Life Insurance and World War II

By Randell Tiongson on July 25th, 2012

Financial services companies, especially life insurance companies are not known for good advertising or branding campaigns. Time was, all you see is their logo or some ad that talks about their services. Worse, many of these companies advertisements are usually a newspaper spread on who their top agents for the year or a recently concluded contest — yeah, that’s going to sell more insurance — not! From a purely marketing and advertising perspective, life insurance is not your bench-mark when it comes to hi-impact promotions.

When I saw this short film, I take it back. This is a very good way to talk about a brand. Good one Sun Life, I hope this endeavor will make Pinoys appreciate life insurance better. I think the ante is up — looks like we will see better campaigns from other insurers too.. and hopefully, banks too!

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Don’t buy life insurance for kids

By Randell Tiongson on June 19th, 2010

For those who know me and read my stuff, they would know that I am an advocate of life insurance, among other financial instruments. Life insurance is something Filipinos lack sorely and for those who have some life insurance, chances are it is not enough. I stand with my belief that it is a financial instrument that allows you to have peace of mind and a great risk management tool when it comes to the uncertainties in life. In fact, life insurance is the quickest, fastest and most cost-effective mechanism for financial protection in case of untimely demise or serious physical breakdown. It is a travesty that the percentage of insured Filipinos are so unbelievably low and getting proper insurance protection is not in the priorities of many of us. If I had my way, I would want every Filipino parent to have adequate insurance coverage.

However, I do not recommend getting life insurance coverages for children. In the past, I must admit that I made a mistake recommending life insurance for children and even bought some for mine as well. In retrospect, I regret doing so. Investopedia states best why you should not get life insurance for children:

“Life insurance is designed to provide a safety net for your heirs/dependents. Because children don’t have heirs to worry about and, statistically speaking, most kids will grow up safe and healthy, most parents should not purchase life insurance for their kids…”

Instead of paying premiums for coverage, it is better to use those funds and invest in mutual funds, uitf, deposit accounts and other more viable investment instruments and invest it on their behalf. Years from now, you will realize that said investments will perform so much better than the life insurance policy of your kids. Unless you child is a child star and he or she provides for you, reconsider getting a policy for your child. Instead, assess your own insurance needs — chances are you will need to add more insurance on your own life or that of your spouse.

I think a lot of insurance agents would stop reading my blogs after this post… but, I encourage you to periodically assess your need for insurance and act on it — just don’t believe those who will tell you to get for your kids too because it’s really not a good idea.

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The need to protect

By Randell Tiongson on April 11th, 2010

In the arena of financial services, the need to protect is not most people’s top priority. Insurance continues to be a service that is misunderstood – we also distrust it, avoid it, delay it and we are generally apathetic towards it.

The Philippines still continues to have the lowest percentage of insured individuals. This is not good because in the risk management arena, insurance remains the best.

The country’s insurance industry is older than the republic itself, yet we continue to lag behind many countries when it comes to insurance.

A high percentage of progressive countries’ populations are insured. Is it about affordability? To a great degree it probably is, but to a great degree it isn’t, either. How many Filipinos have a mobile…

Read the full article at The POC

http://thepoc.net/thepoc-features/mukhang-pera/mukhang-pera-opinions/5815-the-need-to-protect.html

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