You have ask your agents to calculate what's the surrender value that you would get back.

I'm an agent n u say i dunno?
But still this is high trust selling and we need to be honest with clients and prospects. Its a long term business.. not short term. Tak kan i wan many ppl to chase after me 20 years later saying they lost lots of money? U say our commision is HUGE u come and do lah.

comission 25%

traditional product 30 - 35%

MRTA 10%

Ethical agent should ask ppl pay their premium monthly, not yearly

bro,

different people got diff needs.

Unit trust are meant for ppl who dont have the time / dont know what the market is, that is why they pay hefty front end load for the fund manager's expertise. foreigner a lot buying unit trust because the charges are cheaper. Malaysia will revamp their structure soon.
there are even fund of funds, where fund manager use the fund to buy another fund, just to get wider exposure and diversification.

pjstreet@com, insurance is only for protection, not for whatever bonus. Having such concept in your mind is easily to get trapped

You have a choice, whether to reinstate your policy or re-date your policy.

Reinstate means that you pay the outstanding balance of your premium and the policy as good as new. This can be done few times.

Re-date means the policy will change it's policy starting date. I think most of insurance company allows you to do it only once.

I observe that many of you concern about the R.O.I putting in investment. If you are looking for a return while you are still young and alive, find an investment product. The fundamental of insurance is to prepare for your love one if anything happened to you. But most insurance product especially Whole life policy, the break even point is at 13 to 14 years and after that you will get more from what you pay.

We are lucky because currently most insurance product come with investment-link. This is good for a long-term financial security.

Investment-linked products meant for protection purpose as like traditional products. Not for 'investment' . There are many other better investment products.

Do u know there are more insurance charges for monthly premium payment? U wouldn't b able to see it bcos u tought u r paying same premium e.g. 1 year pay rm1200, one month pay RM100.

However, ur monthly premium absorb more charges, hence at the end of the day, you lose.

Personally i don't like unit trust as the income u get is taxable

Hi,

Do you realize that you have contradicted yourself??

<< Investment-linked products meant for protection purpose >>
<< There are many other better investment products.>>

1) You buy insurance for protection.

2) There are OTHER better investment product than insurance.

So, why am I buying an investment linked insurance that has a lousy investment component in it?? The answer should be you should buy a PURE insurance with NO investment.

But, the problem in Malaysia is that you cannot get PURE term life insurance or the premium is so high that you have have to buy term life insurace combined with something else.

Dreamer

If you do know, give us an example of an investment linked insurance versus term life insurance plus unit trust. And, show us the exact return.

Be honest.

Dreamer

My simple guide to life insurance

Life insurance is an insurance. It is used to protect against of the
risk of lost of income. For example, let's say A is the bread winner
of the family. If something happen to A ( for example die in an
accident), you will not longer have income from A. The family still
need to survive. Life insurance can provide/replace some portion of
the income so that the family still can survive. In some
circumstances, A will suffer some form of disability and can no longer
work, life insurance provide some compensation to help the family to
survive too. Please noted that in Malaysia, the protection against
disability is limited to what is specified in the policy. In advanced
countries like USA, they have disability insurance that pays as long
as you cannot work regardless whatever the cause is. This kind of
disability insurance does not exist in Malaysia. In summary, life
insurance is used to protect against the loss of income and
disability.

So, does life insurance makes sense to you??

1) Do you have dependents?
A) If you are single and have no dependent, it really does not make
much sense to buy life insurance.

B) If something happen to me, I would like to leave something for my
parents. Is your parent depend on your income for survival?? If answer
is no, why buy life insurance?? If you want leave something for your
parent, why not give your parent the money now?? Save the money from
insurance premium and give to your parent now every month.

2) If you are home maker and makes no income, why buy life insurance??

3) If you are married and your family depend on you to provide income,
in general, you should buy life insurance.

4) However, it may NOT be worthwhile for you to buy life insurance if
you have a lot of savings (more than 200K). In general, life insurance
in Malaysia get very expensive for payment greater than 200K.

All my comments does not necessary apply to medical insurance. Do your
own research to find out what is right for you. If your insurance
agent cannot explain to you why you should buy life insurance, why are
you buying??

The very complicated and complex thing about insurance in Malaysia is
that we do not have pure term life insurance. All insurance product in
Malaysia is normally a combination of life insurance, disability
protection and medical protection. In most cases, unless your
insurance agent is good and you do a lot of research, you really have
little or no idea what you are buying. I am not qualify to tell you
what you should buy and how much to buy in each circumstances.

