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...

I have long been an advocate of people doing their own financial planning. Far too many vested interests in the industry would have us believe that Financial Planning is too complex for individuals to do their own and that as a result they need the services of an advisor/financial planner. Bollocks I say. There is so much common sense involved that just about anyone with a brain and some time and effort could do their own financial planning...

About 5-6 years ago the Life Offices Association (now ASISA) made the claim that up to 35% of the cost of new business was due to the commission paid on the products (http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=2627965&fSectionId=552&nld=2005-07-18&t=html&f=d) and that was one of the reasons life insurance products were “expensive” and heavy penalties were levied when these were cancelled before maturity. As a...

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,...