Newbie Guide: How to Find a Good Agent for Investment & Insurance?

[Cashcow]

I as an agent also like BTIR. cos even though I have wholelife plan myself, it takes about 20 years or more for the policy to break even and the coverage may not be enough.

So I can spend $30 to get myself a coverage of $300,000 with term and then supplement myself with an ILP with 100% premium allocation and minimum coverage.

However, BTIR is not for everyone. Some ppl just dun like investment. They will buy term but won't invest so wholelife policy is more suitable for them. In my line of job, I encounter all kinds of ppl so I understand not 1 method suit everyone. Unlike some of you who live in your ivory tower and try to force everyone to accept your BTIR as the most wonderful thing in the world, I feel that one shld be more open to other opinions.

 

[Rommie2k6]

However, BTIR is not for everyone. Some ppl just dun like investment. They will buy term but won't invest so wholelife policy is more suitable for them. In my line of job, I encounter all kinds of ppl so I understand not 1 method suit everyone. Unlike some of you who live in your ivory tower and try to force everyone to accept your BTIR as the most wonderful thing in the world, I feel that one shld be more open to other opinions.

I find your contradiction most amusing. If a person "just dun like investment", he/she will not BTIR and will not buy wholelife policy. He/she will keep the money in the bank and that's it, not even bonds. Btw, that describes my mother.

I don't see how a person who "just dun like investment" wouldn't do BTIR but prefer to buy wholelife. If a person has a problem with investment, then he/she will have a problem with buying wholelife for investment. If the person does not, then it's obvious that he/she is not aware of how things work and thanks to unscrupulous agent like you, you will "side" with the customer cause it makes you look good and it earns you more money. Why bother right? These customers are so stupid, why should I waste time trying to convince them of BTIR and earning less money when I can sell them this loaded insurance-investment product that nets me a year's commission? Very slick indeed...!

If such people really exist and need to invest, then they should choose - (1) Keep money in the bank, (2) Give money to insurance company to invest, (3) Give money to an ethical IFA to invest.

To choose the lesser of 3 evils, I would chose option (3).

But more importantly, most of these people who "just dun like to invest" are ignorant and have many misconceptions, so sometimes it is necessary to educate them financially (especially if the person is important to you).

Just because a person doesn't want to eat his/her medicine, doesn't mean that the medicine is not effective. I am stating that the BTIR "medicine" is more effective than your insurance "medicine". Whether or not the person likes to eat the medicine is irrelevant to the topic at hand.

 

[RoLanTo]

hello guys..
just wanna ask a quick qn.. what do u think is the best term insurance available in the market?

is it the aviva SAF 1?

 

[Rommie2k6]

hello guys..
just wanna ask a quick qn.. what do u think is the best term insurance available in the market?

is it the aviva SAF 1?

Group insurance has risk of TOS changing because you are not the owner of the insurance policy. Do take note of that.

 

[Doubledge]

Part 3. Key Investment Concepts to Master to avoid retiring broke


In this post, I will highlight the key investment concepts that you need to be aware of, even at the newbie level.

Market Timing / Active Trading: Proven Not to Work over a Long Time
I won't go into a detailed post on this topic, but to cut the long story short market timing or any other forms of active trading strategies (be it Fundamental Analysis, Technical Analysis, Charting, <you-name-it> has been proven not to work over a long period of time (>10 years). This is backed up by 20+ years of academic research. I will recommend an open minded investor several key books that talks about this:
A Random Walk Down Wall Street, by Burton Malkiel
The Intelligent Investor, by Ben Graham (Warren Buffet is Ben Graham protege btw...)
[/quote]

Thanks,it is a nice read.
and well done quite a good quite for a newbie

but this part i have to disagree with u
there is traders out there having annualised return more than passive investor.there is strategy call swing trading,traded like holding for 3 mth and up 9mth ,normally less than 1 year.
there are george soros who do currency trading win $1.1b of shorting the GBP.and there is alot of traders out there still making big bucks,using option and futures trading.
though there is losses but their profit offset their losses
Investing if we talk about value investing is talk about v.long term here.
talking abt holding for 2/6 mth is NOT value investing.

