Now we can all get Honest and Instant Insurance Advice

The traditional mode of how insurance is sold is a frustrating process for most people. Consumers do not know where to start when it comes to getting insured. In many cases, there is a sales-pitch and high pressure selling from advisers who have a conflict of interest.

To address these needs, Do It Your-way Insurance (DIYInsurance) was launched in 2014 to empower people to make informed decisions about their own insurance purchase and they started Singapore’s 1st Life Insurance Comparison Web Portal for users to compare insurance products and provide greater transparency. To-date, more than 150,000 users have used DIYInsurance.

Consumers find it difficult to know where to start when it comes to getting insured. To help consumers obtain an assessment of their life insurance needs, they have recently launched Selfcheck, Singapore’s 1st digital adviser to bring insurance planning to the next high level.

This is like having an insurance adviser help you with your insurance check-up and providing instant advice, but without you feeling the obligation to buy anything.

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You can easily uncover:

  • types of insurance you really need
  • how much insurance you require
  • surplus or shortfall in your insurance coverage
  • recommended policies to meet your needs

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Everyone can now perform a Selfcheck and obtain a customised and tailored insurance solution from a place they can trust.

The DIYInsurance Difference

Expert advisers to assist you

When you plan your insurance with DIYInsurance, they assign a dedicated expert insurance adviser to complete your planning process. Simply put, you use Selfcheck to build your own insurance plan and the human insurance adviser act as your guide to complete the process by fine tuning your plan. This is insurance advice at its best.

Honest advice

To avoid conflict of interest, all of their insurance advisers are salaried-based and not remunerated on a commissions-basis hence there is no incentive to hard-sell and push products that reward higher commissions. DIYInsurance wants to provide the most honest, independent and competent advice to their clients.

Dedicated after-sales service

If there are any claims or after-sales service requirements, you not only can approach your adviser, DIYInsurance has an entire team of Client Service Managers who stand ready to assist you. All you need is to contact them and they will do everything for you.

It is critical is that there is a trusted DIYInsurance adviser and a client service team whom you can always go to. DIYInsurance is not just High-Tech, they are High-Touch.

Lower Cost

With Selfcheck, the insurance process is made more efficient and hence they are providing greater cost savings to their clients by increasing their commission rebates from 30% to 50%.

DIYInsurance rebates 50% of the salesperson’s commissions to their clients and retain the remainder of the commissions as their service fees. These rebates to their clients are on top of ongoing policy promotions offered by the insurers and they rebate the commissions for as long as the insurer pays them on a policy which could be over a period of 3-6 years.

Expertise

Started by Providend Ltd, a licensed financial adviser and registered fund management company with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) since 2003, the key leaders of DIYInsurance are Chief Executive of Providend Ltd Christopher Tan, MBA, CFP® and Head of DIYInsurance, Eddy Cheong, CFP® whom each have almost 2 decades of experience in the wealth management industry. All DIYInsurance advisers are licensed with the MAS.

Summary

When you plan your insurance needs through DIYInsurance, what you get is quality, transparent and conflict free advice at a much lower cost from a trusted place. Best of all, you can do all this at the comfort of your desk, without feeling the pressure that you need to purchase something. In addition, you still get all the help needed when you need to claim against your policies. That is why DIYInsurance is not “Do It Yourself Insurance” but “Do It Your-Way Insurance”. Try Selfcheck today!

 

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Essential Insurance You Need As A Young Working Adult

Singapore Young Working Adults

Finally! After grueling years of hard work and burning the midnight oil, you have graduated. You are bound to face the next chapter of your life – transitioning to the workforce.

Aside from dressing professionally, meeting the deadlines, helping your boss, and socializing with your fellow colleagues, it is your responsibility to create an effective financial plan.

Financial planning is a process of managing your finances and knowing where you want to go. It protects you from all the potential pressures such as taxes and unexpected fees. And, an effective financial plan shall include a savings account and an insurance.

What if an unforeseen event happened to you in your first few months on the job and you have to be confined at the hospital for a week? Restoring your health to its full strength is overwhelming enough and the last thing you want to think of is whether you can afford the medical bills! Medisave and Medishield may alleviate the impact however, having an insurance policy would have been a better option to offset the charges.

This is why it is important to protect your future with a reliable insurance policy!

In fact, a study showed that the average amount of life insurance coverage a working adult needs (minus his personal and Central Provident Fund savings) is approximately equivalent to 3.7 times his annual income.

The good news is…there is an insurance company who have young working adults at heart. It is no other than DIYInsurance. DIYInsurance, Singapore’s first online insurance comparison web portal, insures young working adults with S$1,000,000 in protection and 75% of the starting job’s salary should you be unfit to work.

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HOW DOES IT WORK?

DIYInsurance compared and analyzed policies across several insurers such as NTUC, Aviva, AXA, and Tokio Marine, to put together a package that is tailored to provide you with a comprehensive coverage. This package is called the “Young Working Adult Package”.

The Young Working Adult Package consists of:

  1. S$1,000,000 assured in death and total permanent disability protection.
  1. S$150,000 assured in critical illness.
  1. S$50,000 assured in early critical illness.
  1. 75% of your income assured in occupational disability.

