Watch this hilarious YouTube video about why you need life insurance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EyUHscEi50&feature=related

The story about US Life Insurance giant AIG that we blogged a few days ago has taken a couple of twists this weekend.

We blogged that story here on 16 March.  

Here’s what happened next…

 20 March

Just as everyone thought those AIG executives were going to cut and run with their ill-gotten bonuses, the US Government raced through a bill (reported in the Herald on 20 March) that enabled them to slap a 100% tax on the proceeds, thus entitling the US government to grab the money back for the US tax-payer. Now that’s fast work!  Hat tip to the US government for that one.

22 March

Seems those sharp AIG life insurance executives were a step ahead of everyone… they weren’t paid out US$165million in bonuses as previously reported, they were in fact paid out US$218million!!  That’s US$53million above what was earlier disclosed. (See Herald article 22 March.)  One wonders what level of bonus they would’ve received had they just broken even instead of making an US$85billion loss!

Whilst this AIG corporate behaviour is the sort of thing that gives us Life Insurance guys and indeed our industry a bad name, just remember, not all life insurance companies behave this way…

Saw this cool article in Time magazine that explains why women live around 3~6 years longer on average across the globe.

The issue for us life insurance guys is not so much why females live longer, but what female longevity means for life insurance. The short answer is that because women live longer, they pay lower life insurance premiums. Bugger.

So what can us mere men do about this? Are we doomed to paying higher premiums because of genetics? Well, according to the Time article, there is something we can do… basically research tells us that the 3~6 year gap is only 30% genetics and 70% to do with environmental factors… the factors us men can actually control.  And let’s face it – there is little that men control these days so this is a very, very good thing!

So what are these controllable factors that cause men to die earlier than women? Apparently there are three…

• Men smoke more (although this gap is closing)
• Men eat more… particularly the foods that increase cholesterol
• Men deal with stress by internalising it rather than letting go the way women do.

 And that’s pretty much it. These three behaviours account for around 2~4 years of our truncated lives.

And that’s why we (us men) pay more for life insurance!!! Go figure.

Pinnacle Life has paved the way for Chinese speaking New Zealanders to buy life insurance by partnering with leading Chinese Insurance brokers, Hwa Hsin Insunance (HHI).  

For Chinese people wanting to know more about Pinnacle Life’s products they can now visit the HHI website to get all product information in Chinese… see a Life Cover policy translated into Chinese here.

ABOUT HHI

Established in 1993 by Janet Lee, HHI is a highly professionally outfit and one of the most established and largest insurance brokers serving Chinese people in NZ.

HHI operates from 2 Auckland offices based in Howick and Greenlane and they have advisers fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.  

As well, Janet Lee runs a radio program on AM936 (every Thursday 4:20pm) where she shares her knowledge of what is new in the NZ insurance industry. She also writes weekly news columns for The Oriental Times and The Chinese Herald.

WHAT THEY OFFER

The sample policy documents from Pinnacle Life have been translated into Chinese and HHI plan to provide these sample Chinese policy documents as well as a summary of each of Pinnacle Life’s products on the HHI website.

Also, Chinese applicants purchasing Pinnacle Life products through the HHI website will receive free additional benefits because of their association with HHI.

Click here to visit the HHI website and/or make contact with their professional team.     

Ok, so this life insurance story hails from the US and not from NZ.

Still… it’s a huge story about one of the world’s largest life insurance groups with subsidiaries and related insurance companies around the world, so it’s clearly worth talking about as we watch events unfold.

AIG is one of those life insurance giants that most people take for granted. When it comes to life insurance, people have always thought that big = safe. Not so.

The story unfolded as the giant AIA’s net profit fell over the course of two short years from  a $14billion profit in 2006 to an $85billion loss in 2008. To stop AIG going broke and plunging the US economy into an even greater crisis than it already is, the US government had to bail out AIG to the tune of $170billion – meaning the US taxpayer now owns around 80% of the company. (We even heard a rumour about the name changing from AIG to AGI = American Government Insurance). 

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the latest story is about the payment of fat cat bonuses to AIG executives of $165million!!!… after being responsible for one of the largest financial collapses in US corporate history.

Here are some video clips to watch…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnwxWqhSnac&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3TecE1kIkU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADziEsiHRhE&feature=related

Thankfully not all life insurance companies behave this badly – especially the smaller ones.  

This question on a local financial chat forum caught my eye and seems to us it’s worth clarifying…

Q…

“Does anyone know what the difference is between life insurance and assurance?”   “Is assurance better then insurance or is it exactly the same?”

A…