"1945" is an amazing short documentary by Sun Life of Canada (Philippines), Inc.
I was touched with the short film's ending message. "In 1945, Sun Life
personnel traced and searched for the beneficiaries of those who
perished in the war. A time of chaos became a time of honoring
commitments and making lives brighter under the Sun."
This is truly customer satisfaction and relationship service!
From past to present, life insurance has only one objective -- that is,
to provide protection to the family left behind or protection to oneself especially in times of need.
Google has provided us a lot of powerful online tools and one of these tools help us "compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties."
Today, I wanted to understand what are the most common search keywords done in the Philippines in the last 12 months and with just a few clicks on Google Insight; I am able to generate the web search interest by region and keywords.
Guess which one is the winner? "Credit Card" comes up as number one, and interestingly, investment is at the bottom 4.
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| Google Insight Web Search Interest. Credits: Google |
I did the same search terms but filtered by countries to see how each countries folks do their searches for these 4 keywords.
United States and UK has the same ranking as the Philippines.
China, on the other hand, has "investment" as their number one keyword search.
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| Add caption |
Hong Kong and Japan have "investment" as the top keyword search.
Observation & Interpretation:
Base on the above trends, Filipinos are more interested in credit cards and loans. We have the same behavior and mindset with those of US and UK. This could be because we are highly influenced by Western behavior and the use of credit card enables instant gratification especially in keeping up with the lifestyle trends.
Although many knew about the benefits of investment and savings, it still shows that we are still lagging behind our Asian neighbors in terms of investment research and knowledge acquisition.
Now, what's your observation & interpretation?
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| Maslow's Pyramid of Needs. Credits: Wkipedia |
Maslow's hierarchy of needs interprets human's basic needs as the foundation of the pyramid and gradually elevates to the levels that human motivations generally move through -- safety, love/belonging, esteem and self actualization.
"For the most part, physiological needs are obvious – they are the literal requirements for human survival. If these requirements are not met, the human body simply cannot continue to function."
In the same way, Financial Planning also has a Financial Pyramid. It is a strategic approach in managing investment portfolio where the base of the pyramid is made up of low-risk investments, the mid-portion is composed of growth investments and the top is speculative investments.
For the most part, the base of the pyramid forms the requirements and foundation of a solid financial plan as well as for a long term financial freedom goal. Similar to meeting the physiological needs, if the basic financial requirements are not met, the plan for financial freedom simply cannot continue be achieved.
The 4 levels of Financial Pyramid:
- Protection
This stage provides you with a cushion in case of unexpected events, such as job loss or health issues. Items you need to have in this stage:
-- Savings, Emergency Fund (6 months of salary)
-- Insurance (Life, Health, Critical Illness, etc) - Savings
This stage helps you to start building your wealth and investments. This is the baby steps in creating your passive income sources. Items you need to have in this stage:
-- Mutual Funds, Bonds
-- Real Estate / Your Home - Wealth Building
This stage helps your wealth and investments achieve maximum growth and income. This may be your long term passive income sources. Items you need to have in this stage:
-- Equity, Stocks
-- Business - Speculation
At this stage, you should have excess funds with zero or low debt, enough retirement and investment fund before investing in a much higher risk portfolio. Some items in speculation would be:
-- Gold
Success. One step at a time. Credits: deZengo
-- Art, Collectibles
Understanding financial pyramid:
The Philippine Insurance Commission has released the results of 2011 Top Life Insurance Companies based on total premium income. Sun Life of Canada (Philippines), Inc. ranked number one in life insurance company in the Philippines.
“We are very happy with the record-breaking results of our Philippine operations. We have full confidence that Sun Life Philippines will continue to achieve further growth. Our Philippines operation has led the way in many initiatives that focused on financial literacy, branding, operational efficiency and technology. These initiatives have been recognized globally and continue to be best practices in the organization,” Sun Life Asia president Dikran Ohannesian said.
The Top 15 Life Insurance Companies as of December 31, 2011:
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| Top life insurance companies in the Philippines according to premium income |
