up to the insurance carrier how it chooses to price, distribute, and service its products. I suggest thinking about the risks you’re trying to defend against (and ranking them from most catastrophic to least), then look at the policies on offer and their prices (premiums).

 

[lzydata]

Hey all, just wanted to understand more with regards to the advantages & disadvantages of purchasing insurance directly from companies vs through financial advisors/consultants.

Would deeply appreciate if anyone can provide a comparison list in the comments!

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (because I'm not quite familiar with how purchasing of insurance works, never dare to purchase insurance before), but all the insurance policies/premiums can be purchased directly from the insurance company itself right instead of through a FA/FC? That way, I believe, would enable me to save on the comission fees for the FA/FC right?

As others have said, only certain types of policies can be sold directly and with limits to insured amounts. In fairness, one advantage of going to an agent/advisor/consultant is that he or she can give you a consultation on your financial and insurance profile, since you said you do not currently have any insurance policies. This might be better than buying direct which is if you already know what you want to buy. The agent will of course try to persuade you to buy but it is up to you to evaluate the sales pitch and decide.

 

[BBCWatcher]

In fairness, one advantage of going to an agent/advisor/consultant is that he or she can give you a consultation on your financial and insurance profile, since you said you do not currently have any insurance policies.

Yes, I think a good agent can help frame one's thinking about insurance. But here are a couple cautions:

• It's possible you don't need any insurance, or any insurance that you can actually obtain.
• How do you know you're working with a good agent?
• There probably isn't any agent that represents all possible policies offered from all carriers. For example, Singlife's MINDEF, MHA, and POGIS group insurance policies are handled through dedicated channels.

There are some reasonable non-sales-oriented sources of information about insurance. Someone upthread already mentioned CompareFirst.sg. The Institute for Financial Literacy runs some talks and workshops from time to time about insurance.

 

[60Remajust]

can someone still buy singlife mindef plan if already MR from saf?

 

[reddevil0728]

can someone still buy singlife mindef plan if already MR from saf?

When you go their website and see their brochure you didn’t manage to find the eligibility?

For this spoon feed help you direct link to that doc.

https://singlife.com/content/dam/pu.../products/group-term-life-product-summary.pdf

 

[JuniorLion]

The answer is cannot.

 

[ctan84]

Hey all, just wanted to understand more with regards to the advantages & disadvantages of purchasing insurance directly from companies vs through financial advisors/consultants.

Would deeply appreciate if anyone can provide a comparison list in the comments!

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (because I'm not quite familiar with how purchasing of insurance works, never dare to purchase insurance before), but all the insurance policies/premiums can be purchased directly from the insurance company itself right instead of through a FA/FC? That way, I believe, would enable me to save on the comission fees for the FA/FC right?

The major disadvantage of purchasing direct insurance to me is the admin work to claim. I'm fine (& generally happy) to do admin work, so no issue for me, but I realize many people around me are terrible with it. So you think about it, when you are say hit with a critical illness and you need to claim, do you think you still have the mood / energy to do the necessary admin work? If no, then buy from agent. Disclaimer: Me not agent.

 

[hwmook]

The major disadvantage of purchasing direct insurance to me is the admin work to claim. I'm fine (& generally happy) to do admin work, so no issue for me, but I realize many people around me are terrible with it. So you think about it, when you are say hit with a critical illness and you need to claim, do you think you still have the mood / energy to do the necessary admin work? If no, then buy from agent. Disclaimer: Me not agent.

No guarantee agent would do a decent job for you since they don't earn by claiming for you. I rather trust myself than an agent IMO. I prefer to do my own research and decide what I need then go and buy so I don't like sales pitch.

 

[JuniorLion]

Absolutely no guarantee that the agent you bought from, will be in the industry for the duration of your life time.

One mistake I made was to buy 2 policies from a friend. He is a decent and honest guy. But he quit the company soon after I bought the policies from him.

Terrible mistake.

I echo what @hwmook said. I'd rather trust myself than some agent.

 

[Shion]

Absolutely no guarantee that the agent you bought from, will be in the industry for the duration of your life time.

One mistake I made was to buy 2 policies from a friend. He is a decent and honest guy. But he quit the company soon after I bought the policies from him.

Terrible mistake.

I echo what @hwmook said. I'd rather trust myself than some agent.

For your case, what happened which resulted in you feel it is a mistake ?