The bottom line is you need to know is

1) what are you protect against??
Life, disability, medical

2) What is the likelihood for each risk at your age??

3) What is the cost for each option??

4) What is the maximum pay and deductible in each situation??

Insurance is used to protect against the situation where you do not
have enough resources to cover. You need to buy just enough so that
when the bad thing happen, you are covered. Buy, you should NOT buy
so much that it costs too much to you.

Dreamer

So, does life insurance makes sense to you??



Insurance purpose is applicable whether you are dependent or not. The justification is in the event of death, it's end of story. But what if someone suffers from permanent disability. With insurance, they might survive for some period of time and think any alternatives how to continue their living.


Commerce Assurance and some of the insurance company came out with a product where the stream of monthly income continue every month in the event of death or total/permanent disability.


For home-makers, usually their husband bought the insurance and the beneficiary is their spouse so that they can continue their normal lives.


The case here is not should but mandatory due to high cost of living. But your point is there


The reason why this happening is Insurance Agent add unnecessary rider to their policy. That what makes the insurance premium becomes so high.



IMO it work both ways. The insurance agent should explain the important of insurance and the prospective buyer should have the awareness to buy insurance for the sake of their family.



The bottom line is you need to know is


The risk of uncertainty in our lives, that we are protecting. That's life. We have to deal with it. And insurance is one of the short-term solution


Accident happened regardless of our age. If it is destined to happened, it shall happened.


I remember some says about low premium at young age. Highly recommend to buy insurance early.

Have to find out more about this.


The ideal portion for your premium is 10% from your fix income.The most is 13%

Eunose Roadster,

<<But what if someone suffers from permanent disability.>>

1) Read the fine print. Malaysia's life insurance DO NOT protect against permanent disability. It protects certain kind of disability as specified in the insurance. It does NOT protect against all kinds of permanent disabilities as in USA.

2) In USA, you get pay as long as you CANNOT work as per disability insurance. In Malaysia, you have to lose an arm or leg or more.

<<The ideal portion for your premium is 10% from your fix income.The most is 13%>>

2) Wrong answer!!!

A) You buy based insurance based on how much is you monthly expenses.

B) Either case, you are buying too much insurance if your monthly premium is any where close to 10% of your income.

<<Insurance purpose is applicable whether you are dependent or not.>>

3) Since Malaysia insurance DOES NOT protect against disability, your argument that you buy insurance to protect against disability even though you have NO dependent is pointless.

Dreamer

I think you should consult any of the insurance agent regarding this matter. If I'm not mistaken, the coverage for life insurance including both:
a) in the event of death and
b) total and permanent disability

If someone paralyzed, should the doctor take out their spinal bone if under your definition it's mandatory to lose your body parts to be considered as permanent disability?

Definition: Total and permanent disability

A person is generally considered totally and permanently disabled if they have suffered a disabling injury or illness which is regarded as total and permanent either because:

the illness or injury prevents them from ever carrying out work for which they are reasonably suited by education, training or experience (or, in some cases, their own occupation) and they are under the regular care and attention of a doctor; or

they have suffered permanent loss of certain limbs or eyes or a combination of them.

In Malaysia if under medical experts that you are permanently disable, the insurance will pay in lump sum based on coverage, and yes there is no continue payment such as US Insurance.

<<The ideal portion for your premium is 10% from your fix income.The most is 13%>>



For me 10% is the good starting point when purchasing insurance.
Coverage is based on our income, not expenses. I never heard people make a presentation to prospective customer refer Insurance as "Expenses Protection" but "Income Protection"

A good insurance agent won't recommended you to add another insurance if existing policy is sufficient enough to cover your income. Some greedy insurance will ask you to add this.

This post has been edited by Eunose Roadster: Dec 7 2006, 12:29 AM

1) You are using Australian definition of permanent disability to apply against Malaysia insurance. How smart is that??

2) Read the fine print on Malaysia protection under disability. You will find that IT IS NOT what you believe to be true so far.


[ <<The ideal portion for your premium is 10% from your fix income.The most is 13%>>
For me 10% is the good starting point when purchasing insurance.
Coverage is based on our income, not expenses. I never heard people make a presentation to prospective customer refer Insurance as "Expenses Protection" but "Income Protection" ]

3) If you are an insurance agent, you get pay MORE commission if you get your customer to buy MORE insurance. So, why do you want to convince your customer to spend less??

