Insurance

[Leeah's mom]

There are so many insurance company in hongkong. I don't know which to choose, any suggestions ?????
I thought of Prudential, AIG or manulife. I'm looking for products such as children's health and education savings. Pls Help me out.

 

[bbc mom]

Any of the main companies should be fine. I suggest getting some quotations so you can compare premiums and returns.

I ended up going with Prudential because my ex-colleague/friend who I've known since 1999 changed careers and became an insurance agent for them last year. There are many types of savings plans, but the one we chose is for 18years where we have the option of taking out the total amount, or taking out a partial amount and leaving the remainder to accumulate for our son's future/retirement. Let me know if you would like my friend's contact details. She faxed me all the schedules for different cover amounts and premium terms, and I never felt pressured to buy. One point to mention is that the premiums are cheaper if you apply before baby reaches 1year old.

My sister-in-law said AIG has good packages and she also has a friend who works there, however she didn't like their aggressive sales tactics. At her meeting, her "friend" called 3 other colleagues to help pile on the pressure!

 

[Leeah's mom]

thank you so much

thank you so much, I will look through websites for those companies, and if I want to choose Prudential, I will ask your friend's number. :thanks

 

[Sleuth]

Why would you give an educational savings to an insurance company? We are using a mutual fund and a US 529 fund for this.

 

[Leeah's mom]

I just heard my neighbors who have 3 kids . All of them are studying in the US, and they said they get 2/3 of school fees from the insurance , so that was why I tried to save money in an insurance company,

I don;t know much about savings,. so confusing so so many products to choose, I am afraid of loosing money from mutual fund, cos I know nothings about funds and stocks.

 

[Sleuth]

It is a confusing mess. We are using mutual funds because the rate of return, over the years, should be higher than an insurance policy.

 

[bbc mom]

I agree it's quite overwhelming deciding which company to go with, and which product to choose. Also depends on your risk preference, lower risk lower return or higher risk higher return. I'm quite conservative myself so I didn't want any investment risks and the extra hassles of dealing with brokers, commissions, transaction/management fees etc.

Having said that, it's probably a good idea to diversify, just to make your money work abit harder.

You'll find that the insurance companies have many products but the point is that you can customise them to suit your requirements. Therefore you could just select a basic savings plan or guaranteed funds or investment funds, plus you can also add optional extras such as medical/accident cover, life/retirement, premium protection etc.

Anyway, take your time in considering all the options.