The key to quality insurance is in choosing a good quality Agent. The word agent comes from the Indian Contract Act, 1872 and it is the Christian name for the guy who brings insurance / mutual fund product to your door step. Nowadays they have various names like Consultant, advisor, and the like, but I […]
I hope you are not looking for the ‘mea culpa’ message of Raju…of Satyam…this is different! I recently met the MD of a financial services company – obviously I am not naming him/her. It also does not matter whether it is a brokerage house, mutual fund, life insurance company, bank or a distribution house. So […]
I have a friend who has worked in a bank for many years – from a rookie sales person to almost the top job in sales and marketing. She has (to me surprisingly) acquired a lot of knowledge about banking, mutual fund and life insurance. Not knowing much of her background (she now works for […]
Many people write in or ask – what should my relationship manager tell me about my portfolio / new investments. Here I am trying to make a partial list. 1. I need to profile your risk – and your risk profile depends on your age, your income, past investment experience, your projected income, your needs […]
I know of a few mis-sellers in the financial services who excel in mis-selling. Let us call them A, B and C. A is so used to mis-selling that when a ‘friend’ wanted to buy a DVD player, he was convincing her to get a lap top. This in spite of the fact that he […]
I was inundated by clients, friends, foes, readers, ….Is Jeevan Aastha a good investment? Two friends came to meet me. One had just invested Rs. 100 lakhs in JA, and the other was crying over the fact that the last date had passed. (I was not sure about the closing date anyway). I reassured my […]
Once when Brezhnev was taking his mother around his castle, showing off his cars and swimming pool, his mother asked him “Son, what if the Reds came back?” Or so goes a story. If you think there have been excesses in the American economy, please re-think. Top executives at Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, AIG (which […]