A week ago, I received a phone call from a "Wealth Planner" from Singlife who claimed that I have signed up for a free blue-tooth enabled wireless ear-piece set. All I have to do was to meetup this Wealth Planner and then collect it. This triggered off my memory of another similar incident earlier this year. In January 2026, I have also received such call from a lady who proclaimed the same assertion. My response then was that I don't recall ever signing up for such promotion and hence not going, the financial planner quickly told me it is a free gift and I just have to turn up for an appointment. When I insisted that I do not want to go, the financial planner tone change immediately into frustration and said that the gift is free and she cannot understand why I am not interested to even go to meet-up. Thereafter, she ended the phone conversation rudely.
1. Decided to Give a Chance- Meet-up with New Financial Scammer Planner
Anyway, back to this latest fiasco. This Wealth Planner offer the same free-ear piece meet-up ruse. Since I have free time and also wanted to learn more about the latest investment products, I decided to accede to the meetup request. For ease of reference, I will give this Wealth Planner a fictitious name called "Ryan".
I told Ryan to meet me up at Toast Box near my workplace during lunch for further discussion.
When I reached, Ryan was already there. He quickly took out his gigantic tablet and asked me what insurance policies do I have with Singlife and that he is actually an independent financial advisor who represents a number of insurance companies such as Income, HSBClife, Tokio Marine Life etc. I was thinking whether I need to buy some coffee for both of us since I sense that this Ryan is the type who will only buy his customer drinks if there is a confirmed deal but he seems very anxious to present his sales products immediately and being polite, I decided to let him carry on first.
After seeing that I already have many insurance policies from critical illness, H&S, PA, income replacement policies, Ryan changed tactic and showed me a list of financial needs, namely, (i) Insurance, (ii) Savings, (iii) CPF & (iv) Investments and asked me directly to tell him what I need. I was flabbergasted at that juncture and thought how come Financial Planner work in such a manner that is so unprofessional.
2. Investment Recommendation by Financial Scammer
My reply to Ryan latest query as above mentioned is that I am more interested in investment and that my preference is more of income-focused type.
Ryan immediately flashed a 7% dividend yield ILP and began marketing it to me. Ryan also told me that this product apparently got 20% bonus upfront for the 1st year premium of S$20K. I told Ryan that I have serious doubt of a financial product that can give 7% dividend yield constantly every year. Only then did Ryan clarified that part of the "dividends" will be paid out of capital....OMG!
Seeing that I am not interested, Ryan quickly whipped up another ILP from Tokio Marine Life, that has a Japan focused theme fund that pays out high dividends and also double digit growth for past few years. I told Ryan that I have my reservation about Japan that had a lost decade due to deflation and most recently, high inflation and probably stagflation in future. Also, one of the top 10 investment of this fund has Toyota which has been losing lots of global market shares to China electric cars and that I am really struggling to take this product up.
It does not end there, Ryan along with his indomitable spirit quickly recommend that he got ILP that will allow me to choose and customise my own unit trust funds. Next, I asked him this question: "If I can choose and customise the funds, then what is the initial cost as well as annual management cost of this ILP? Will this be similar or cheaper than the digital wealth management platform of Endowus?"
3. Financial Scammer Beating Hasty Retreat
Ryan did not address my question directly. Instead he suddenly began packing his gigantic tablet and told me that he got another urgent appointment and that he will send some of those previous proposals presented to me for consideration (deep in my heart, I knew that he was just lying through his teeth about sending those proposals to me) and then suddenly disappear from Toast Box in the blink of an eye and I found myself staring into thin air. This Ryan was actually a magician!
Parting Thoughts
Well, I think this meet-up is a total waste of time. But I kind of half expected it. In a way, I think that some wealth planners like Ryan actually needs to be sent back to financial planning courses as the way he approached it haphazardly seems to be more of with an overwhelming interest to sell products and taking commission rather than analysing what a prospective client really need. Last but not least, beware of the free blue-tooth ear piece ruse....haha!
Ok, that's all from me today. Have a great week ahead folks!
You didn't give the most important piece of information - did you manage to get him to buy you a kaya toast, 2 eggs and teh-C set first before he ran away!
ReplyDeleteMaybe next time you should say things like "I didn't eat breakfast, I can't think clearly, not sure I can decide on an empty stomach....."
Hi Hello World......ya lor, I should have told him that I have not had breakfast yet and cannot think on an empty stomach...whahaha.
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