Financial Planner Career Information & Insurance Agent Job

Kieran, congratulations on becoming Manulife's Top Financial Planner for 2007. You've only been with the company since April 2007, what is the secret to achieving your success in such a short time?

Just to give you a bit of my background, I was previously working on a fixed salary as a regional marketing director at an Australian company. I decided to join Manulife as a financial planner as I felt that I could develop my earnings potential further and also grow as a person, in terms of career satisfaction and achievement.

The thing is, when you first start out in insurance, you have to start from scratch by building up your clientele and contacts. And this is where you have to be innovative, be able to think out of the box, be a self starter and be self-motivated to ensure that you can succeed. After all, as a financial planner, you are your own boss, essentially. Therefore you set your own targets, goals and objectives that you want to achieve.

In the beginning of my career as a financial planner, I faced a lot of rejections, especially from people whom I thought would be most willing to support me, like close friends, for example. However, my determination to succeed is what enabled me to eventually gain their trust and respect, and from there, I worked hard to grow the business. I’m also very passionate about how Manulife’s products can really make a positive difference to people’s lives.

What are some of Manulife’s strengths?

Well, to begin with, Manulife is ‘AAA’ rated by Standards & Poor’s, the highest rating available in recognition of our financial strength and stability. We have a strong regional presence in Asia, and operate in ten countries and territories. Our 25,000-strong agency force and expanded distribution network of 50 distribution agreements with banks and securities dealers – serves nearly 5 million Manulife customers in the region.

We have also been named Life Insurance Company of the Year at the Asia Insurance Industry Awards 2007. Manulife won because of our “continued commitment to professionalism, excellent customer service and innovation with first-to-market products”, according to the judges.

An example of our endeavour to constantly create products that are uniquely tailored to address our clients’ protection and investment needs, is the Secure Retirement Plus (SRP). The SRP impressed the above mentioned judges as it is the first variable annuity product in Singapore. It allows you to start retirement planning as early as age 30 and is available in both Singapore and US currencies. SRP provides an innovative retirement solution that offers a predictable, sustainable and potentially growing income. Unlike fixed annuities, SRP captures the upside from investment growth to give potentially higher returns, while providing guaranteed withdrawals for life from age 65.

Manulife is a company that cares. We are very active in community development and bringing dreams to life. This can be seen from our sponsorship of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund to help the less fortunate, the Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) as well as awarding scholarships to students of the Singapore Sports School to help develop young sporting talents.

What is the business philosophy of Manulife?

Our core focus is on the quality of our people and our processes. And we achieve this by closely aligning ourselves to our set of corporate values during our daily operations. This is represented by the acronym PRIDE -

Pride
These values guide everything we do - from strategic planning to day-to-day decision making, to the manner in which we treat our customers and other stakeholders.

Professionalism
We strive to achieve the highest professional standards. Our employees and advisers possess superior knowledge and skills for the benefit of our customers.

Real value to our Customers
We are here to satisfy our customers' needs. By providing the highest quality products, services, advice and sustainable value, we ensure our customers receive excellent solutions to meet their individual needs.

Integrity
All our dealings are characterised by the highest levels of honesty and fairness. We develop trust by maintaining the highest ethical practices.

Demonstrated Financial Strength
Our customers depend on us to be here in the future to meet our financial promises. We earn this faith by maintaining uncompromised claims paying ability and a prudent investment management philosophy.

Employer of Choice
Our employees will determine our future success. In order to attract and retain the best and brightest employees, we invest in the development of our human resources and reward superior performance.

What are your thoughts on the future of the insurance industry?

I think there is enormous potential for someone to be successful in this industry. This is because there are many different types of clients out there with many specialized insurance and investment needs.

Furthermore, people are more aware and interested in maximizing their wealth and protecting their loved ones; therefore there will be a growing demand for financial planners who are professional and savvy in helping people to obtain the best insurance and investment products for themselves.

This is why Manulife has a very comprehensive training and development program to ensure that all our financial planners are well versed in our products and will know how best to cater for all our clients’ insurance and financial planning needs.

As for myself, I’m very happy and proud to be a financial planner with Manulife and definitely look forward to achieving greater success with the company for many years to come.

www.manulife.com.sg

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