 

[Rommie2k6]

Thanks,it is a nice read.
and well done quite a good quite for a newbie

but this part i have to disagree with u
there is traders out there having annualised return more than passive investor.there is strategy call swing trading,traded like holding for 3 mth and up 9mth ,normally less than 1 year.
there are george soros who do currency trading win $1.1b of shorting the GBP.and there is alot of traders out there still making big bucks,using option and futures trading.
though there is losses but their profit offset their losses
Investing if we talk about value investing is talk about v.long term here.
talking abt holding for 2/6 mth is NOT value investing.

Yes, you are quoting the outliers and trying to pass that of as proof. I am not convinced. No reasonably intelligent person will be.

Please go read up on the research that has been done, which has shown that nobody can statistically-speaking consistently beat market returns.

If you can't understand what I am talking about, reading up on probability theory will be a good start.

E.g. if you can predict a coin flip correctly 1000 times in a row, does that mean that you have special prediction and analysis powers or does it mean that you were only lucky? Should I then learn from this friend on how to predict coin tosses, based on his track record of predicting them correctly for the last 1000 times?

 

[audiovideo]

what is BTIR?

ok is buy term invest the rest

 

[audiovideo]

..........
But more importantly, most of these people who "just dun like to invest" are ignorant and have many misconceptions, so sometimes it is necessary to educate them financially (especially if the person is important to you).

Just because a person doesn't want to eat his/her medicine, doesn't mean that the medicine is not effective. I am stating that the BTIR "medicine" is more effective than your insurance "medicine". Whether or not the person likes to eat the medicine is irrelevant to the topic at hand.

"most of these people who "just dun like to invest" are ignorant" kinda strong..
each person has he/her reason not doing so ..and likely you are referring to insurance related kind of investment?.... i dont like that too

 

[Rommie2k6]

"most of these people who "just dun like to invest" are ignorant" kinda strong..
each person has he/her reason not doing so ..and likely you are referring to insurance related kind of investment?.... i dont like that too

When I refer to invest I mean using real investment products not insurance. I thought that would have been clear in my original post.

The statement is strongly worded but it's the truth. Just look at how many posts here is discussing about "investments" that are obviously scams (land banking, wine banking, gold banking) and then crying over split milk when their money is gone, how many posts are about gambling and speculation (e.g. how to play forex, how to play stocks). Then there are many who see their friends/families who speculate and gamble in stock markets and see them lose big time, and then are misled into thinking that gambling/speculating is investment and so investment means will lose money.

What do you call this? I call this ignorance.

 

[JasonX]

I didn't follow through this whole thread, only the 1st and last few pages. Just offering my 2 cents about the commission based salary system of insurance agents.

Personally, I find this system to be very poor for the consumers. These agents are called "financial advisers", yet the nature of their commission based salary prevents them from giving proper neutral advice. IMO, good advice should help consumers save money, avoid buying unnecessary products, gives proper planning with adequate coverage. Most agents just focused on earning the most from commission, against the interest of their consumers.

1) A clear conflict of interest is present. How can an agent gives proper advice when 100% of their take home salary depends on them advising consumers to buy more instead? MAS should know it, but didn't take action.

2) Many agents joined this industry because they wish to earn easy money. I don't believe any agents joined this industry to "help the world". Money should be their primary motivation. Commissions will be their no.1 agenda as well.

3) Many agents started out as 100% commission. If they do not have adequate savings, they will be pressured to clinch deals to survive. Young agents are especially vulnerable. Such a system will only ensure that the majority of agents started out by "persuading ppl to sign policies which gives the most commissions". Most of the ones who can't earn enough commission had left the industry (need money to survive, no choice), or were asked to resign.