Here is an illustration:

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This potent package that can easily be purchased in one go, will cover you during your working years till you turn 65!

What’s more? You can customize the plan according to your budget and needs!

In one amazing package, you get to protect your income stream, cover your hospital bills, have enough money for alternative cancer or stroke treatments, and provide your dependents with a substantial amount of money should you pass away!

So, what is the total cost of it all? An estimated amount of only S$220 per month (for a 25 year old non-smoker who is working on a desk job). If you must know, this starter pack will also reimburse you about S$350 in commissions.

This price makes DIYInsurance’s Young Working Adult Package ideal for working adults who want their essentials protected yet keep their expenses to a minimum.

Enquire or apply now at http://www.diyinsurance.com.sg/portal/packages/young-working-adult.

With a perfectly tailored insurance package that includes fuss-free processing and reliable after-sales service, what more can a working adult ask for?

 

*Aside from the package above, DIYInsurance launched the Price Beater option that guarantees to offer you with the best insurance deals out there! Simply email them the quote and benefit illustration you have been offered at [email protected]. Aside from offering you with a better price, they will give you up to S$50 in shopping vouchers (until 31 Dec 2015 only) !

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(This article is brought to you by DIYInsurance.)

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DIYInsurance’s First-of-its-Kind Baby Protection Package and Price Beater

DIYInsurance (Do It Your way Insurance) is Singapore’s First Life Insurance Comparison Web Portal launched in June 2014.

As its name suggests, you can now purchase insurance based on your own agenda and not the insurance agent’s agenda. Besides having the option to compare different kind of insurance plans across various insurers, they also rebate 30% of the commissions back to you. That’s an added bonus for making conscientious effort to take care of your own future financial needs!

Good news for every responsible adults out there!

DIYInsurance has unveiled a first-of-its-kind insurance packages last month to provide a more holistic cover to two groups of people that require protection the most —  Baby and Young Working Adult.

For every parents, the birth of your baby signifies happiness and it also means assuming greater responsibility.

As parents, we want to give the best to our children. Besides giving them a memorable childhood, we want to give them a good education and adequate medical treatment if they fall ill or get injured.

The Child Protection Plan is an insurance package that protects your newborn from day one and it covers everything from child-related critical illnesses to death and disability. A complete hospitalization plan is also included to ensure that their hospital bill are taken care of.

Child Protection Plan

Premium can be as affordable as less than $100 a month, depending on your needs. For more info, visit DIYInsurance here.

As responsible parents, we want our children’s education to be well taken care of and if your budget permits, the Baby Package also offers an Education Savings Plan that provides cash payout each time when your child reaches the next education milestone. Imagine how grateful your child will feel when they receive a cash payout of $2,000 each time they progress from Primary School to Secondary, and then to College?

An additional lump sum payment will be paid out when they turn 18, 19 and 20 (If your child is a girl) or 20, 21 and 22. (If your child is a boy)

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Get rewarded for being responsible. You are entitled to cash rebates of around $300 for signing up for the Baby Package. A $50 shopping voucher will also be thrown in if you sign up for both the Child Protection Plan and the Education Savings Plan.

Apply Now Button

Enquire more about the package on DIYInsurace’s website here.

* Nobody like being shortchanged, and they understand that. DIYInsurance has also launched the Price Beater option which guarantee to offer you the best insurance deals out there. Got a better quotes from other insurers? Contact them and they’ll beat the price you have been offered and in addition they will give you up to $50 in shopping vouchers to spend! [Until 31 Dec 2015]

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More information on Price Beater here.

(This article is brought to you by DIYInsurance.)

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DIYInsurance: Compare Life Insurance and Save with 30% Commission Rebates

DIYInsurance Featured Banner

DIYInsurance (Do It Your way Insurance) is Singapore’s First Life Insurance Comparison Web Portal launched in June 2014.

An insurance resource that exists for one sole purpose: to empower you to make informed decisions about your insurance purchases based on no one’s agenda except your own.

Here’s how they stood out from the rest:

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30% Commission Rebates

In addition to promotions, you will receive 30% commission rebates back in cash when you purchase any product through DIYInsurance for greater cost savings to you. Learn more about commissions rebate here.

 

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Independence

All staff from DIYInsurance are paid a fixed salary and do not participate in sales-based compensation or incentives of any kind. Not being remunerated on a commission-basis means DIYInsurance is independent and are able to focus on doing our best to fulfill your needs. There is no hard-selling and no over-selling.

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DIYInsurance Rating

The DIYInsurance rating system helps you find the product which is of the best value that suits your needs. The Specialist Consulting Group with expertise insurance knowledge, compiles, analyses,       compares, updates and research products distributed by insurance companies based on features and price. Based on the product’s value, it is converted to the number of stars as displayed in the comparison platform.

You are able to compare the value of a wide range of products for your Protection needs (term, whole life, critical illness, disability income, long term care and mortgage), Savings needs (child’s education-endowment and SRS-approved savings) and Retirement Income needs from different insurance companies.

