TPB 04/05

TPB 04/05 

this is my posse picture!

just came back from playing soccer with my mates from training. damn tired. its been 6 weeks since i started. now we're down to the final two weeks and i've really learned so much from this place. the people i've met and the friendships i've forged have been extremely valuable. the experiences i've had and the things i've seen i will take with me down this challenging path that is my career.

i can't help but reflect with a tinge of sadness that my 2 mth training course is finally coming to its final stages. next week we're learning the systems and working on some selling techniques and that would be it. the gist of the course has been long and arduous, the cmfas exams especially. but i'm glad most of us have gotten that outta the way and most of us are finally qualified to sell.

the past week has been very interesting. learned all about the different insurance policies that we will be selling and comparing them to products in the market. while the first 4 weeks we were just drilled on how insurance, home loans and investments worked in general, the next two weeks have been more of an intense cramming of products that we will be selling. and i must admit that we've indeed got good products that we ourselves are confident of selling.

the whole lot of us have really come a long way since we met on day one. this picture is of us celebrating esther's birthday(she's holding that white shirt). its the one picture i have where the most of us are in, so its the best picture i've got of our class.

most of us came in with little sales experience and some were fresh grads outta uni. which is why we're on the trainee course which is so much more comprehensive. it just means that they take our tiny inexperienced hands and walk every step of the way with us. a good move indeed.

now we're all talking investments, insurance and argueing about our different perceptions and thoughts on the different products we have and whatever's available in the market and why whichever is better.

take today's talk by nelson raj of axa about term insurance and hospital cash. after the last 3 intensive days of insurance training we had our minds set on whole life policies and endowments being the way to go. then in comes this feminine young chap who takes our ideas and mindsets and throws it out the window! i must say i was really impressed by the way he totally dissed the idea that whole life policies arn't the way to go. now i'm thinking that he has a good point. though i still don't agree with some of his ideals, i still thought today's session was refreshing and provided a fresh angle to the insurance plans i'm gonna buy for myself and recommend to other people.

sometimes you can find a whole new world just by looking at the other side of the coin.

then the different talks by all the fund house managers have also swayed my thinking that unit trusts are crap. i used to think they were definite losing money instruments. but after you learn of how they work and look at their specific functions and objectives, they end up being the healthier choice of a host of investment vehicles. which is a very good thing. in fact i'm looking to invest in them as well.

at the end of the day, i realised that a host of banking products, namely the insurance and investments, are there to help the public in general grow their wealth. but yet many are afraid or averse to them because they have the mindset that the bank is out to scam their money only.

well me the insider says that, it is true that banks aim to earn money from the very products they sell(else how are they gonna survive just merely keeping your money and paying you interest for your deposits?), but the bank always makes sure that while they earn, their customers must also earn(albeit less than what the banks would earn). but at the end of the day, everyone's gonna be happy watching their money grow. else the bank's not gonna have much of a reputation left if what it sells always ends up wasting customers money.

alot of inspiring stuff i've seen and learnt in my time here and so muc i'd like to share, but there's still an awfully long way to go before i reach my first million(haha) and i'm kinda tired writing so much. still, its a start, and a good one at that. hopefully 5 years on, you people will have seen me make something of myself.

come carpe diem, baby.