MAS should have taken action. They have various tools on their hands. They can ban certain products, ban hard selling, impose a minimum period where consumers can reverse their decision...etc.

IMO, They should try to convert the industry to have a fixed salary, and performance bonuses tied to long term performances. Commission during the initial years are way too high. Why not gives agents a fixed salary component, and have commission as a small percentage of the annual premiums paid by their clients. This at least doesn't pressure agents to clinch deals at all cost, and also encourage agents to provide better after-sales support to clients. They should also reward agents for other services instead of just based on sales. The insurance industry is pretty big and affects everyone here. Surely more can be done to improve the quality of the agents.

 

[HandsTied]

Well said, Jason.

I always like to talk about this issue by listing out the parties involved. The regulators; the corporations and their salesforces; and the consumers.

Regulators

I agree with your stand that the regulators should intervene, but unfortunately I doubt the regulators will do anything drastic overnight. Singapore operates on the laissez-faire economic policy, and also ranks second in economic freedom. When we talk about economic freedom, we're talking about the freedom given to corporations to run their businesses.

As much as possible, the government will not want to interfere with the way insurance companies run their business. Even so, I suppose the authorities do know that Singaporeans need better financial advice and coverage. PM Lee, in his capacity as MAS chairman in 2001/2002, proposed the FAA which gave rise to IFAs so as to deliver better quality financial advice. Most recently, SM Goh practically reminded agents to not push whole life and sell term where appropriate.

Let's hope they do more. I think they should realise that many Singaporeans are unhappy with the incumbent because of financial matters. Many are overpaying and yet underinsured, and so they have less money for themselves and retirement and grouch about it. Their underinsurance also means that the government's policies will be blamed when something untoward happens.

Consumers

I think the biggest push factor for the betterment of the industry has to come from the consumers. They have to be more financially astute and demand for better quality financial advice and products. When that happens, product providers will have no choice but to cater to demand for products that actually benefit the consumer. The only reason why product providers can get away with shoddy products is because there are simply people who are buying them.

Product Providers and Agents

I think the least amount of change will come from here. Product providers and the agents are more than happy with the status quo of selling high margin, high commission products and going on expenses paid incentive trips. Personally, I went for one such trip and was quite disgusted by the extravagance. Motivational speeches were Powerpoint presentations on how the speaker managed to buy his landed property and branded cars. I submitted my letter of resignation after coming back.

There is also a large group of agents bearing the titles of financial advisers, planners, consultants etc. who have little to no financial knowledge at all. I know of one who couldn't even properly grasp the idea of compounding interest! All you need is some O level passes and a few brain-dead easy MCQ exams and you can call yourself a financial consultant. There are no standards to speak of. Worse yet, a lot of such advisers don't even know what they're doing is wrong. They are deluded into thinking that they are making a positive change in their clients' lives when they are just shortchanging their clients one by one. How does one change if one doesn't even realise his/her mistakes??


Okay realised I typed a lot. Oh well, just my 2-cent rant.

 

[xiaoevil]

I didn't follow through this whole thread, only the 1st and last few pages. Just offering my 2 cents about the commission based salary system of insurance agents.

Personally, I find this system to be very poor for the consumers. These agents are called "financial advisers", yet the nature of their commission based salary prevents them from giving proper neutral advice. IMO, good advice should help consumers save money, avoid buying unnecessary products, gives proper planning with adequate coverage. Most agents just focused on earning the most from commission, against the interest of their consumers.

1) A clear conflict of interest is present. How can an agent gives proper advice when 100% of their take home salary depends on them advising consumers to buy more instead? MAS should know it, but didn't take action.

2) Many agents joined this industry because they wish to earn easy money. I don't believe any agents joined this industry to "help the world". Money should be their primary motivation. Commissions will be their no.1 agenda as well.

