Explaining my role

What do a scalpel and a life insurance policy have in common? Both are tools. A scalpel in the wrong hands can be lethal, yet in the hands of an experienced surgeon, it can save lives. So is it with a life insurance policy. In the hands of an experienced financial planner it should perform exactly as expected by delivering the right money at the right time to the right people and save the financial lives of the intended beneficiaries.


When a client told me his bank manager advised against life insurance I recommended, I asked him, “Would you allow an anesthetist to comment to your patient on the advisability of a hernia operation?” Of course not. He has a specialist area of expertise. Similarly, the bank manager is experienced at lending money, not at life insurance.

When a mother tells me she does not life insurance, I explain she does not have to like it, she just has to have it. I ask, “Do your children like all the foods they are supposed to eat, or do you have to say, ‘Come on, eat this. It’s good for you’? Life insurance is just like that; its part of a balanced financial diet and everyone needs some.”