Choices

Sometimes I have people coming to me and ask me why I don't join companies which can offer insurance policies from many insurers, which brings me to the question of why people would want to go there? And why are there still companies out there with only one offering? Shouldn't such companies be driven out of the system?

Long ago, the 3 top insurers in Singapore, namely AIA, Great Eastern and Prudential, do not distribute their products to Independent Financial Advisors (IFA), for a very simple reason which I have mentioned. They are the best around, so why would you pass a good product to strangers to sell, knowing there is a possibility that they might mis-sell it? (see recent article on Finexis great work with AXA, here and here).

I usually tell my price-sensitive clients that things are expensive for a reason, especially in a competitive market like this. Why is Magnolia milk priced higher than HL milk since both are milk? The difference lies in the quality, which means the process of producing that milk you drink is of a higher cost. Similarly, some insurance policies have returns, which are superior to their competitor, and of course not forgetting quality customer service and claims process.

Would you buy a policy which takes 3 weeks to process a claim, when you need the money most?