3) Many agents started out as 100% commission. If they do not have adequate savings, they will be pressured to clinch deals to survive. Young agents are especially vulnerable. Such a system will only ensure that the majority of agents started out by "persuading ppl to sign policies which gives the most commissions". Most of the ones who can't earn enough commission had left the industry (need money to survive, no choice), or were asked to resign.

MAS should have taken action. They have various tools on their hands. They can ban certain products, ban hard selling, impose a minimum period where consumers can reverse their decision...etc.

IMO, They should try to convert the industry to have a fixed salary, and performance bonuses tied to long term performances. Commission during the initial years are way too high. Why not gives agents a fixed salary component, and have commission as a small percentage of the annual premiums paid by their clients. This at least doesn't pressure agents to clinch deals at all cost, and also encourage agents to provide better after-sales support to clients. They should also reward agents for other services instead of just based on sales. The insurance industry is pretty big and affects everyone here. Surely more can be done to improve the quality of the agents.

1. Commission based vs basic salary
Basic salary - Personal banker, works with banks
Commission based - Financial consultants, works with FA or IFA
if you changed the commission structured to allow basic salary, it's not so simple coz it means there will be minimum sales quota for that level of basic. Pressure to sell is even higher.

2. Help the world
Financial Consultants also need to feed themselves like any career such as doctors or lawyers. As long they are professional in what they do, that's it. When in doubt, just consult for more opinions before purchase. It is always better to have a reliable friend who works as a FC to plan your needs and goals.

3. MAS and its FAA
14 days free look period for you to consider the policy you signed thoroughly after receiving the policy documents - insufficient time?
Emphasis on Need based selling, all financial recommendations must be justified and recorded. You can look through the planner on why your FC recommend you certain product. If it's invalid reason to you, just cancel the product within the free look period.

4. Service standards
It is a relative feedback as to a FC service standard is acceptable or horrible but there are minimum standards required by company. It is very hard to enforce what is meant to be guidelines. So if you dun like the service of a FC, just don't buy from him/her again.

 

[xiaoevil]

if you guys feel that your FC is not knowledgeable or too dumb to give you any value add, just approach somebody else.

There are those with rich financial knowledge and with prestige recognition of Certified Financial Planner or Chartered Financial Consultant printed on their namecard.

 

[xiaoevil]

I find your contradiction most amusing. If a person "just dun like investment", he/she will not BTIR and will not buy wholelife policy. He/she will keep the money in the bank and that's it, not even bonds. Btw, that describes my mother.

I don't see how a person who "just dun like investment" wouldn't do BTIR but prefer to buy wholelife. If a person has a problem with investment, then he/she will have a problem with buying wholelife for investment. If the person does not, then it's obvious that he/she is not aware of how things work and thanks to unscrupulous agent like you, you will "side" with the customer cause it makes you look good and it earns you more money. Why bother right? These customers are so stupid, why should I waste time trying to convince them of BTIR and earning less money when I can sell them this loaded insurance-investment product that nets me a year's commission? Very slick indeed...!

If such people really exist and need to invest, then they should choose - (1) Keep money in the bank, (2) Give money to insurance company to invest, (3) Give money to an ethical IFA to invest.

To choose the lesser of 3 evils, I would chose option (3).

But more importantly, most of these people who "just dun like to invest" are ignorant and have many misconceptions, so sometimes it is necessary to educate them financially (especially if the person is important to you).

Just because a person doesn't want to eat his/her medicine, doesn't mean that the medicine is not effective. I am stating that the BTIR "medicine" is more effective than your insurance "medicine". Whether or not the person likes to eat the medicine is irrelevant to the topic at hand.

For your info, IFA gives MAS the most problems as they carry products from many companies - churning is a very easy thing to do and goes almost undetected. The IFA simply tells customers that this fund from Co. A is good then 2 weeks later says Co. B is good then another 3 weeks later Co. C is good then back to Co. A. Everytime a customer sells off its UT investment and re-invest in another company, a guaranteed sales charge of minimum 3% is gone from the principle sum, plus charges. Tied agency can't do that as within a single company, there is a 120-days replacement rule imposed by MAS.

