Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey are popular TV hosts who dish out sound personal finance advice to viewers. Both of them advocate “buy term insurance and invest the rest”. The war continues between whole life and term life insurance and it never seem to be resolved. Here are their standpoint:
Suze Orman 1:
Dave Ramsey:
Suze Orman 2:
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Alvin,
I got to say that i strongly agree with what you have posted and what Suze Orman advocates.
In my earlier years,i bought a few life insurance thinking that we can get back the money when we are old and due for retirement.
Its until these few years that i realize that i have make a mistake to purchased those crap insurance products.
Another piece of crap is the investment linked product which promised investment and protection coverage.
You actually paid a premium for the so call ‘jack of all trade’ kind of product but in truth investment and protection never goes hand-in-hand.
The true insurance products which are really benefit people are those which earns financial adviser very little commission.My two cents point of view is that the insurance industry are rewarding people who are not seeking the best interest for their clients.
Hi Alvin,
I got to say that i strongly agree with what you have posted and what Suze Orman advocates.
In my earlier years,i bought a few life insurance thinking that we can get back the money when we are old and due for retirement.
Its until these few years that i realize that i have make a mistake to purchased those crap insurance products.
Another piece of crap is the investment linked product which promised investment and protection coverage.
You actually paid a premium for the so call ‘jack of all trade’ kind of product but in truth investment and protection never goes hand-in-hand.
The true insurance products which are really benefit people are those which earns financial adviser very little commission.My two cents point of view is that the insurance industry are rewarding people who are not seeking the best interest for their clients.
Too bad they don’t understand life insurance, investing, and liquidity use and control of their money. I want to keep my taxes down not pay more taxes. If I pay off my mortgage I can’t get to the money without going back to the bank and get another loan. By the way Suze Orman is not a licensed insurance agent in my state. What else does she lie about?
Too bad they don’t understand life insurance, investing, and liquidity use and control of their money. I want to keep my taxes down not pay more taxes. If I pay off my mortgage I can’t get to the money without going back to the bank and get another loan. By the way Suze Orman is not a licensed insurance agent in my state. What else does she lie about?
Hi Andrew, I am sorry to hear about your bad experience. I believe many others have similar encounters. Time and time again, it has been proven that having a trustworthy adviser is of paramount importance. One way to defend yourself against such ‘salesmen’ is to build up your financial knowledge so that they do not take away your money easily.
Hi Brian, let’s not shoot others down. Everyone has his/her views on certain matters. Personally, I am on your side with regard to mortgage redemption. Mortgage loan is good debt and is also the largest leverage a person can get. As for life or term insurance, it really depends on the person’s needs. I welcome more of your arguments
Hi Andrew, I am sorry to hear about your bad experience. I believe many others have similar encounters. Time and time again, it has been proven that having a trustworthy adviser is of paramount importance. One way to defend yourself against such ‘salesmen’ is to build up your financial knowledge so that they do not take away your money easily.
Hi Brian, let’s not shoot others down. Everyone has his/her views on certain matters. Personally, I am on your side with regard to mortgage redemption. Mortgage loan is good debt and is also the largest leverage a person can get. As for life or term insurance, it really depends on the person’s needs. I welcome more of your arguments
Wasn’t trying to shoot anybody down. Just making a point that somethings are said in the video that are not true. That makes me question the validity of the person on the video. Suze and Dave have quite a following, I’m just not one of them
Wasn’t trying to shoot anybody down. Just making a point that somethings are said in the video that are not true. That makes me question the validity of the person on the video. Suze and Dave have quite a following, I’m just not one of them
Thanks Brian for your kind comments. Suze and Dave are indeed popular but I have yet to read their books. They gave me a feeling that their advice are somewhat similar to David Bach’s.
Thanks Brian for your kind comments. Suze and Dave are indeed popular but I have yet to read their books. They gave me a feeling that their advice are somewhat similar to David Bach’s.
I strongly agree with Alvin that gaining more financial knowledge certainly helps,after all, who cares about your financial well-being than yourself.
One point to note is that,successful adviser doesn’t necessarily constitute good adviser that give sound advises.
Your financial knowledge will determine whether your adviser are ethical and giving the advises to your best interest.
I strongly agree with Alvin that gaining more financial knowledge certainly helps,after all, who cares about your financial well-being than yourself.
One point to note is that,successful adviser doesn’t necessarily constitute good adviser that give sound advises.
Your financial knowledge will determine whether your adviser are ethical and giving the advises to your best interest.
In any argument we should listen to 2 side of the stories. In this thread, you have put forward the argument of 2 who supported buy term invest the rest. I hardly call that an unbiased viewpoint.
Why not post videos of people supporting buying wholelife plan and make decision for themselves?
In any argument we should listen to 2 side of the stories. In this thread, you have put forward the argument of 2 who supported buy term invest the rest. I hardly call that an unbiased viewpoint.
Why not post videos of people supporting buying wholelife plan and make decision for themselves?
Hi Alvin,
I’ve read quite a few blogs and websites about Insurance. It is in my opinion that yours is one of the most impartial and informative site yet.
I am an insurance agent myself but do forgive me if i prefer to keep my Company out of the picture. Before i joined the insurance industry, i ran away really quickly at the mere suggestion of insurance. I didn’t really believe in it. It wasn’t until recently that i knew the importance of insurance.