For me, I bought 3 different policies with a "friend" who stayed for 1 year and left. I suspected he was being made to leave somehow as he wasnt doing well, as there was once he kept contacting me to buy policies every month. As for the 3 policies, 1 has lapsed, 1 I downgraded as I fainted (opened a thread here earlier this year) after seeing the premium hike, 1 I let it continue to run (But I am determined to surrender it immediately once break even).

 

[JuniorLion]

For your case, what happened which resulted in you feel it is a mistake ?

For me, I bought 3 different policies with a "friend" who stayed for 1 year and left. I suspected he was being made to leave somehow as he wasnt doing well, as there was once he kept contacting me to buy policies every month. As for the 3 policies, 1 has lapsed, 1 I downgraded as I fainted (opened a thread here earlier this year) after seeing the premium hike, 1 I let it continue to run (But I am determined to surrender it immediately once break even).

My mistake was to trust him too much. At that time, I was not too financially literate, and trusted his recommendation without doing my proper consideration.

The other contributing factor was to buy from a non-big 4 company. If I knew more then, I wouldn't have bought.

 

[hwmook]

Absolutely no guarantee that the agent you bought from, will be in the industry for the duration of your life time.

One mistake I made was to buy 2 policies from a friend. He is a decent and honest guy. But he quit the company soon after I bought the policies from him.

Terrible mistake.

I echo what @hwmook said. I'd rather trust myself than some agent.

My policy over the past 20 years have changed at least 5 agents so fat hope having the same agent to service you until you claim. Don't give any credit to having a agent, maybe the CSO at the insurance company can do a better job since they would have more experience doing claims.

The insurance industry need a shakeup, the company should just pay the agent a salary instead of commission so they would work fairly for the consumers IMO.

 

[rizhal]

can someone still buy singlife mindef plan if already MR from saf?

Cannot.

For term/life policy that you can DIY, refer to comparefirst.sg. They are cheaper in terms of premiums (no commissions to agents). However, there is a limit to the life insured value.

Just a sharing, I went thru the Direct Term insurance route, walked into office and submitted my filled document. I prepared doc fully at home. Successfully applied in one visit.

On the same day, a guy before me also applying the same thing. His form was unfinished and he had some questions and unsure about coverage. The counter officer do not answer question and asked him to find an agent for help.

Just sharing. Must do homework and know exactly what are Direct insurances.

 

[BBCWatcher]

The insurance carriers typically post their claims forms on their Web sites. Take a look at those forms before buying a policy no matter what channel you'd use to buy the policy.

For what it's worth I filed a successful claim earlier this year as one of the beneficiaries of an overseas life insurance policy. It wasn't hard.

 

[60Remajust]

My policy over the past 20 years have changed at least 5 agents so fat hope having the same agent to service you until you claim. Don't give any credit to having a agent, maybe the CSO at the insurance company can do a better job since they would have more experience doing claims.

The insurance industry need a shakeup, the company should just pay the agent a salary instead of commission so they would work fairly for the consumers IMO.

I think impossible, the sh*tty high comm products don’t move themselves and currently if I’m not wrong the agent doesn’t take a salary at all. So there’s no loss to the company to spam hire these agents and entice them w comm for motivation.

 

[skazzz]

when insurance is operated similar to mlm except with some form of benefits
what can you expect from agent?
same goes, ppl will move on, not all are high flyer
but they can also move from a to b, so end up only depend on yourself

 

[reddevil0728]

For your case, what happened which resulted in you feel it is a mistake ?

For me, I bought 3 different policies with a "friend" who stayed for 1 year and left. I suspected he was being made to leave somehow as he wasnt doing well, as there was once he kept contacting me to buy policies every month. As for the 3 policies, 1 has lapsed, 1 I downgraded as I fainted (opened a thread here earlier this year) after seeing the premium hike, 1 I let it continue to run (But I am determined to surrender it immediately once break even).

but given their primary income is from their commission, must be super jialat that the revenue doesn't even cover his basic salary (if there is even any)?

My policy over the past 20 years have changed at least 5 agents so fat hope having the same agent to service you until you claim. Don't give any credit to having a agent, maybe the CSO at the insurance company can do a better job since they would have more experience doing claims.

The insurance industry need a shakeup, the company should just pay the agent a salary instead of commission so they would work fairly for the consumers IMO.

but then will they be motivated to sell though?

that's always the issue with sales incentive