Insurance, ILP or Shares, etc. Each method is just a means of diversification of your investment portfolio. People have to right to choose where to invest. Whole Life insurance policy comes with guaranteed surrender value which ILP don't. You can ask customer to purchase bonds which is likely to be guaranteed BUT IT IS STILL NOT GUARANTEED!
All efforts have been made to identify maturity payout, sum assured or potential returns into guaranteed and non-guaranteed. Consumers have to read at least the Benefit illustrations of the documents.
It is all about Risk vs Returns. You cannot simply ask someone to buy term and invest the rest. There are those who simply prefer whole life policy and rest into bank deposits and fixed D. there are those who take more risk and going into ILP, and those who buy whole life term and invest into properties and shares on their own. Who are we to say who's right or wrong?
If one can take the risk, it just means more doors opened to him/her - doors as means to grow money.

 

[Cashcow]

Insurance, ILP or Shares, etc. Each method is just a means of diversification of your investment portfolio. People have to right to choose where to invest. Whole Life insurance policy comes with guaranteed surrender value which ILP don't. You can ask customer to purchase bonds which is likely to be guaranteed BUT IT IS STILL NOT GUARANTEED!
All efforts have been made to identify maturity payout, sum assured or potential returns into guaranteed and non-guaranteed. Consumers have to read at least the Benefit illustrations of the documents.
It is all about Risk vs Returns. You cannot simply ask someone to buy term and invest the rest. There are those who simply prefer whole life policy and rest into bank deposits and fixed D. there are those who take more risk and going into ILP, and those who buy whole life term and invest into properties and shares on their own. Who are we to say who's right or wrong?
If one can take the risk, it just means more doors opened to him/her - doors as means to grow money.

Why you say like that? Later rommie2k6 will say you must be a smelly agent trying to brainwash ppl here. Die die must buy term and invest the rest. Other products are just rubbish. Dun offend our rommie2k6, okay?

 

[HandsTied]

For your info, IFA gives MAS the most problems as they carry products from many companies - churning is a very easy thing to do and goes almost undetected. The IFA simply tells customers that this fund from Co. A is good then 2 weeks later says Co. B is good then another 3 weeks later Co. C is good then back to Co. A. Everytime a customer sells off its UT investment and re-invest in another company, a guaranteed sales charge of minimum 3% is gone from the principle sum, plus charges. Tied agency can't do that as within a single company, there is a 120-days replacement rule imposed by MAS.

It's already established that there are unethical people in IFA/FA. This is a result of commissions which is a clash of interest between the client and the FA. However, tied agencies also have the same clash of interest because they too work on commissions. On top of that, they have yet another clash of interest because they can only provide products from their company.

Insurance, ILP or Shares, etc. Each method is just a means of diversification of your investment portfolio. People have to right to choose where to invest. Whole Life insurance policy comes with guaranteed surrender value which ILP don't. You can ask customer to purchase bonds which is likely to be guaranteed BUT IT IS STILL NOT GUARANTEED!
All efforts have been made to identify maturity payout, sum assured or potential returns into guaranteed and non-guaranteed. Consumers have to read at least the Benefit illustrations of the documents.
It is all about Risk vs Returns. You cannot simply ask someone to buy term and invest the rest. There are those who simply prefer whole life policy and rest into bank deposits and fixed D. there are those who take more risk and going into ILP, and those who buy whole life term and invest into properties and shares on their own. Who are we to say who's right or wrong?
If one can take the risk, it just means more doors opened to him/her - doors as means to grow money.

The thing is for the same level of risk, regular premium ILPs deliver less value to someone compared to buying term and investing the rest. I have mentioned this many times and it bears repeating - an ILP is nothing more than a term plan (yearly-renewable) pegged onto an investment funds, with extra and unnecessary charges imposed which one can easily avoid by just buying the component term plans and investment funds separately.

