In the event you’re a savvy client however dislike having to take care of insurance coverage brokers who attempt to exhausting promote or affect you in direction of getting sure merchandise that you already know aren’t nice for you and your loved ones, then try Planner Bee. Other than permitting you to handle your (and your loved ones’s) insurance coverage insurance policies multi functional place, it provides a brand new mannequin of shopping for insurance coverage – the place you and your wants come first, and the agent servicing comes solely on the finish AFTER you’ve made your determination. Can expertise take away the commissions bias that’s inherent within the business? I’m actually hopeful, however you possibly can learn on to determine for your self!
You recognize what you wish to purchase, and head on-line to check quotes on varied on-line aggregators. Then, you uncover that you simply’ve run into a number of points:
- Most on-line aggregators provide quotes from solely a restricted variety of insurers, or product varieties (e.g. pet insurance coverage shouldn’t be widespread, just a few portals have it)
- Whilst you know what you need, you want to converse with somebody to ask questions and make clear your considerations earlier than you commit, particularly to a long-term plan like life or medical insurance
- You attempt to name up your insurance coverage agent pal for it, solely to understand that they’re unable to get you quotes from insurers like AIA, Nice Japanese or Prudential.
- Typically, your agent is unavailable and doesn’t reply…which makes you marvel, what’s going to occur if you want them throughout claims then? Who do you go to in the event that they’re the one contact you’ve for that coverage?
The state of the insurance coverage market in the present day
The insurance coverage business is fraught with conflicts of curiosity, which frequently implies that shoppers have little to no clue as as to if their insurance coverage agent is recommending them the most effective coverage that meets their wants, or one that’s higher for the agent’s earnings. From completely different commissions charges abroad journeys for pushing sure merchandise, these incentive buildings are sometimes not made identified to the patron, making it even tougher for them to guage what is really driving their agent’s suggestions.
I’ve met dozens of insurance coverage brokers, and most fail to really impress me sufficient to earn my belief. For those who do, I’ve saved them shut over time, utilizing their suggestions as a second (generally third) opinion to assist validate whether or not my determination is right.
The tell-tale indicators often seem when your agent is fast to suggest you entire life insurance coverage, investment-linked plans (ILPs) or endowment insurance policies spanning over 20 or 30 years. It’s a undeniable fact that time period life insurance coverage is a much more cost-effective solution to shield in opposition to mortality for many shoppers*, whereas investment-linked plans with their excessive charges will hardly allow you to to beat the market and most endowment plans have barely saved up with market returns.
*See a case research of when the opposite argument (entire life over time period life) would possibly maintain true right here, resembling when somebody does NOT wish to purchase time period and make investments the remaining.
After my current article about how insurance coverage brokers are compensated in Singapore, the workforce at Planner Bee reached out to me to share their answer to this drawback. As an award-winning fintech app helmed by a workforce from insurance coverage and wealth administration backgrounds, Planner Bee was designed to assist shoppers make knowledgeable choices based mostly on their wants reasonably than an agent’s commissions.
And the reality is, until your insurance coverage wants are advanced, you is perhaps higher off planning for your self, in an effort to get rid of all these potential conflicts of curiosity within the first place! That is what I’ve personally finished for the final decade, and I like to recommend that you simply take possession of managing your personal insurance coverage insurance policies for your self on this method too.
However as a DIY insurance coverage planner, the place do you go to make sure that you’re heading in the right direction?
Discover and handle your insurance coverage insurance policies in a single place
Enter Planner Bee, a cell private monetary software designed by Singaporeans to cater particularly to the wants of insurance coverage consumers right here. Powered by their very own proprietary engine, the app’s dashboard was additionally among the many first in Singapore to supply customers a one-stop overview of their varied insurance coverage insurance policies throughout a number of insurers.
You need to use it to handle not simply your personal insurance policies, but in addition that of your loved ones. In a single look, you’ll be capable to observe:
- What plans you (and your loved ones) have
- The protection supplied by every, and in whole
- The premiums and renewal (cost) dates for every coverage
I beforehand really helpful the Autumn app for this goal to a lot of you, however after Commonplace Chartered Financial institution determined to place the brakes on that mission earlier this yr, I’ve been looking for another answer – and located it in Planner Bee.
