Poor products and unethical sales techniques

An insurance agent presented an insurance policy for a young person. The agent gave him a standard "policy illustration" comprising of about 10 pages with several hundred figures. The young person was confused. He asked for my advice.

Here is my analysis of the plan:

1. It is an investment-linked plan involving a monthly saving of $100
2. About $2,400 of the insurance premium (about two years of savings) will be taken away to pay commisison and expenses.
3. After 10 years, even if the fund earned 9% (which is unlikely), the cash value is still less than the premiums paid
4. The agent recommended that the premium be invested in the India and Vietnam funds.

I am angry that a respectable insurance company could offer a poor value product to its customers. The insurance agent is unethical in pushing such a product to an unsavvy customer, without disclosing the relevant facts.

The strategy is to confuse the customer with a lot of confusing figures and to train the agent in the "sales technique" to sell this product.

How many customers are being taken for a ride each day, with this type of products? I hope that the Monetary Authority of Singapore will realise the weakness of this type of "product disclosure".