Useful role for financial advisers

I believe that financial advisers (i.e. insurance agents and sales representatives) have the responsibility to give appropriate advice to the consumers and they should be fairly paid for their time and effort.

The commission system and sales targets are the source of the malpractice. If a distributor or adviser can earn $6,000 (3% of $200,000) to sell a credit linked note within 30 minutes, something must be wrong. Of course, the adviser will say that the product is good, safe, approved by MAS, etc.

I encourage financial advisers to give independent and good advice for a fee of $100 or $150 an hour and to keep the advice within 1 or 2 hours. A doctor is also paid for the time that is spent to treat a patient, and does not receive a commission for the medicine that is prescribed.