I used to believe that as long as an adviser is competent and gives fairly good service, he/she has done a good job. Over the course of my work, I'm increasingly starting to appreciate being on a platform that distributes multiple insurers' products. Coming from the bank, then single insurer now multiple insurers platform, I've personally experienced the increased value-add I can give to clients if I did my job well. Here are 3 biggest ones.

1. Getting the best terms for a client with pre-existing medical conditions

Honestly, the times I get calls from clients volunteering to buy insurance is when they discovered something wrong with their body or something happened to their friend/loved one who spooked them into getting coverage for themselves. This is the sad fact of the insurance business. Given the stress levels and diets that modern living have influenced our lifestyles, I'd say that it's common to meet people with some pre-existing conditions here and there. The most common ones are over and underweight, cysts in the ovary, high cholesterol and even type 2 diabetes.

As long as there's pre-existing conditions declared, it's within expectations that there might be exclusion, loading, in worse cases, postponement or declined. An advisers role would thus be to get the most complete information from the client and to try secure the most favourable terms. When I was with a single insurer, the limitation would naturally be that I'm limited to that insurer's underwriting decisions. What a lot of people may not realise is that different insurers may view risk differently. Hence, by having a wider selection of insurers, a client can have the best opportunity to get the most favourable terms. This usually happens in two ways.

• You can do a preliminary underwriting where it's not counted as a formal application (not every insurer allows this)

• You make a formal application to all insurers

2. Saving money and time

Very often, financial planning is not the number thing on anybody's to-do list. In fact, most people just want to get it over and done with. This is why roadshow business is thriving because most people just want to get this 'need' out of the way. The truth is even within the same category of insurance like wholelife or critical illness or term life policies, there is varying prices among all insurers for different genders and age groups. The same applies for your endowments. By simply getting the purchase over and done with at a single insurer thinking every insurer is the same might result in you either paying more for something you could have spent less on or getting lesser benefits which you might want if you knew an alternative existed.

For some people who are more diligent, they do their homework on their own, themselves. My experience in this has taught me that usually they might be spending a lot of time comparing inferior plans and might even overlook the most competitive plan because they didn't know the market has it. It's probably more cost efficient and time efficient to simply find a trusted adviser who carries a lot of insurers to give you the answers based on your needs.

3. Diversifying risk and customizing your plans

So one of the more tedious ways I've seen certain clients do research by meeting individual tied agents from single insurers. Then they have the dilemma of I like this benefit with insurer A and I like that benefit of insurer B. The logical thing to do is simply to buy both plans and split the budget. However, because most times clients go to advisers for advise and a single insurer's adviser would have a vested interest to bring in all the business (I'm not saying every tied agent is like that but this possibility definitely exists), this suggestion of splitting the budget and diversifying the risk comes up lesser. Yet, if an adviser who carries multiple insurers comes along, this problem doesn't exist because the business stays with the adviser. The recommendation would thus be more objective. The diversity in plan selection can go as far as I like insurer's A plan but I cannot afford the ideal sum assured. Insurer's B plan is cheaper but it lacks certain benefits. There's insurer C, D, E... a good adviser can customize a solution where you maximise your coverage that your budget allows you to buy.

If you would like to enjoy one of the above mentioned benefits, please speak to a trusted adviser. You can also drop me a message if you like.

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Disclaimer: The content created are based on my personal opinions and may not be representative to everyone or any organisation. If you have any doubts or queries pertaining to insurance or investment, please seek professional advice from a trusted adviser in an official setting. You may also reach out to me if you do not have a present adviser using the message box under 'Let's Talk'.