Should you’re a savvy client however dislike having to cope with insurance coverage brokers who attempt to onerous promote or affect you in direction of getting sure merchandise that you understand aren’t nice for you and your loved ones, then take a look at Planner Bee. Other than permitting you to handle your (and your loved ones’s) insurance coverage insurance policies multi function place, it presents 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 definitely hopeful, however you’ll be able to learn on to resolve for your self!
what you wish to purchase, and head on-line to check quotes on numerous on-line aggregators. Then, you uncover that you simply’ve run into a number of points:
- Most on-line aggregators supply quotes from solely a restricted variety of insurers, or product varieties (e.g. pet insurance coverage isn’t widespread, only some portals have it)
- Whilst you know what you need, you want to communicate with somebody to ask questions and make clear your considerations earlier than you commit, particularly to a long-term plan like life or medical health insurance
- You attempt to name up your insurance coverage agent pal for it, solely to grasp that they’re unable to get you quotes from insurers like AIA, Nice Japanese or Prudential.
- Generally, your agent is unavailable and doesn’t reply…which makes you surprise, what is going to occur once you want them throughout claims then? Who do you go to in the event that they’re the one contact you might have 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 regularly signifies that customers have little to no clue as as to if their insurance coverage agent is recommending them the very best coverage that meets their wants, or one that’s higher for the agent’s earnings. From different commissions rates overseas trips for pushing certain products, these incentive structures are often not made known to the consumer, making it even more durable 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 through the years, utilizing their suggestions as a second (generally third) opinion to assist validate whether or not my determination is right.
The tell-tale indicators normally 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 incontrovertible fact that term life insurance is a far more cost-effective way to protect against mortality for many customers*, whereas investment-linked plans with their high fees will hardly help you to beat the market and most endowment plans have barely saved up with market returns.
*See a case study of when the other argument (whole life over term life) might hold true here, such as when someone does NOT want to buy term and invest the rest.
After my recent article about how insurance agents are compensated in Singapore, the staff at Planner Bee reached out to me to share their answer to this drawback. As an award-winning fintech app helmed by a staff from insurance coverage and wealth administration backgrounds, Planner Bee was designed to assist customers make knowledgeable choices based mostly on their wants fairly than an agent’s commissions.
And the reality is, until your insurance coverage wants are advanced, you is likely to be higher off planning for your self, in an effort to eradicate all these potential conflicts of curiosity within the first place! That is what I’ve personally completed for the final decade, and I like to recommend that you simply take possession of managing your individual 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 device 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 numerous insurance coverage insurance policies throughout a number of insurers.
You need to use it to handle not simply your individual insurance policies, but additionally that of your loved ones. In a single look, you’ll have the ability to observe:
- What plans you (and your loved ones) have
- The protection provided by every, and in whole
- The premiums and renewal (fee) dates for every coverage
I previously recommended the Autumn app for this purpose to many of you, however after Normal Chartered Financial institution determined to place the brakes on that challenge earlier this 12 months, I’ve been searching 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 reminiscent of an insurance needs calculator, you’ll be guided on determining the overall insurance coverage protection you want and whether or not your current insurance policies adequately defend you.
As soon as you understand what gaps it’s good to fill, you’ll be able to 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 now 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 fluctuate at completely different occasions based mostly on the insurers’ reductions, your age and gender, it’s typically tough for customers to check simply. Even brokers from FAs that distribute merchandise from a number of insurers may have a troublesome time getting these quotes for you, since insurers reminiscent of Nice Japanese and Prudential sometimes don’t open up distribution channels with these businesses with a view to defend their very own tied brokers.
You may get round this by requesting for a personalised quote from Planner Bee; merely submit your particulars, sum of protection wanted and your annual funds 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.
Which means that whether or not you’re on the lookout for medical health insurance to cowl medical prices or life insurance coverage for household safety, Planner Bee brings every thing underneath one roof, making it a straightforward, one-stop store to your insurance coverage wants.
Are you able to belief Planner Bee?
Planner Bee was based by Ms. Cherie Wang, who’s an authorized Chartered Monetary Marketing consultant (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 very best merchandise inside their distribution community to supply to purchasers.
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 purchasers 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 primary objectives:
- To assist folks handle their total funds in a single place.
- To offer an unbiased platform for needs-based monetary product comparability.
As their staff isn’t 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 desire in direction of a specific firm.
In the present day, Planner Bee combines the comfort of a market with monetary calculators, an academic library, and personalised steering from licensed advisors that can assist you get lined with confidence. The monetary planning device now connects to 42 monetary establishments so you’ll be able to consolidate your banking transactions, insurance coverage insurance policies, and funding portfolios multi function place.
