“Do I need a haircut?” is not a question one normally asks a barber. Of course the answer will be yes. Likewise, “do I need insurance?” is not a question one normally asks an insurance salesman, especially when his/her income is derived from the sale of product. Among the clients I meet there is traditionally a deep suspicion of insurance sales people and often (in my opinion) this is appropriate. All the statistics...

I guess there are times in life when a “thumb-suck” might be an appropriate answer but filling in an application for insurance is not one of them. Had 2 interesting cases recently which again highlight the importance of full disclosure when applying for any form of insurance. The first one emerged when we were reviewing an existing policy for a client that was done through a previous advisor. The issue revolved around her income and...

Following on from my post last week about direct insurers being so much more expensive than normal insurance companies (even at full commission) I thought I would get a few quotes from them. I asked for R1million life cover for a 44 year old male, non-smoker, top income and health bracket and this is what we got back. We also tried to compare apples with apples and so the premium escalation structure is a simialr as we could get...

Just saw the 1Lifedirect TV advert again this evening and it really gets my goat – their advert is so incrediblymisleading. It should come with a huge health warning similar to that on cigarette packets. They were offering a 44 year old male R1million life cover for just under R500 (if i remember correctly) and at the same time boasting about how cutting out the broker would save up to 22%. While the 2nd part of the claim may be true,...

I recently received a marketing offer from 1lifedirect to take out some life cover directly through them, thereby cutting out the paperwork, expensive medicals, the broker and therefore the commission. All of this, they promised, would save me up to 22% on the premiums. Having seen their rather funny TV adverts and being the curious sort I decided to give them a call to see if things were as good as they promised. After all, their flyer...