(1) MDRT
To me, MDRT was one of the criteria I looked for in a FA. MDRT means the FA is one of the top few FAs, generating business by sales
of products. By having MDRT, I would say they are earning decent commissions. So being a MDRT is good as the agent is doing well. He/she would not be leaving the industry soon. Hence, will be servicing my policies for a longer period. If you've found a good one, you wouldn't want he/she to leave the industry.
(2) Prioritising Insuring over Wealth Generation.
Other factors include prioritising insurance over ILPs and investment plans for your wealth generation. Investment plans tend to have higher commission. If they are really genuine out to help people, their main goal should be getting you protect first, before even talking about wealth generation. Getting insured should be number one priority. Hence the name, INSURANCE AGENT. If they prefer you to sign ILPs over getting insured,, they probably are out for your money instead of your well being.
(3) Pitch you the right plans.
Never mix insurance with investments. Insurance is insurance, investments is investments. ILPs with insurance (eg with CI or high death benefit) tends to return pretty shit returns as most of the money goes to paying for the insurance. If the FA pitches you something like this, this is a big red flag to me.
If they pitch you insurance, there should be no investment component. (Apart from Whole Life Policies which require the "investment" into a par fund to cover you till 99). If they pitch you an ILP, 100% of the money should go to investments (of course there would be a small death benefit, it's normal. But that's it.)
If you're young, they pitch you endowment plans, big nono. Endowment plans just give you shit returns. Unless you are super risk adverse, little bit of risk you also dw to take. Or you're looking for like a short term 5year savings plan for kids education. Only then, they should offer endowments. Other than that, for retirement (long investment timeframe), they should be offering high equity % ILPs.
Insurance should take up max 10% of your salary. They should be able to tell you when you are over insured and stop onboarding you with too much policies. Also, if they ask you to sign an ILP that takes a significant amount of your salary, that's a big red flag. They should know you should diversify and not put all your eggs into one basket.
If they pitch you ISP plan without rider, big red flag for me. The cash premium rider is extremely important. One time big claim can save you so much money. If they don't attempt to convince you to get the rider, they prob just want to hit quota. Just tell you that main ISP is paid via CPF, no need fork out cash.
Do your own research/due diligence before signing anything.
Imo all you need is a Term Plan (Death/Tpd and eCI/CI coverage) and ISP + Rider to start. If you haven't hit your 10% cap, then you may want to consider a simple PA policy or a stand alone CI policy.
I don't believe in Whole Life Policy. You invest in ETFs can get you much better returns, which will then act as your CI coverage once your term ends (assuming you only get CI much later in life). Your investment will then continue to compound each year you do not get a CI while Whole Life payout stays the same, regardless of inflation. If you clueless about investments, probably Whole Life is then good for you.
(4) Take no for an answer.
After getting you covered, they may pitch you investment plans. If you're not interested due to the higher fees, you can politely refuse. If they keep persisting and don't respect your decision, big nono.
(5) No cringy stuff.
Met an agent thru a friend's referral. Asked me to thank my friend for referring. Sent me a drafted, super cringy and sounded super fake kinda message to send to my friend to thank him for the referral. Bye bye to this dude.
All I can think of rn. Ultimately boils down to your judge of character. Whether they are genuinely out to help people protect themselves, or they are just out to sell and make big bucks. Just my 2cents worth. You do you.
(1) MDRT
To me, MDRT was one of the criteria I looked for in a FA. MDRT means the FA is one of the top few FAs, generating business by sales
of products. By having MDRT, I would say they are earning decent commissions. So being a MDRT is good as the agent is doing well. He/she would not be leaving the industry soon. Hence, will be servicing my policies for a longer period. If you've found a good one, you wouldn't want he/she to leave the industry.
(2) Prioritising Insuring over Wealth Generation.
Other factors include prioritising insurance over ILPs and investment plans for your wealth generation. Investment plans tend to have higher commission. If they are really genuine out to help people, their main goal should be getting you protect first, before even talking about wealth generation. Getting insured should be number one priority. Hence the name, INSURANCE AGENT. If they prefer you to sign ILPs over getting insured,, they probably are out for your money instead of your well being.
(3) Pitch you the right plans.
Never mix insurance with investments. Insurance is insurance, investments is investments. ILPs with insurance (eg with CI or high death benefit) tends to return pretty shit returns as most of the money goes to paying for the insurance. If the FA pitches you something like this, this is a big red flag to me.
If they pitch you insurance, there should be no investment component. (Apart from Whole Life Policies which require the "investment" into a par fund to cover you till 99). If they pitch you an ILP, 100% of the money should go to investments (of course there would be a small death benefit, it's normal. But that's it.)
If you're young, they pitch you endowment plans, big nono. Endowment plans just give you shit returns. Unless you are super risk adverse, little bit of risk you also dw to take. Or you're looking for like a short term 5year savings plan for kids education. Only then, they should offer endowments. Other than that, for retirement (long investment timeframe), they should be offering high equity % ILPs.
Insurance should take up max 10% of your salary. They should be able to tell you when you are over insured and stop onboarding you with too much policies. Also, if they ask you to sign an ILP that takes a significant amount of your salary, that's a big red flag. They should know you should diversify and not put all your eggs into one basket.
If they pitch you ISP plan without rider, big red flag for me. The cash premium rider is extremely important. One time big claim can save you so much money. If they don't attempt to convince you to get the rider, they prob just want to hit quota. Just tell you that main ISP is paid via CPF, no need fork out cash.
Do your own research/due diligence before signing anything.
Imo all you need is a Term Plan (Death/Tpd and eCI/CI coverage) and ISP + Rider to start. If you haven't hit your 10% cap, then you may want to consider a simple PA policy or a stand alone CI policy.
I don't believe in Whole Life Policy. You invest in ETFs can get you much better returns, which will then act as your CI coverage once your term ends (assuming you only get CI much later in life). Your investment will then continue to compound each year you do not get a CI while Whole Life payout stays the same, regardless of inflation. If you clueless about investments, probably Whole Life is then good for you.
(4) Take no for an answer.
After getting you covered, they may pitch you investment plans. If you're not interested due to the higher fees, you can politely refuse. If they keep persisting and don't respect your decision, big nono.
(5) No cringy stuff.
Met an agent thru a friend's referral. Asked me to thank my friend for referring. Sent me a drafted, super cringy and sounded super fake kinda message to send to my friend to thank him for the referral. Bye bye to this dude.
All I can think of rn. Ultimately boils down to your judge of character. Whether they are genuinely out to help people protect themselves, or they are just out to sell and make big bucks. Just my 2cents worth. You do you.