In any case, out of curiosity I went to your blog. Aside from the fact that you basically copied roomie2k6's description of Relationship Managers (http://sites.google.com/site/prufin...angersofifaandwhoweretheonesthatsoldminibonds), I saw your name and found it very familiar. Very coincidentally, my friend (who was an agent) showed me this Benefit Illustration of a Prulink Protection Account of $250,000 sum assured at $600 per month with a very similar name printed on it. He got this from one of the prospects he met. He generated the same plan configuration which actually costs only around $250, and the rest can be put into 100% allocation funds for better returns if the person desires. Of course, the commission is quite different. It appears that this person was not even satisfied with the already high commissions of a $250 regular ILP plan. Hmmm...

 

[Rommie2k6]

Why you say like that? Later rommie2k6 will say you must be a smelly agent trying to brainwash ppl here. Die die must buy term and invest the rest. Other products are just rubbish. Dun offend our rommie2k6, okay?

Your personal attacks are getting tiresome. If you cannot offer a reasoned argument for your stand (if there is any), don't bother... I am perfectly fine with people choosing to buy WL or even ILP, after they fully understand BTIR and all the associated concepts on costs, expenses, etc... but I suspect most people won't (especially for ILP). I am only opposed to making uninformed choices.

 

[Rommie2k6]

For your info, IFA gives MAS the most problems as they carry products from many companies - churning is a very easy thing to do and goes almost undetected. The IFA simply tells customers that this fund from Co. A is good then 2 weeks later says Co. B is good then another 3 weeks later Co. C is good then back to Co. A. Everytime a customer sells off its UT investment and re-invest in another company, a guaranteed sales charge of minimum 3% is gone from the principle sum, plus charges. Tied agency can't do that as within a single company, there is a 120-days replacement rule imposed by MAS.

I think I mentioned ethical IFA. The scenario you described is an example of an unethical IFA. The guide should give a basic guideline for newbies on how to identify unethical IFAs.

Insurance, ILP or Shares, etc. Each method is just a means of diversification of your investment portfolio. People have to right to choose where to invest. Whole Life insurance policy comes with guaranteed surrender value which ILP don't. You can ask customer to purchase bonds which is likely to be guaranteed BUT IT IS STILL NOT GUARANTEED!

Again the whole bull**** on everyone is different. You're choosing between poison (ILP), rotten food (WL) and food (Term), and that applies to most young to middle-aged people. People will logically choose Term + BTIR, but that requires consumer education. So unless the person you are referring to fully understands everything properly... don't talk about choice. Of course, commission-driven agents won't do that because it earns them no money. That however does not make pushing WL/ILP right or ethical, it only makes it the practical thing to do (from the agent's perspective).

Don't crap with me about guarantees. Who guarantees SGS bonds? The government. Who guarantees the WL policy? The insurer. I think most people will agree that the default risk of the govt is less than that of any insurer even if it has a AAA rating.

All efforts have been made to identify maturity payout, sum assured or potential returns into guaranteed and non-guaranteed. Consumers have to read at least the Benefit illustrations of the documents.
It is all about Risk vs Returns. You cannot simply ask someone to buy term and invest the rest. There are those who simply prefer whole life policy and rest into bank deposits and fixed D. there are those who take more risk and going into ILP, and those who buy whole life term and invest into properties and shares on their own. Who are we to say who's right or wrong?
If one can take the risk, it just means more doors opened to him/her - doors as means to grow money.

ILP has NO place in anyone's portfolio because it is just a more expensive version of Term + BTIR. That leaves WL. I do not agree that it is suitable for most people, except super-conservative or super-old people.

