What should I ask to the financial agent about the products they are selling?

Hi Anonymous! It really depends on what products they are selling you. Some products like Term Insurance are pretty straightforward, while products like Investment Linked Policies, Whole Life and Endowment Policies are slightly more complicated. There is no specific set of questions you should be asking. The most important thing to note is that you should know exactly what the product is about before commiting to the purchase. Any doubts that you have regarding the specific product is a question worthy to ask. You should never ever commit to a purchase unless you fully understand the product. Hope this helps:)

Actually, the key is to know what you are looking for ie what are your needs, what are you trying to achieve. Then the questions will come naturally.

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If you do not know what are your needs and what you are trying to achieve, then ask these to the financial advisor (there you go) and they will guide you.

1) Insurance

In an ideal world, people should only go to insurance agent to purchase insurance(that's what I would do) , but we all know that not every one is willing to go through the hassle to manage the investment of funds by themselves.

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2) Investment

Therefore since there is this 'gap' in the market, products such as whole life, endowment and ILP come up to 'Bridge the gap'. In an ideal world, people can put their money in index funds but for convenience, some would choose to let their agent manage this aspect of their finance as well. Actually in today's context, the easiest is to invest with roboadvisor. Endowment and all are things of the past.

Do you really need such a product? Investing in an ETF tracking the S&P 500 index would net you 10% in returns based on historical data. Endowment plans and ILPs are not able to achieve the same returns... except if you are the insurance agent selling it to others (think of the commissions). Many of the insurance agents I know of personally invest in stocks and not the plans that they are trying to sell to you. You have to determine what is your objective and risk level and think of what is their incentive and objective of selling the plan to you (i.e. is it because they think you need it or it is because they would earn a commission?).