In a typical financial advisory process, my colleagues and myself will take an average of 1.5 to 2 hours to fact find before we make a few possible recommendations. It will take another few sessions of 1.5 to 2 hours to go through different recommendations before the plans are confirmed and implemented.
In a road show, the financial adviser usually do not have the luxury of time to do a proper needs analysis to do a recommendation of product. Most probably they have to “push” a product and try to sell it to the prospective client. There are some better financial advisers who may not sell a product in a roadshow but they will get your contact number and follow up with the prospective client after the roadshow. They tend to give more quality advice as they have more time to spend with the client. However, roadshows are getting more innovative with games such as bouncing castle, getting sales leads alone will not the cost of having a roadshow.
I got a referral who bought a plan during a roadshow.
A few things I pointed out to her.
1. Her basic Eldershield was with another insurer. It was auto-included at age 40 and the premium was $217.76. Now, that the agent switch her to the new insurer, it will be base in her current age of 45 and she will be paying $260.60. What this means is she will be paying close to $50 more for the exact same cover.
2. She had some pre-existing medical condition in her 30s.
By switching to another insurer, her current medical condition will be exclused. Which means she will be paying more and may get lesser cover.
3. IMHO, this is the most serious error.
The pre-existing medical condition was not declared. There is a possibility that the insurer reject the claims in future due to non-disclosure.
I’m not saying financial advisers should not do roadshow although I strongly discourage it but the sales process needs to be done properly even if the time is tight. It is not worth cutting down that 30 or 45 mins and have a time bomb of professional liability.
I’m also not suggesting that one should not buy from a roadshow but before you inked on the proposal form, ask yourself if there is such an urgent need to buy on the spot or is it better to spend more time to talk to someone else.
My IFA@Sg 