I met the chief executive of a Canadian insurance company who has over 20 years of experience in the life and non-life market.
He said that the financial planning needs of most people are quite straight forward. They can be met by simple savings and insurance (protection) product.
The advice of a financial planner is needed only for the high income earners who have to carry out estate or tax planning. This does not apply to many ordinary people.
There is no need for complicated and costly products that give a poor return to the consumers.
I disagree with this Canadian. Rich people don't need an adviser and they can still be very rich.Even if they have a bad investment experience they can still retire comfortably. Ironically they are the ones who feel the need to hire a good adviser and as a result they get richer.
ReplyDeleteThe poor ordinary folks NEED VERY GOOD ADVISER to help them but inevitably and unfortunately end with a half baked incompetent insurance agent who does not qualify as an adviser but an unscrupulous salesman who load them with high cost traditional, limited premium wholelife and endowment products.They make them get poorer or at best status quo.
So Mr. Tan, the Govt recognises this fact and is now helping them by protecting their CPF asset from being raided by insurance agents.
When in 2001 when CPF was liberalised it was hoped the CPF members could have their asset enhanced by themselves but alas the insurance agents pockets got enhanced and got richer instead and the poor got poorer. The recent CPF report revealed that only about 20% made profit above the 2.5% and how much above the 2.5% was not said. Who make up the bulk of the CPF members? THE POOR!!!!THE POOR!!
Kudos to the GOvt. Their eyes are open now to the plight of the poor.
It is a bold move to use the iron fist method.They risk the votes of the poor but it is not the time to think of votes. They realised that poor members' retirement fund cannot be left to the free helping by insurance agents any more.