As I have explained earlier on, the is no difference in terms of risk appetite of a person who "invest" in WL vs a BTIR using a 40/60 stock/bond portfolio. The only difference is cost, and cost matters at the end of the day. If a consumer prefers to invest in WL rather than BTIR in a 40/60 portfolio, it is because of ignorance and lack of education and not because the consumer has a real preference. Why? Cause the truth is that assets in both options are invested similarly in terms of risk and expected returns. What's the difference? Again... cost.

EDIT: I might be wrong about the stock/bond allocation for the pool money of a WL policy... but the point is to illustrate that WL and BTIR (with a conservative portfolio matching that of the WL pool money) is basically the same thing.

 

[xiaoevil]

If you have any idea what financial planning is, you would not favour any particular products because they come in at different life stages, catering to different need.

Whole-life insurance plan are meant to cover one whole-life, hence you cannot change the premium or sum assured without suffering any penalty.

ILP product is meant to compliment your whole-life policy to make adjustments to your sum assured as and when u don't need it.
FYI, ILP is cheaper compared to Term + Investment for younger people. It is way costly for the older people and Do You even know you can adjust the sum assured and premium? The sum assured can be reduce as one's liabilities decreases and to the point of ZERO, which means no assurance charges anymore! This will become and pure investment plan for retirement purpose.

You may need 100k sum assure for yourself only your entire life. but when marriage and kids comes in, with loans on hand - 100k is not enough so that's when ILP comes in or term insurance comes in.

Term insurance does has a contact term which means it will expires! There are only very few term insurance plan in the market that covers for life and usually at a high sum assured catering to high net worth market.

And lastly, all products are meant to compliment each other. Do you know what's the biggest headache for consumers? It is where to attached to riders to. If you attached it wrongly, you are in DEEP trouble because the basic plan can terminate and your riders have yet to be claimed.

There's a general guidelines to financial planning but it all boils down to one's budget and their understanding of financial products and planning. I do recommend people to buy shares on their own because the charges are LOW and that's only if they are willing to monitor the market on their own. UT are meant for busy people and beginners. There are no bad products, only bad recommendations.

 

[xiaoevil]

It's already established that there are unethical people in IFA/FA. This is a result of commissions which is a clash of interest between the client and the FA. However, tied agencies also have the same clash of interest because they too work on commissions. On top of that, they have yet another clash of interest because they can only provide products from their company.



The thing is for the same level of risk, regular premium ILPs deliver less value to someone compared to buying term and investing the rest. I have mentioned this many times and it bears repeating - an ILP is nothing more than a term plan (yearly-renewable) pegged onto an investment funds, with extra and unnecessary charges imposed which one can easily avoid by just buying the component term plans and investment funds separately.

In any case, out of curiosity I went to your blog. Aside from the fact that you basically copied roomie2k6's description of Relationship Managers (http://sites.google.com/site/prufin...angersofifaandwhoweretheonesthatsoldminibonds), I saw your name and found it very familiar. Very coincidentally, my friend (who was an agent) showed me this Benefit Illustration of a Prulink Protection Account of $250,000 sum assured at $600 per month with a very similar name printed on it. He got this from one of the prospects he met. He generated the same plan configuration which actually costs only around $250, and the rest can be put into 100% allocation funds for better returns if the person desires. Of course, the commission is quite different. It appears that this person was not even satisfied with the already high commissions of a $250 regular ILP plan. Hmmm...

The RM part is good but i have edited to be a more neutral stand and I believe major part of the post is still contributed by myself.
And have anyone of you actually done a calculation of Term + Investment on Unit Trust compared to ILP?
If you have done so, you would realise it is worth it for young people and not for old people. I always strongly advise people above 40yo not to go for ILP, I don't know for other consultants.
And my service to my clients is to reduce their ILP sum assured as they age with emphasis on Whole-Life insurance and Investment.

And why Whole Life insurance is better than term is becoz it covers whole life at lower sum assured (below 1m). Term that offers whole life usually starts off at 1m or single premium of $100,000. How many can actually afford?