As soon as I had manually keyed within the particulars of my insurance policies (and my complete household’s), I may now see and handle all of them throughout the app.
And with instruments resembling an insurance coverage wants calculator, you’ll be guided on determining the full insurance coverage protection you want and whether or not your present insurance policies adequately shield you.
As soon as you already know what gaps it’s worthwhile to fill, you possibly can then navigate their market to check throughout insurers and insurance policies. Planner Bee sources merchandise and quotes from throughout 29 insurers in a single place, which saves you effort and time because you not want to go to a number of suppliers individually. Whether or not you want a private accident plan or a maternity cowl, it is possible for you to to check the advantages throughout completely different plans and insurers in a single view.
As the prices of premiums for a similar plan differ at completely different occasions based mostly on the insurers’ reductions, your age and gender, it’s usually troublesome for shoppers to check simply. Even brokers from FAs that distribute merchandise from a number of insurers may have a tricky time getting these quotes for you, since insurers resembling Nice Japanese and Prudential sometimes don’t open up distribution channels with these companies to be able to shield their very own tied brokers.
You will get round this by requesting for a personalised quote from Planner Bee; merely submit your particulars, sum of protection wanted and your annual finances for premiums.
Powered by its proprietary advice engine, you may also enter your insurance coverage wants and let the Planner Bee platform make personalised and brand-agnostic insurance coverage options for you, making it simpler so that you can discover the precise coverage with out bias.
Because of this whether or not you’re searching for medical insurance to cowl medical prices or life insurance coverage for household safety, Planner Bee brings the whole lot underneath one roof, making it a simple, one-stop store on your insurance coverage wants.
Are you able to belief Planner Bee?
Planner Bee was based by Ms. Cherie Wang, who’s a licensed Chartered Monetary Advisor (ChFC) and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) who has ranked within the high 5% of monetary advisors globally for greater than 10 years.
However regardless of her achievements, Cherie acknowledged a persistent flaw within the system: many monetary advisors in Singapore sometimes function based mostly on commissions, which creates potential conflicts of curiosity. One other problem she confronted was that whereas working in an company, she and her colleagues didn’t all the time have entry to the most effective merchandise inside their distribution community to supply to shoppers.
Many consumers additionally sought her assist in managing their complete portfolios, together with insurance policies she didn’t have direct entry to. With over 20 insurers in Singapore, manually evaluating merchandise throughout the board every time was impractical, and it turned evident that her shoppers wanted a extra clear and environment friendly solution to handle their insurance coverage portfolios.
This realisation drove her to work on Planner Bee, which was based with 2 fundamental targets:
- To assist individuals handle their general funds in a single place.
- To offer an unbiased platform for needs-based monetary product comparability.
As their workforce shouldn’t be affiliated with any insurance coverage firm, their aim is to help you in planning and buying insurance policies from a number of insurers with none bias or choice in direction of a specific firm.
Immediately, Planner Bee combines the comfort of a market with monetary calculators, an academic library, and personalised steering from licensed advisors that will help you get lined with confidence. The monetary planning software now connects to 42 monetary establishments so you possibly can consolidate your banking transactions, insurance coverage insurance policies, and funding portfolios multi functional place.
Tip: Bear in mind to all the time ask your advisor for his or her MAS Consultant Quantity, so you possibly can test that they're licensed to deal with your case. Planner Bee offers these to the patron, upon request.
In contrast to aggregators that merely record insurance coverage merchandise, Planner Bee goes one step additional to offer instruments to assist DIY customers consider their very own insurance coverage wants and provides personalised quotations based mostly on these wants.
Your premiums are the identical when shopping for by means of Planner Bee or instantly from the insurance coverage suppliers.
And must you ever really feel caught or confused, you may also decide to seek the advice of a human advisor by means of their on-line session characteristic.
The app additionally categorises your insurance coverage insurance policies for you, so that you keep in mind what you’ve purchased and have already got lined. It additionally reminds you (through electronic mail and WhatsApp) when your renewal dates are nearing, so that you don’t have to fret about any insurance policies lapsing!
How Planner Bee solves for conflicts of curiosity
As an alternative of leaving the suggestions as much as particular person insurance coverage brokers, who might every push for various insurance policies for various causes, Planner Bee opts for a mannequin the place your quotations offered are pushed by the client’s necessities reasonably than which insurer is presently paying the very best commissions for closing or giving an incentive journey on.
