Yes medical card is probably a better option for you as the risk of urself expose to sickness might be greater than death. However medical card's premium is quite expensive so u might need to discuss with ur parents. This is a good investment IMO. Life insurance wise if you feel u are exposed to some risk, eg. riding bike to uni, then u may purchase one if you are able to afford. Term life and whole life have different way and rates of paying premium and benefits, so you can slowly make comparison if you feel the need

I was at the summit yesterday and it is an ongoing initiative of the government. The market still needs agents for some products as it is not possible to go online for all kinds of products for now

It's wrong that no one is promoting it strongly, just that maybe you aren't aware of (okay that might means that it needs more publicity, but it's just vry near to u now ) Well, the traditional insurance companies dont want to wipe out all their own agents, is like if going online, the agents might lost jobs, that's why insurance companies u stated do have their online platform, but they dont really advertise on it. And yes there is no such service for medical cards, only pure life covers usually

This post has been edited by uforlife: Oct 19 2016, 09:58 AM

yes, so we cant really blame them. but there are companies that purely made for this, distributing insurance through online, and they can promote freely without afraid of their agents to lost their jobs, as there are no agents to begin with

it's not really a small amount that goes to commissions in premiums that consumers paid, it's like 40-60% sometimes, the figure can be scary. That's why when using a direct channel where commissions are cut off, consumers are shocked and they dont believe that a life product can be so affordable. Really hope that one day, insurance is no longer something only for the rich, instead people with low income are able to get themselves a policy be it a low sum assured, at least they are covered and if anything happens to them, they leave their families some money to pay back debts but not suffered of one's debts

This post has been edited by uforlife: Oct 19 2016, 10:36 AM

yes, agents will not dies off completely, and not all products are able to be marketed online, the number of agents might be cut down (especially those that make the name of agents bad, and leave those with good service to their clients), it won't be wipe completely. Agents are still necessary in insurance, it's quite impossible to be replaced completely by internet which serves as an alternative distribution.

1. agents are required all the while, to help customers on understanding the products, as the terms and jargons in insurance can be hard for the public (unfortunately some agents cant really explain well and in fact they themselves don't know the products well) however for the future customers, which mainly the tech savvy gen Ys prefer to do their own research online, or seeking for opinions just like the purpose of us having a thread here, they will be turning away from the 'personal touch' that the insurance companies are offering since decades, through agents.
2. they create incentives while the incentives mostly comes from the clients' premiums. they are still able to offer that way because the fact that a big portion of malaysians have not purchase any insurance product, and some people out there are still willing to pay sky high premium for insurance, that is why.
3. you cant say that agents are no longer needed, but i guess they are urging insurance companies to focus on direct distribution channel, making insurance affordable for everyone, which is good in my opinion. however as i said, agents can not be eliminated completely as not all the products can be distributed online easily due to the underwriting issues

both agent and direct approach are needed to accomodate different type of consumers and their needs

vry agree on iii) not that all agents are bad, just that there's always some spoilers in every industries.

i don't really believe in the model on ILP though, I always prefer to put my money in different vehicles, eg. buying insurance solely for protection, i dont need savings thru insurance product, if i want, i would just go for FD, for investment wise, i prefer to do it my own (i'm an amateur trader myself) or dump my money into unit trusts or funds, SC and CFA malaysia had been promoting trusts too.

but of course there is different needs for different person, those are just my own opinion though

i do have friend caught up in that, but the agent is a friend, who desperately want sales, signed him up an ILP while my friend himself is an active trader on stock and future market. my friend be like what...? but end up still took it anyway cz is a friend and doesnt take additional money that he allocated for insurance initially

In the end is based on what your need is, whether you want insurance be purely protection only or u want it with savings/investment. After you made up your mind knowing what you want, then get quotation from agents based on the type of policy u interested in different type of policy accomodate diff needs

The cs might rly dint think that much when telling that to you if everything can be done yourself might as well kick the agent that suppose to service you off ;D and yeah pity ur bad experience with agent, hope you get a better one to service you next!

BNM is trying to shift everything to online, hopefully one day we will be able to buy all products through online just like other advance countries like UK US where ppl can just surf for the products and compare like what we have for credit cards now. We already have life insurance available for purchase online, it's a first step to go digital

while ppl paying for it for so long and never questioned about it till now

there is always term insurance offered, just that not many people like it cz it doesnt have any surrender value (conventional thinking of having savings/investment together seems more worth it, and people dont like to pay and might get nth in the end, even they have to pay alot higher to get smthn in the end ), usually companies buy term life for their employees as well cz can cancel it after the employee left the company. If i'm not mistaken hongleong is on their way to go online for their life product soon as well

at least when the specialists are comparing, hmmm not as bad pay as earlier, might as well just stay in gov. We all know that doctors are oversupplied now, if possible to stay just stay D;

uhm if not free to monitor, there's always other options for investment, such as unit trusts, mutual funds. i still believe insurance shld jz doing their job insuring their clients, looking for investment? just go for companies that specialised in investment instead. Just my opinion

it's true is a combo, but then, the proceeds is actually goes to the cost of insurance when there is a shortage, it doesnt require you to top up for the shortage but instead they take it from the % u might get to earn. If that's the case i might as well dump the money direct to fund house and get exactly wad i should get. for insurance part i jz pay steadily and purely for protection .

some readings: https://verylongrun.com/2016/08/24/investme...inked-policies/

thanks for the share

the gov's initiative is to help us to get life product at more affordable price, and in a simpler way however whether will able to hit 30% is another story, will be depending on whether insurer's wana focus on this channel or not

This post has been edited by uforlife: Nov 1 2016, 05:16 PM

what BNM governor wanted is to add another distributive channel, means giving additional choice to consumers. That's why the concept papers stated only to distribute pure protection products. It's not that easy to go everything online, it is depending on how complicated the underwriting process are. Agents are still required for some of the products.

well said! one of the intention of having direct distribution channel is to let the low income group have the ability to at least get some coverage for themselves. Everyone has the chance to own a policy, be it rich or poor, government wanted insurance to be available and affordable to everyone. It's a good thing especially for the poor as when they passed away, their dependants will not get even poorer due to the inheritance of debts.

This post has been edited by uforlife: Nov 4 2016, 12:40 PM