Day +874 : A sharing at an insurance agent's group meeting

I am fine today.

I was invited to give a sharing at an insurance agent’s group meeting tonight. There were about 50 insurance agents attended the meeting. I did a similar sharing on 6 August 2008 which I mentioned in my blog Day +397 : A talk about my Leukaemia experience.

The organizer would like me to share my Leukaemia experience; how I faced the disease and treatment and of course, since this is an insurance agent’s meeting, to share my insurance experience :-)

Hopefully, my sharing would motivate the insurance agents, especially the young one, to attain better achievement.

I was sharingThe audienceSee you next post :-)

Day +493 : You increase the price, I have no choice but pay 乖乖ly (2)

I am fine today. Continue from yesterday…

But when we received the renewal notice for year 2008, we were shocked to know the amount that we need to pay is now RM1,128.00 :-( The reason for this big increment is because the company no longer covers the children for free. They imposed an annual premium of RM96 for each child, and since I have four children, I need to pay an extra amount of RM384.00 next year :-( This translated to an incredible 52% premium jump and compared to the time when we first subscribed to the policy, this is a 91.8% premium hike :-(

Apart from this, they also imposed a 10% co-insurance subject to a maximum out of pocket of RM1,000.00 per claim. Not only this, no claim can be made if the amount is RM200.00 and below.

Certainly, the benefits are greatly degraded! Unfortunately, unlike the bread loaf, there is no way of finding a do-it-yourself (DIY) alternative to reduce this premium cost, and given my poor medical history record, it is extremely difficult for me to get another policy with good premium.

Therefore, we have to stick to this policy whether we like it or not. I claimed quite heavily from this policy due to my sickness, and comparing the amount that I had claimed with the premium that I have to pay next year, we still gain (untung) a lot :-) Besides, we can see the paying of premium as a way to support the group fund to support those who are in needs :-) Positive thinking again!

However, the only thing that worries me is the tendency of current policy holders pulling out from the group due to the premium hike especially for those who have many children. If this happens, the performance of the group fund will be affected and then the company might need to raise the premium again :-( I hope this would never happen.

See you next post :-)

Day +492 : You increase the price, I have no choice but pay 乖乖ly (1)

I am fine today.

My wife received her Great Eastern hospitalization and surgical insurance renewal notice a few days ago. The policy was purchased through the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) since 2002. It covers everyone in the family including all the children.

Initially, we only need to pay RM588 annually, but they increased the premium to RM744 in 2006 – a 26.5 % increment. The notice of premium increment came with the following points to stress the benefits of this policy:

1. Single rate for those whose age are between 18 to 55 (No increment of premium according to age of policy holder until they reach the age of 55).
2. Children are covered free of charge.
3. No 10% co-insurance - means the policy holders have to bear 10% of each claim.
4. No life-time limit.
5. Annual limit of RM100,000.00.
6. Compensation of RM50,000 for each disability for each member.
7. Medical card can be renewed until 65 years old.

Considering the benefits provided, we were still happy to bear the 26.5% premium hike.

To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day +401 : My expectation of a good insurance agent (2)

I am fine today. Continue from yesterday…

1. Be honest
   If a customer asks you about an insurance policy from other company which you think is good, you have to acknowledge it. Don’t tell lie(亏着良心说骗话). You might ask how could I do business with this kind of honesty? My answer is “Your company must have something superior than other company; else you have to question yourself if you join the right company :-)” In addition to this, while introducing policy to the customer, do not always show the projected cash value based on the highest estimated interest. It is very important for the customer to know as well how the policy performs under the worst case scenario. The agent has to remember the fact that some customers are clever :-


2. Don’t criticize too much
   Don’t spend too much time in criticizing the weaknesses of others, but concentrate on stressing the strengths of the policy that you would like to introduce. Too much criticism will only result in repugnance (反感). While persuading me from purchasing insurance from her, an insurance agent said, “Recently, many managers left company A to join my company, because the policies of company A are too bad to sell.” My mind reacted instantly upon hearing this, “Who knows how many managers from your company join company A?”

I do not know what an insurance agent thinks about these points, but I believe many people will be happier to deal with an insurance agent who possesses the above mentioned characters :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +400 : My expectation of a good insurance agent (1)

I am fine today.

I would like to share with you some points that I shared with the insurance agents on the Monday regarding what constitutes a good insurance agent from my or customers perspective.

A good insurance agent should possess the following attributes:

1. Put customer interest above self-interest
   Never ever persuade customer to terminate an existing policy to buy another ‘better’ policy. In addition to this, the agent has to consider the financial situation of the customer carefully to make sure that they are not overburdened by the insurance premium. “The more you buy, the better it is” only works if the customer affords to bear the premium in the long run. For example, my brother in the home village was persuaded to purchase an insurance which he afforded to pay the first one or two premium only :-( What benefit he got? Nothing, but I am sure the agent profited from it.
   
2. Generous in servicing customer
   The agent might not reap profits immediately for being too generous in servicing customer, but it is very likely that he/she will gain profits in the long run. For example, I would not hesitate to refer anyone who would like to purchase insurance to Kuok Chai because he provided generous and excellent services to me in the claim process. I blogged about this on my Day +69 blog.

To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day +397 : A talk about my Leukaemia experience

I am fine today.

I was invited to speak at an insurance agent’s group meeting this morning. There were more than 10 insurance agents attended the meeting.

I began the talk with the sharing that I recorded for the concert as I posted in my Day +388 and Day +389 blog. The sharing summarized what had happened to me and how I overcame the toughest trial of life that I ever experienced.

After that I talked about my experiences on insurance which included the claim process, my experience with insurance agents and what are my expectations on insurance agents. Part of the sharing can be found in my Day +69 blog.

After the talk, the audiences asked many questions regarding my illness and the treatment process.

Photo of me talking in the meeting.

Photo with Mr. Kuok Chai, the agent that invited me to talk in their meeting. He is the one that I talked about in my Day+69 blog.
See you next post :-)

Day +69

I am fine today. Just continue my story...

I purchased insurances for myself and also my children from a few insurance companies. These insurances included life insurances, life insurances with critical illness, medical insurances and education saving insurances. The last insurance agent that I purchased insurances from is a very nice and professional person. Long before I was sick, he already helped me to analyze and summarize all my policies. Because of this, I find out all the policies which were scattered throughout many places and placed all of them in a bag. The policy summary and all insurance related documents were also filed properly.

Immediately after I was diagnosed with AML, I asked someone to pass my insurance file together with the policies to the agent to process the claim. He analyzed and handled the claim for all my insurances, regardless where and who I purchased them from. In order to do this, he had to make many contacts and visits to those insurance companies other than the one he is attached with. He even helped me to process my Social Security Organization (SOSCO) claim later. I am very satisfied with his services and definitely would recommend him to you :-)

But I was not so fortunate to meet an insurance agent who advised me to drop a term reducing rider on my critical illness policy. He also advised me to terminate my critical illness policy which I already paid premium twice. The idea was to purchase investment linked insurance from him which he claimed will result in better reward in the end. Unfortunately, I listened to his first advice which result in my claim reduced by about RM180,000 :-( Fortunately, I did not listen to his second advice, else my claim will be a lot less :-) It is by no mean to blame the insurance agent for this, as the final decision was still mine. However, I learned a lesson from his: consult more people (other insurance agents in this case) before making a decision.

See you next post :-)