How does expertise take away the bias? Most citation techniques in the present day require a human agent to key in particulars and choose the coverage that they want to get quotes for. In distinction, the citation techniques at Planner Bee doesn't consider commissions (because it doesn't have the data within the system within the first place for it to be biased), and offers quotations solely based mostly on buyer’s necessities, finances and advantages or wants.
To provide you full visibility and management over your selections, Planner Bee’s citation system kinds insurance policies by its profit options and premium charges. This basically guidelines out any biases that may favour insurance policies delivering greater commissions, serving to to make sure that prospects are getting the most effective worth for his or her cash.
Get your questions on any coverage answered by scheduling a Zoom name, or ship messages through WhatsApp to debate the offered quotations. When you’ve determined to buy, a video name (through Zoom) will probably be organized with a salaried licensed advisor, who will clarify the phrases and situations and confirm if the insurance policies chosen actually match your wants, so you should buy with a peace of thoughts.
Who ought to use Planner Bee?
In the event you already handle your personal insurance coverage insurance policies and also you’re merely searching for quotes and help with out having to take care of an agent exhausting promoting you, then you’ll love the Planner Bee expertise.
You get full management over your personal shopping for expertise with out the affect of any agent bias, but nonetheless have entry to ask the Planner Bee workforce if it’s worthwhile to make clear any phrases or considerations on the insurance policies you’re analyzing.
Other than its trendy digital insurance coverage planning interface for shoppers, a core good thing about Planner Bee is that it provides entry to over 500 insurance coverage merchandise throughout 29 insurers.
That is exhausting – or near unattainable – for many brokers or companies to copy. It’s a well-known reality that you may solely get Prudential insurance policies from a Prudential agent, for example, which is why most on-line comparability portals or aggregators are usually not capable of pull quotes for you from a model with solely tied brokers both.
No tied agent or unbiased monetary advisory group has entry to that many, nor can a single human go for adequate product coaching on to change into an skilled in so many various merchandise. That’s the reason Planner Bee pulls from the energy of their workforce as one, with completely different individuals specialising in their very own strengths, model(s) or product portfolio. They mix the information and expertise to information the expertise interface and quotations, however the licensed advisor is just assigned on the finish after the patron has determined which product or insurer they want to go together with.
So when you’re comfy with utilizing on-line instruments and wish to save effort and time evaluating insurance policies from varied insurers, the app provides a seamless method so that you can handle your well being and life insurance coverage wants – not only for your self, however on your complete household.
You need to use their insurance coverage wants calculator or the cell app to analyse your present protection:
However whereas savvy insurance coverage consumers will discover the app and instruments helpful, Planner Bee will probably be much less appropriate for people who find themselves clueless on their insurance coverage wants, or when you’re uncertain on even the sort and performance that every insurance coverage coverage performs in our life.
In such a state of affairs, you’ll most likely be higher off with an in-person session with an insurance coverage agent, who can sit down to teach you and advise you based mostly on their suggestions.
Sponsored Message from Planner Bee:
Find out how to purchase insurance coverage through Planner Bee
One of the simplest ways to make use of Planner Bee can be to gauge your personal monetary wants first and evaluate to see which coverage’s advantages would serve you finest.
Then, get a personalised quote through their on-line kind which you’ll obtain through electronic mail.
In the event you want, you could request for an obligation-free session on-line or through a telephone name to run by means of the completely different choices.
When you’ve determined in your alternative of plan, you possibly can apply for a scheduled name to undergo any questions you’ve and e-sign the digital varieties to use for the insurance policies that you simply want.
As soon as your plan is accepted, you’ll get a affirmation from the Planner Bee workforce through electronic mail and WhatsApp.
Within the occasion that it’s worthwhile to make any claims, you possibly can merely attain out to the identical WhatsApp quantity or electronic mail on your comfort, and their devoted customer support workforce will help you along with your claims or servicing issues.
Take a look at Planner Bee for your self right here.
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- Built-in Protect plans: $50 cashback on your first yr premium
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Reductions legitimate throughout the subsequent 12 months.
Disclosure: This submit was written in partnership with Planner Bee Pte Ltd.
