Recently, I received a call from my insurance agent. She said she had a very attractive investment plan to offer me. That, of course, did not surprise me—insurance agents always have "attractive plans" to sell. But keeping an open mind, I told her to come round the office one afternoon to show her "attractive plan" to me.
Now, as a general rule, I don't normally agree to even see the "plan" if I don't have at least a 50% chance of buying it in the end. I don't want to waste both our time, you see. But if there is a good chance that I might consider buying it, then I will let the agent do the rest to convince me of her product.
Well, she turned up with the investment plan. In fact, as far as I am concerned, it's an ordinary retirement plan with a guaranteed decent returns. And of course there is the life insurance element in it too. I thought it's a good product, and perhaps it's also a good way to save my money. So it was a fruitful visit for her—I signed up and wrote out the cheque there and then.
Then came the part where I had to fill up the forms. Thankfully, however, she helped me to fill up most of it and merely asked me to sign at several pages on those forms.
We came to the part where I had to name my beneficiaries; she looked up to me and said, "Wife and daughter, of course?", and I said, "Yeah, I suppose that's expected, isn't it?"
Before this, I bought 2 more policies from her and in both cases I put my wife and daughter as my beneficiaries. I did not really think that I had to think about that, you see.
According to the insurance agent, based on her long experience, when men buy life insurance policies, they will almost automatically put the spouses and children as their beneficiaries; but when women buy insurance, about 90% of them will put their parents, siblings or children as the beneficiaries—and hardly ever the husbands.
I did not find that information very surprising. My own wife has a few insurance policies herself and the beneficiaries are her 70-year old mother and 45-year old sister. If I am not wrong, she put JJ's name for the latest insurance policy she just took up a few months ago. Quite honestly, I am not bothered at all that I am not the beneficiary of her insurance policies. But I'd really like to understand why.
Now, as a general rule, I don't normally agree to even see the "plan" if I don't have at least a 50% chance of buying it in the end. I don't want to waste both our time, you see. But if there is a good chance that I might consider buying it, then I will let the agent do the rest to convince me of her product.
Well, she turned up with the investment plan. In fact, as far as I am concerned, it's an ordinary retirement plan with a guaranteed decent returns. And of course there is the life insurance element in it too. I thought it's a good product, and perhaps it's also a good way to save my money. So it was a fruitful visit for her—I signed up and wrote out the cheque there and then.
Then came the part where I had to fill up the forms. Thankfully, however, she helped me to fill up most of it and merely asked me to sign at several pages on those forms.
We came to the part where I had to name my beneficiaries; she looked up to me and said, "Wife and daughter, of course?", and I said, "Yeah, I suppose that's expected, isn't it?"
Before this, I bought 2 more policies from her and in both cases I put my wife and daughter as my beneficiaries. I did not really think that I had to think about that, you see.
According to the insurance agent, based on her long experience, when men buy life insurance policies, they will almost automatically put the spouses and children as their beneficiaries; but when women buy insurance, about 90% of them will put their parents, siblings or children as the beneficiaries—and hardly ever the husbands.
I did not find that information very surprising. My own wife has a few insurance policies herself and the beneficiaries are her 70-year old mother and 45-year old sister. If I am not wrong, she put JJ's name for the latest insurance policy she just took up a few months ago. Quite honestly, I am not bothered at all that I am not the beneficiary of her insurance policies. But I'd really like to understand why.
Being the curious animal that I am, I asked the agent if she's ever tried to find out from her women clients why. Well, according to her, women are afraid that when they die prematurely, their husbands can claim the insurance money and remarry again.
See, that's the thing about life insurances—you become rich when you die. Or rather your beneficiaries become rich when you die. I really fail to see it from the women's point of view. So what if their husbands claim the insurance money and remarry again? Isn't it also possible that they, too, may want to remarry again when their husbands die?
If I die sooner than my wife, I really hope that she can find another man somehow to start a new life. And hopefully she can use whatever money she can claim from my insurers to make a good start. It would be really a shame if she "dies" together with me, and my soul will surely not rest in peace.
It is sad that my wife and the vast majority of the famale species don't think the same way as I do...
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