This photo is hot off the lens of an AFP photographer. Shown here are residents cleaning up rubble from a badly damaged house in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture after a recent earthquake.
Couldn’t resist sharing it with you. Everybody has got to ask themselves: how prepared am I for an emergency? Are you protected from death, fire, illness? Here is another kind of disaster waiting to happen:
Teresita Galanto, 71, smokes a one-meter-long rolled tobacco cigar during a tobacco rolling contest in Candon, Ilocos Sur. Photo again courtesy of AFP. Might look like fun, but I bet the lady’s lungs are not jumping with joy. Do I hear somebody asking if this woman is insured?
March 29th, 2007 at 1:49 am
I think it’s clear enough how Angie tried to delineate between pre-need and insurance companies; and allow me to stress that insurance companies operate on much stricter and more fail-safe measures.
Like any form of investment, there are good ones and there are, well, not-so-good ones. It’s important that you scrutinize such investments carefully without resorting to skepticism - which may sometimes be just a scapegoat for not doing your homework. Salve hit the bullseye with her rule of thumb in choosing which company to go for. Also, the IC may regulate the premium rates to some extent, so pricing shouldn’t be a factor, unlike most commodities.
After choosing from at least three companies, the next step is to pick a plan that fits you. Don’t go for the first plan that the agents dish out because sometimes (just sometimes) they would just offer you those that give them the best commission rates. These days there are insurance plans have become more innovative and you can find pension plans or even modified UITF/mutual fund investment schemes attached to an insurance plan. One of my insurance plans (which I’ve finished paying up 2 years ago) includes a “fund” rider that grows at rates between 6 to 21% p.a. In about 8 more years, I can start to use this fund like my pension and remain insured for the rest of my hopefully long life.
March 27th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
tee, heehee, laughed at your reaction.
qwerty, insurance companies do sell pension plans so its normal to lump them all together. my basic rule of thumb is to look at the management team and the company’s financial position. in the case of CAP, track record and even size didnt help them at all :-(.
March 27th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Hi Querty! U asked if pension plans are any better than insurances coz in the recent years you have seen insurance companies close down. I think u got it mixed up. It was the pre-need industry(not insurance) that suffered and more particularly the companies that offered traditional educational plans. There shouldn’t be a problem with the other bproducts offered by pre-need companies such as pension plans, memorial life plans, and hopefully non-traditional educ plans also called fixed value plans. You should ask instead “Is life insurance any better than pre-need?” Pre-need is under the SEC while the Insurance Commission monitors insurance companies. There was even a suggestion if the pre-need companies can also be monitored by the IC. Ang alam ko, wala pang nagsara na life insurance company. Pero may mga pinasara na ang IC na non-life insurance (those offering TPL of motor vehicles.) Madaling ma-check ang stability ng life insurance companies. Visit the IC website and see their net worth.
March 27th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Hey qwerty, it’s pre-need companies that failed, not insurance. I think pre-need plans are inferior investment vehicles, too much goes to the agent (50% of 1st yr payment I think, sheesh you call it “saving”?) so yields are lousy; better save instead in mutual funds and UITF. For riskier funds you’ll find my picks here: http://www.inquirerbloggers.net/moneysmarts/2007/03/23/mutual-fund-investing-for-dummies/
Insurance has better regulation and it’s still best to get one the moment your first child is born. Stick with a plain, simple ordinary or term life insurance policy at reasonable premiums, but for excess savings go for funds.
March 27th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
actually one important factor that keeps me coming back to this blog is that i keep on ending up with more debt after a disaster.
my father-in-law died late last year of cancer and the sight of him without the financial capacity to cover his medical up to his burial expenses made me realize that i need to start a concrete financial plan for those situations.
here’s a related question anyway: are pension plans any better than insurances? in the recent years we have seen insurance companies close down so i think i’m not alone in remaining skeptical about putting off a significant amount of money in their pot.