Insurance - do u consolidate and buy insurance from one single agent or insurer? AIA seems to be more expensive

Up to individual, no right or wrong!

Hi W-N,

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There's probably a few factors at play here.

1. You probably need differing amounts/types of insurance at various points in your life. Thus you will be looking at getting suitable coverage when the need arises. At each juncture, you should evaluate the most suitable plan for your needs. So it's quite likely that in doing so, you'll end up with plans from various insurers over time. There's nothing wrong with that. It's also possible that you might end up with plans from the same insurer (less likely but possible). Again, there's nothing wrong with that, although I will point out that there are limits under the policy owner's protection scheme which you should be aware of especially if you have quite a substantial sum assured with one insurer. Please refer to https://www.sdic.org.sg/public/pp_overview for more information
2. As for buying from a single person, if the advisor is an IFA, and the proper analysis and recommendations have been considered, I don't feel that there's anything wrong with getting your coverage over the years from a single person. Likelywise, there's nothing stopping you from seeking out various advisors to buy from them if you prefer; and of course if you are working with a tied advisor, you would have to approach another advisor if you are looking to get coverage with an insurer that he/she cannot distribute.

As to whether AIA is more expensive or not; this really depends on what you are looking at covering; so what I can say is to ensure that you are comparing apple to apple before deciding if it is indeed more expensive. An easy comparision is to compare a simple term plan for death and TPD, these definitions are pretty much the same across the insurers. Anecdotally, my experience indicates that AIA plans may not always be the cheapest in such a scenario (although we must be careful to distinguish cheapest against value for money)

Just redeem my AIA life after 29 years. Buying term now.

It is definitely better to compare various insurance options in order to get more competitive quotes and rates. I discovered this app Planner Bee which helps you consolidate the various plans from many insurers. You just have to put in a request for the specific plan you require and they will send you a table for ease of comparison, simplifying the decision-making process with easy-to-evaluate options.