Now, to the point of term and whole life insurance, i do agree with what you’ve posted. For the same amount of coverage, the premiums for term insurance is a whole lot lower, which very few Singaporeans know. The difference you save in premiums could be invested elsewhere.
When i first started out selling insurance, i only learned about Whole Life policies and Investment Linked policies. There was hardly any curriculum on term policies. And so i sold what i knew. But now, i realised what i was depriving my clients of.
The only time anyone needs to buy a whole life policy is when he or she does not have the discipline to save or if they do not have any investment knowledge. It would also be foolish to invest when they have no idea how it works. And not everyone wants to do their homework.
Heck, putting money into the bank with low fixed deposit interest rate is anytime more prudent than buying an endowment plan! Most endowment plans are in force for 10 years at least. If you cash out anytime before your policy is mature, you WILL almost certainly lose some of your capital, which is your premium in this case. And you never can foretell what is going to happen in the next 10 years. That is why you believe in insurance right? So why do people put themselves into this risk? I would rather plonk my money into a fixed deposit anytime and withdraw it when i really need it. So what if the interest is negligible? At least i don’t lose money. I only lose out on inflation, but how many people in Singapore really understand the compounding factor of inflation anyway?
Insurance is all about protection. I honestly think insurance and investment should not be lumped in one package. You want insurance advice, look for an insurance agent. You want investment advice, look for a remisier. But unfortunately, most advice we seek and implement only serves to benefit the agent.
I’ve been there. It’s honestly very hard to choose between moral and feeding yourself. For the past few months, i believe i’ve been giving advices to new clients to my detriment. Advices that either earn me peanuts or nothing at all. But my clients were pleased at my honesty and they referred me more clients.
I’m still earning below what liability and i am in debt because there isn’t any basic salary. I know i can sleep well knowing i honestly helped people in their financial planning but i stress up when my bills come.
It’s a paradox. It’s almost like doing pro bono insurance advice. To give really good and honest insurance advice means earning less. It reflects what i’ve always thought. The better the product is for a client, the lower the commission.
I reckon the only way i can survive in this industry is to charge a service fee for consultation. But then again, who would pay? There are always agents who will dole out advice for free. But of course, there’s an even better chance they will upsell another policy to these poor folks.
I love my colleagues. They are great people. But i can’t do what they do without feeling that i’ve compromised my morals and integrity.
So what can i do? Stay in this line, help people and be poor as a church mouse? Or just get another job?
Hi Alvin,
I’ve read quite a few blogs and websites about Insurance. It is in my opinion that yours is one of the most impartial and informative site yet.
I am an insurance agent myself but do forgive me if i prefer to keep my Company out of the picture. Before i joined the insurance industry, i ran away really quickly at the mere suggestion of insurance. I didn’t really believe in it. It wasn’t until recently that i knew the importance of insurance.
Now, to the point of term and whole life insurance, i do agree with what you’ve posted. For the same amount of coverage, the premiums for term insurance is a whole lot lower, which very few Singaporeans know. The difference you save in premiums could be invested elsewhere.
When i first started out selling insurance, i only learned about Whole Life policies and Investment Linked policies. There was hardly any curriculum on term policies. And so i sold what i knew. But now, i realised what i was depriving my clients of.
The only time anyone needs to buy a whole life policy is when he or she does not have the discipline to save or if they do not have any investment knowledge. It would also be foolish to invest when they have no idea how it works. And not everyone wants to do their homework.
Heck, putting money into the bank with low fixed deposit interest rate is anytime more prudent than buying an endowment plan! Most endowment plans are in force for 10 years at least. If you cash out anytime before your policy is mature, you WILL almost certainly lose some of your capital, which is your premium in this case. And you never can foretell what is going to happen in the next 10 years. That is why you believe in insurance right? So why do people put themselves into this risk? I would rather plonk my money into a fixed deposit anytime and withdraw it when i really need it. So what if the interest is negligible? At least i don’t lose money. I only lose out on inflation, but how many people in Singapore really understand the compounding factor of inflation anyway?
Insurance is all about protection. I honestly think insurance and investment should not be lumped in one package. You want insurance advice, look for an insurance agent. You want investment advice, look for a remisier. But unfortunately, most advice we seek and implement only serves to benefit the agent.
I’ve been there. It’s honestly very hard to choose between moral and feeding yourself. For the past few months, i believe i’ve been giving advices to new clients to my detriment. Advices that either earn me peanuts or nothing at all. But my clients were pleased at my honesty and they referred me more clients.
I’m still earning below what liability and i am in debt because there isn’t any basic salary. I know i can sleep well knowing i honestly helped people in their financial planning but i stress up when my bills come.
It’s a paradox. It’s almost like doing pro bono insurance advice. To give really good and honest insurance advice means earning less. It reflects what i’ve always thought. The better the product is for a client, the lower the commission.
I reckon the only way i can survive in this industry is to charge a service fee for consultation. But then again, who would pay? There are always agents who will dole out advice for free. But of course, there’s an even better chance they will upsell another policy to these poor folks.
I love my colleagues. They are great people. But i can’t do what they do without feeling that i’ve compromised my morals and integrity.
So what can i do? Stay in this line, help people and be poor as a church mouse? Or just get another job?
Hi Max, let me know if you want to discuss about it in private as you have just described almost my exact situation. Do email me at s w jorg [at] g mail (leave out the spaces)
Hi Max, let me know if you want to discuss about it in private as you have just described almost my exact situation. Do email me at s w jorg [at] g mail (leave out the spaces)