4) One of the trick to do this is to sell insurance based on income which DOES NOT make sense. Let's give you a simple example,

A's family lived on 25% of his income. 25% of his income goes to tax. And, he saves 50% of his income. So, if he dies, how much does he needs to maintain his family??

The answer should be 25% of his income = expense.

But, if I can convince you that you need 100% of income, you will buy more insurance and I collect more commission.

Have ever seen a salesperson to ask you to spend less money??

5) If you are spending 10% of your income on insurance premium, you are buying too MUCH insurance.

Dreamer

actually.. i heard dat those from insurance company wont buy 1... cos they noe their company earn so much from their purchase.. hehe.. but actually insurance can deal like a investment..

dreamer101, when u say i contradict myself, what i meant was investment-linked product is good for all-in-one protection including medical card (for me the top benefit). I buy this product bcos it satisfy this needs. Not investment needs.

U wan to invest in this product for its return then by all means go ahead. It might be ur 'top benefit'.

Different ppl hav different views. There is no right or wrong.

Then, why don't you just say it? Explain completely why you choose to buy a particular insurance. It may help someone to make his/her decision.

Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Dreamer

definition for disability for general insurance & life insurance is a bit different, make sure you understand the product before you buy.

anyhow, dreamer101, we are in malaysia, so no choice @@"

Just understand your needs and buy what u think is suitable. Too many ppl dont understand what they are buying.

Insurance company giving training to new comer, is more on marketing, to persuade ppl buy, more than let them understand the whole thing. Well, comission ... is the culprit... duh *

Everybody hav different resons to buy any product. There is no one ULTIMATE reason. If there is, i oredi gazillionaire lahh....

I sense that u have a thing against insurance agent., don't you?

Yes you are right when u say insurance is just a protection for ur family if misfortune happens to you. That is the foundation of an insurance product. But market nowadays demands more than that. That is also why there are many other useful features that can satisfy certain needs.

Hey why does a person buy a car? For the basic need of travelling from point A to point B. Then why does a person buy car with aircond, cd-player, leather seats, turbo engine, big spoiler, etc... when all he need is a car to travel?

Its call evolution.

If u like to compare US and Australia and other countries so much to ours, here.. this link can provide all the answer u need.

http://www.iii.org/individuals/life/

I suggest u read b4 u post again. Bcos u might ask another same thing which this link provides the answer.

Oh btw don't ask us to provide an exact return. Everything depends on market performance. Even bank FD depends on what interest rate set by Bank Negara.

<< Oh btw don't ask us to provide an exact return.>>

Sound exactly like an insurance agent. You want to sell something. You tell people that it is GOOD investment. But, do not ask for the EXACT return.

When a person buy a car with leather seat, he/she see the leather and he/she can touch the leather. But, when a person buy an investment linked insurance, people cannot tell him/her what exactly he/she is buying and how much he/she is paying for the option. Why?

I have problem with BAD insurance agent. People selling insurance with NO IDEA what they are selling. And, selling a lot more insurance to people that do not need it. People DO NEED certain amount of insurance and deserve good service from insurance agent.

And, of course, people deserve this to certain extent. They buy/spend a lot of money on insurance and have no idea what they are buying. Isn't it so stupid to spend so much money on something (insurance) but you have no idea what you are buying and getting.

But, this is so common in financial world. It is NOT in anyone's interest to have SMART and EDUCATED customers. It is harder to make money with SMART customers.

Dreamer

If you read earlier reply, I have already mentioned that I AM AN INSURANCE AGENT.



We do tell. I do tell. Probably your agent don't.
Intangible and tangible products are sold vy differently. Intangible requires high trust. You do not trust insurance. Don't buy.




If you salary is 30k annually, in 10 years (provided no incremental) u will hav work ur way to 300k. If you cannot work tommorrow for the rest of your life, how long do you WANT to survive? How long CAN you survive with ur savings now?




Its our job to make sure they understand. If you do not understand what you have, then either your agent did not do his/her job well, or you choose to be ignorant.



SMART customer stays with a HONEST agent for life. Its what we want.
Pretend-To-Be-Smart customers are those that got burned by smart DISHONEST agent.
Who's fault was it first anyway?


If you want a clear example, lets take you as the example. Tell me your age,your sex,your annual income and what coverage you want(life, critical illness, disability,medical, PA). There is term also if you want. I'll post it here how much u need to pay, what u are getting, what is projected return (high n low).

Black and white. Show to public.