Bought lousy plan from the best company

Sometimes I receive enquiry about comparing different company insurance plan. But there is really no straight simple answer whether which plan is the best plan in the market. I know that it is the basic right for consumer to compare different insurance plans, from different insurance companies, presented by different agents even from the same company.
There are 16 life insurance company in Malaysia.
According to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)’s latest Insurance Report dated year 2005, the biggest insurance company is Great Eastern (GE) with 18.4 billion ringgit asset. The 2nd is AIA 7.6 billion ringgit asset. Prudential is the 5th with 3.1 billion ringgit asset.
GE dominates the market because of its large marketing force and 100 years old history. Does GE provide the best plan? I don’t dare to say that. Because there is no “best” plan ever exist! All plans are approved by BNM before they are marketed by the insurance agent. If there is a plan that is a lot better than the others, the particular insurance company might have dominate the market. I don’t think BNM will allow that.

Let’s say you do want to compare, from all 16 life insurance companies. So you would have met 16 different agents in 16 meetings. So now you have 16 plans in hand. So you ask every agent to do the comparison for you. Then you will have 16 different point of views. Do you think that a Prudential agent will tell you that the Great Eastern plan is the best? I really doubt that. Finally the result can’t be trusted. So you do the comparison yourself. If you are able to thoroughly study all the plans, you might be able to register yourself as an insurance agent already!

Since that it is impossible for you to do that on your own without spending too much time, you can ask a financial planner to summarize the comparison result for you. Of course, by paying him a certain consultation fees he would gladly accept the job.

So it is pointless to compare company or compare plan. The most important part that consumer should really compare is — the insurance agent. A good insurance agent is not necessarily an agent who had closed a huge amount of sales. Every good insurance plan you buy should be a customized plan which caters for your particular needs at that particular time. After all, it is the agent that will serve you for your lifetime. So just choose the agent properly. Forget about what company he represent.