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DIYInsurance has been featured on The Straits Times, The Edge, Lianhe Zaobao, Gold 90.5 FM and Kiss 92 FM.

Compare & Save with DIYInsurance today!

Like DIYInsurance on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/diyinsurance.com.sg

(This post is brought to you by DIYInsurance, Singapore’s First Life Insurance Comparison Web Portal)

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How I Travel For Free By Planning My Own Finances

How I Travel For Free By Planning My Own Finances

I just got back from Hong Kong.

While i love the amazing skyline from Victoria Peak, what got me excited were not the insta-worthy photos i took or the dim sum i gobbled down at Lung King Heen.

It was the fact that i actually travel for free.

Free? Does it means that i won a free trip to Hong Kong or had my travel sponsored by a company?

Good guess, but nope!

Well, the trick here is about planning my own finances. I couldn’t have included Hong Kong into the list of places to visit without exceeding the budget i set aside for this year.

A few years ago when i was still a student, i didn’t care too much about my own finances since i was spending within my means. Like many others, I had my money stashed away in a POSB’s saving account. Who care about interest rates when we hardly have five figures in our possession? The returns were pittance that it hardly warrant any extra attention.

My attitude changed when i had friends who were boasting about how much money they were making. I told myself i wanted to be like them — to be rich, in the shortest amount of time.

It seems then that the only way is to invest venture gamble into the stocks market. I had no idea where to start until one day i was approached by a financial adviser when i was exiting the MRT station. And being a ambitious and impulsive young adult, i was persuaded into buying a saving plan that invests into the market with some kind of insurance cover that comes with it.

It felt good even though i had no idea what i was buying into – the feel good factor that i am now investing like an adult.

I call in to check on the policy every month, but apparently i was told that it is still in the early stage and had little or no cash value.

After a few months i gave up because it hardly grows and sadly i was told that if i were to terminate the plan, i would end up with almost nothing.

The change

From then on, I told myself that no one else can manage my own finances except myself. I need to take the responsibility or i will be the one suffering down the road.

I spend months reading up on books, forums, MoneySense and any resources that i could laid hands on. I begin to understand the importance of budgeting, investing and how to manage my own finances.

I started by switching my funds to a higher interest-bearing account such as the OCBC 360 where customers could potentially earn up to 3.25% as at 1 May 2015.

OCBC 360 Account Revised

It was also then that i realized that previously i was holding on to an investment-linked plan which comes with high fee and charges. It is not cost-effective to achieve my goals and i had to take the hard decision to surrender and make a loss.

A better way that i learnt is to buy term insurance and invest the difference. Term insurance is cheap and affordable although it does not have cash value. But the difference i could potentially save could be put into better investment vehicle such as the low cost fund that tracks the Straits Time Index (STI) which has a historical return of around 8 per cent in the long run.

I was introduced to the online platform DIYInsurance — a portal which allows me to compare the different term insurance plans out there. What appeals to me is that they rebate 30% of the commission back to the customer and at the same time still make an effort to go through the planning process, making sure that the person is on the right track.

DIYInsurance

They have a live chat system where i can ask any questions on how to use the online platform, as well as clarifying with the client services manager on the semantics of insurance definition. It was fuss free and it beats the inconvenience of holding on to the line when you call in to financial institutions for enquiries.

If you are wondering how much money i save using the DIY method, i have done up some numbers for comparison.

Comparison ILP TERM

(Click to enlarge)

As you can see, i was previously paying $300 a month for a $200K cover on death and disability and a $50K rider on critical illnesses. If the funds grow at 4%, it will take me 20 years to break even and 35 years to make a small profit of $15K. (calculate the ROI)

If i were to employ the alternative strategy of buying term and investing the difference, i’d be merely paying $100 a month for a $500K cover on death, disability and $300K on critical illnesses. The other $100 will be channeled to a low cost fund, and assuming it grows at the same rate, my portfolio would be sitting at a value of $35K after 20 years or $88K after 35 years. (note that i’m contributing 2/3 of what i’d have otherwise contributed to the ILP and i have pegged its growth at 4% for comparison purposes)

As a result, i managed to put away $100 a month into my travel funds and this adds up to a significant amount of $1,200 a year. A sum that is sufficient for me to pay for the return air ticket to Hong Kong which including hotel and shopping expenses incurred during the trip. I am also getting $400 worth of commission rebates from DIYInsurance which i can either re-invest or spend it on my next trip. (I have re-invested it)

In conclusion

By taking charge of my own finances, i am now enjoying a higher returns of 2.25% (excluding the 1% bonus to insure or invest) from the money sitting in the bank as well as future incoming funds. I have also manage to cut down on unnecessary fee and charges slapped on expensive insurance products by switching to a more affordable term cover and investing in a low cost funds.

I have lost some money in the investment linked product but at the same time i have took home valuable knowledge and wisdom of managing my own finances, and as a result, created more wealth from it.

Well, perhaps a road trip to Australia next?

(Article contributed by Cheryl, a Marketing Executive working in Singapore.)

 

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