Tip: Keep in mind to all the time ask your advisor for his or her MAS Consultant Quantity, so you'll be able to verify that they're licensed to deal with your case. Planner Bee offers these to the patron, upon request.
In contrast to aggregators that merely checklist insurance coverage merchandise, Planner Bee goes one step additional to supply instruments to assist DIY customers consider their very own insurance coverage wants and presents personalised quotations based mostly on these wants.
Your premiums are the identical when shopping for by means of Planner Bee or immediately from the insurance coverage suppliers.
And do you have to 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 (by way of e-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 a substitute 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 supplied are pushed by the client’s necessities fairly 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 programs 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 programs at Planner Bee doesn't take into consideration 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, funds and advantages or wants.
To offer you full visibility and management over your selections, Planner Bee’s citation system types insurance policies by its profit options and premium charges. This basically guidelines out any biases which may favour insurance policies delivering greater commissions, serving to to make sure that prospects are getting the very best worth for his or her cash.
Get your questions on any coverage answered by scheduling a Zoom name, or ship messages by way of WhatsApp to debate the supplied quotations. When you’ve determined to buy, a video name (by way of Zoom) can be organized with a salaried licensed advisor, who will clarify the phrases and situations and confirm if the insurance policies chosen really match your wants, so you should buy with a peace of thoughts.
Who ought to use Planner Bee?
Should you already handle your individual insurance coverage insurance policies and also you’re merely on the lookout for quotes and help with out having to cope with an agent onerous promoting you, then you’ll love the Planner Bee expertise.
You get full management over your individual shopping for expertise with out the affect of any agent bias, but nonetheless have entry to ask the Planner Bee staff if it’s good to make clear any phrases or considerations on the insurance policies you’re analyzing.
Other than its fashionable digital insurance coverage planning interface for customers, a core advantage of Planner Bee is that it presents entry to over 500 insurance coverage merchandise throughout 29 insurers.
That is onerous – or near unimaginable – for many brokers or businesses to copy. It’s a well-known truth you can solely get Prudential insurance policies from a Prudential agent, as an illustration, which is why most on-line comparability portals or aggregators will not be 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 enough product coaching on to turn into an skilled in so many various merchandise. That’s the reason Planner Bee pulls from the power of their staff as one, with completely different folks 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 barely assigned on the finish after the patron has determined which product or insurer they want to go along with.
So if you happen to’re snug with utilizing on-line instruments and wish to save effort and time evaluating insurance policies from numerous insurers, the app presents a seamless approach so that you can handle your well being and life insurance coverage wants – not only for your self, however to your complete household.
You need to use their insurance needs calculator or the cell app to analyse your current protection:
However whereas savvy insurance coverage consumers will discover the app and instruments helpful, Planner Bee can be much less appropriate for people who find themselves clueless on their insurance coverage wants, or if you happen to’re not sure on even the sort and performance that every insurance coverage coverage performs in our life.
In such a situation, you’ll most likely be higher off with an in-person session with an insurance coverage agent, who can sit down to coach you and advise you based mostly on their suggestions.
Sponsored Message from Planner Bee:
Find out how to purchase insurance coverage by way of Planner Bee
One of the best ways to make use of Planner Bee can be to gauge your individual monetary wants first and examine to see which coverage’s advantages would serve you greatest.
Then, get a personalised quote by way of their online form which you’ll obtain by way of e-mail.
Should you want, you might request for an obligation-free session on-line or by way of a telephone name to run by means of the completely different choices.
When you’ve determined in your selection of plan, you’ll be able to apply for a scheduled name to undergo any questions you might have and e-sign the digital varieties to use for the insurance policies that you simply want.
As soon as your plan is authorised, you’re going to get a affirmation from the Planner Bee staff by way of e-mail and WhatsApp.
Within the occasion that it’s good to make any claims, you’ll be able to merely attain out to the identical WhatsApp quantity or e-mail to your comfort, and their devoted customer support staff will help you along with your claims or servicing issues.
Check out Planner Bee for yourself here.
To get a reduction, quote DISCOUNTPLEASE to get the next presents:
- Built-in Protect plans: $50 cashback to your first 12 months premium
- Time period Life plans: 15% low cost in your first 12 months premium
- Complete Life plans: 10% low cost in your first 12 months premium
Reductions legitimate throughout the subsequent 12 months.
Disclosure: This publish was written in partnership with Planner Bee Pte Ltd.
