Thng Wei Hao, a four-year MDRT member from Singapore, has established a successful practice by focusing on the unique needs of clients, who primarily fall in the 30 to 45 age range.

Being in his mid-30s, he felt it made most sense to start servicing clients of a similar age. Eventually, his practice evolved to working with their families as they started settling down. He finds this age group to be particularly dynamic as they undergo significant life changes, such as having children and becoming more family oriented. Additionally, this age range tends to be when clients experience career peaks, leading to significant capital inflows.

Leveraging a comprehensive approach to address his clients' unique concerns, Thng emphasizes three fundamental areas — basic insurance coverage, education funds for their children and retirement planning. By addressing these concerns, his clients have the necessary coverage to meet their family's needs and are on track to achieve their long-term financial goals.

Basic insurance coverage

Considering how his clients are often breadwinners for their families, Thng ensures they have sufficient basic insurance to cover themselves while setting aside sufficient funds to cover their family expenses. He typically recommends insurance plans that provide coverage for critical illnesses, accidents, and death.

Medical costs and education funds

As parents naturally shift their focus to their child after starting a family, Thng assists his clients in putting in place some education funds for their children's future university expenses. Additionally, he recommends health insurance plans that provide comprehensive medical coverage for the entire family.

Retirement planning

After fulfilling their basic insurance needs and providing for their children's education and medical costs, Thng will recommend clients to allocate any remaining funds into retirement planning through investments or annuities.

To best communicate the value of these three aspects, Thng shares his approach, “My modus operandi is built on education. I approach my clients with an [informative] and sharing-based angle. My clients would have known by now that every time we meet, we will always start off with a conversation about their current goals and expectations in life. Thereafter, I will share the current market expectations with them and how the evolution of the industry would impact them.”

In particular, he focuses on educating his clients on concepts such as Time Value of Money, inflation and opportunity costs. These help his clients recognize the importance of starting wealth accumulation early — which Thng believes is essential to build a holistic financial plan. By helping them understand these concepts, they can be more empowered to make informed decisions that will benefit them in the long run. He uses a simple Excel sheet to show the benefits of starting early by using the 10-year performance of any popular fund in the market as an example and using the Dollar Cost Averaging concept of placing money into the fund every month. The sheet will then be able to show the impact of the difference of starting accumulation 10 years ago versus five. This helps him better reinforce the importance for clients to start building their wealth now.

A strategy that helps Thng in his practice is by spending time to understand his client’s unique needs and wants. From that, he lends a more forward-looking perspective to help his clients see further into their lifetime, rather than just focusing on the now. As his clients grow from one life stage to the next, he makes adjustments to their financial plan accordingly. Through this approach, he is able to build trust with his clients and provide them with tailored advice that aligns closely with their short- and long-term goals.

Thng emphasizes that all these are only made possible with a strong rapport built with his clients. During each of their milestones in life, from birthdays to baby showers and medical episodes, he makes sure to either set aside time to attend or show care through texts or gifts. He makes a point to send out care packages to all his clients on special occasions like Christmas and went the extra mile by doing the same during the height of the pandemic.

Through this and by focusing on the unique needs and goals of this target market, Thng has managed to build trust and provide value to his clients, which has led to a loyal client base and a thriving practice.

Contact: MDRTeditorial@teamlewis.com

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Providing holistic family planning for clients in their 30s and 40s