Although i agree with you that there is no free lunch in this world and completely agree with you on the fact that an agent, such as myself, would be getting commissions, (i prefer to use the word as professional fee) on each policy. No doubt that there are many agents today that do not disclose essential details, there are many good agents and it is not right to make generalisations like the ones mentioned by you above. As some of the persons who have replied to this article have mentioned that they have met good advisors who have indeed given then good service and properly explained the product, it needs to be taken into account that insurance products are meant for long term savings of persons and not short term, the policy must be studied carefully, the comparisions should be insisted upon by the customer. If someone says they can sue me for better service, i can obviously say that as educated persons, questions should be asked. Thats the only way to safeguard oneself from being misused. If there is an underlying motive for an agent, the person who is sparing his / her savings also has an underlying motive of getting the returns he/she desires. as i said eariler, there is no free lunch in this world. I am new to this forum, but it is very interesting and would definately be interested in offering my professional service to anyone interested. Send me an email with your details at npmajithia1@rediffmail.com
I appreciate the points your are bringing up myself being a sales guy. But your and mine customer have a right to information. We as sales guys need to realise that unlike platform economy where we make a one time sale and are off ... we need to build relationships of trust with our customers which means we need to be transparent. You might not agree to this as most sales trainings teach you to be otherwise, but the reality of the fact is nobody buys from a sly person. Helps being transparent so that your customer starts opening up with you and then as we would say "You have the deal in the bag". Give it a thought :)
Don't mean to be sarcastic or critical, but life insurance do sell by cold calls. I get 2 an average in a week. Don't know however where these guys get the numbers
RE:Life Insurance do sell by Cold Calls
by Neel Majithia on Feb 21, 2007 02:22 PM Permalink
if you seriously think you need to be advised on insurance and are interested in going further, maybe i can help. I myself do not know how they get these numbers. But they do sell on the phone.
RE:RE:Life Insurance do sell by Cold Calls
by madusudan upadhye on Aug 06, 2007 02:29 PM Permalink
pl forward u have any information related to above maTTER. MY MAIL IS kumadu@rediffmail.com
A hurriedly written article - by someone who has very less depth of understanding the insurance market. For instance - in the very first point the columnist's friend is living in a "I thought so" environment. She fails to understand even the very basic principle of extrapolation by making reasonable estimates!! The remaining points too are not quite valid - viz. the commission, commissions can be as low as 2% and not necessarily what the columnist quotes!!! Returns if you see are much higher. 100% of the investment can be put in equity linked products - the author is again wrong by saying only 10-15% in equity. Overall the article needs to redone. It seems to be more emotional kind than being a ground truth!!!
RE:What Insurance Agents Won't Tell You
by Neel Majithia on Feb 21, 2007 02:25 PM Permalink
I completely agree with you sir. Knowing the facts and commenting upon heresay is very different. Definately the figures need to change. Rightly so.... commissions are from 2% to 20% and returns are equally lucrative to the policy holders so its not fair to compare only outflows whereas inflows are considered most carefully at the time of taking the policy.
The people who show the return for the equities always avoid to inform the investors that there is great downside risk too. Moreover, they are more vocal when markets are up and this is the time when the new entrants have the highest risk of losing. Moreover, the time and information required to be collected for equity investments directly may prove to be fatal as you may end up making the loss in your business.
While buying a LIC Policy means that you can spare your time concentrating your main earning assignments and let your savings grow with time. Even the annual premiums payable by you are collected by your agent.
RE:Asking people to invest on their own
by Amit Gandhi on May 28, 2006 09:10 PM Permalink
YOu can sue your Insurance Agent in Consumer Court, as its his duty to give you better service.
Is there any way we can change our insurance agent?, As I'm facing this problem, an insurance agent from whom my parents had taken insurance policy, never remind about the due date of premium,and never provide any kind of information or other help.
The writing under the headline 'what insurance agents won't tell' is well read. The writer has stressed on the profits of the person to be insured without swallowing the words an insurance agent says or informs. Ofcourse, a person if he or she has dependents, it is better to get his/her life insured which would help immensely after his/her death.
Dear writer of the topic has mentioned about the commisions to be ranging from 10 to 15% while at the same time he has given a weird calculation of 16000 as commision out of 40000 as premium amount.Kindly give a check to errs like that.
the writer has given good tips.However i wonder about her own qualifcations to write on this subject. It would be also be too much to paint all insurance agents as greedy and all financial planners as virtuous angels from heaven. otherwise a good piece
