Being an NTU student again. Full time.

It's been a really long time since I last blogged and checking my statistics showed that hardly anybody come to read anymore.

I was enrolled in NTU EEE and my grades were bad due to insurance and school. So the past year was basically getting my grades back up. I never liked engineering but I guess insurance isn't the way to go either. Maybe I was referring to actuarial type of insurance instead of sales.

Well, either way, I dropped out of the insurance sector within a span of a month. Many said that if you could endure the initial stages and go through, you would be good. I am the 95% that drop out from the sector. There are many lessons learnt from this short stint.

It was tough and definitely not a walk in the park. The initial stages were too much for me to handle. It was purely generating leads and if you put it another way, I was bothering people and irritating them on the streets. I wanted to help people but I couldn't because I am a salesman.

Because of the pure commission scheme my manager put me on, I wasn't paid. I was eating into own my allowance when I ate my three meals outside. I am tired from this job. I work 6-7 days a week and probably wake up at 630 in the morning and work till about 10 at night. I didn't exercise at all and I was getting fat and   unhealthy eating bread or fast food. We would gather leads or "bother" people outside MRT stations and try to find out their financial position and hopefully find a rich person that doesn't have insurance.

Throughout the one month, I closed none. Some of the cons are instability which makes my girlfriend afraid and worried. I think at the end of the day, she prefers a guy that has a stable income even though it is an average salary.

Lastly, I was much happier. I got back into school, starting to focus and did quite alright to pull my CGPA up. I got to exercise again and did many of my hobbies. Most importantly, I realized I don't need so much money, I just need enough for my family, just a salary that is comfortable for my lifestyle. I learnt a lot from taking all the qualification and licensing exams to be an insurance agent and I believe it goes towards my personal development next time.

Although I haven't graduate and do not know the job market right now. Looking at the government sector would be my next step after NTU. I may not be in the insurance sector anymore but I am definitely going to blog more about finance, especially personal finance.

Cheers!

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

When you realize your savings plan from your insurer earns you 0.5% annually

I was talking to this friend of mine who recently talked to me about his insurance plans. He is a guy who is ahead of his peers in terms of planning his future. He got a savings plan from one of the major insurers in Singapore, saving about $200 a month.

As a student with little income, $200 is quite a significant amount and naturally, he was curious to know the interest he was getting annually. I just did some simple calculations for him and his rate of return was about 0.5% annually. He was shocked and somewhat appalled at the amount and decided to cancel his plan the next day. It will come in as a loss and it is alright in some sense because he knows how to invest and have been doing so for quite some time.

Do you have a savings plan?
Do you know your rate of return?
Do you know how much your advisor is getting paid from the amount you pay for premium?
Other than savings, what kind of insurance coverage am I getting?

I think all these are questions you should have before or after buying a plan. It's our hard earned money after all. It's akin to shopping for clothes where you would want the best value for your money. So, go on! Give your advisor a call if you ain't sure about your savings plan!

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.