Recently there have been alot of bad news appearing on newspapers affecting the worldwide economy. In case you don’t read newspaper, the latest news that is going to affect the world is the SWINE FLU virus!

Basically what is swine flu?

• The swine flu virus causing concern (influenza type A, H1N1) appears to contain genetic material from human viruses, North American bird viruses and pig viruses. It may be completely new or it may have been around for a while having become only recently detectible due to new testing and surveillance procedures.

• As a number of cases have had no direct exposure to pigs, the concern with this virus is that it has the ability to transmit between humans. This is something that the H5N1 bird flu virus never really attained (Super Dangerous!).

• Young adults (20 to 35 year olds) are the hardest hit in Mexico.

• While it has apparently killed 150 or so people in Mexico, the death rate is unknown as thousands may
have been infected and simply recovered. So far there have been no reported deaths outside Mexico. For example, some New Zealand students who are thought likely to have contracted the swine flu after a trip to
Mexico don’t have severe symptoms and some reports indicate they appear to be recovering. As such the
deaths in Mexico may have something to do with its less able health care system. It is also worth noting that
hundreds of people die from flu every year anyway.

• More significantly, while there is no vaccine that protects against swine flu, two anti-viral drugs, Tamiflu
and Relenza, have been effective against the new strains according to the US Centers for Disease Control.

• Australia is well prepared with a stockpile of nearly 9 million doses of anti-viral drugs, including Relenza.
Australia also has a well developed plan to deal with a pandemic. Today many countries are also far better
prepared given all the concerns about bird flu over the last few years. Less developed countries are of course
more vulnerable

Singapore had experiened Sars (2003) & bird flu-H5N1 (05-06) and now we may be facing the new flu virus. I am very sure at this time, stock market must have catch a ‘flu’ also. News over the weekend about the deadly virus is shaking the whole financial market. So far, those british airline stocks were showing a fall of 10.60%, tokyo airlines and travel agency were also hit by the swine worries but only companies making drug treatments are earning.

From all the news all over the world, i guess we are really facing one of the worse hit recession and to people out there, please take care of yourself and make sure you don’t travel oversea at these period of time. Life is precious so treasure it! Hope you are also covered by private shield plan to ensure your hospital bills are taken care of!

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The morale of this incident brings me a very important message. It has again reminded me of how important is my job as an adviser to get my client protected in all areas of concern. Even if they refused to buy due to budget constraint or financial downturn but if I realised they are lacking in hospitalisation plan, i have to make sure that she gets it. I felt that this is the minimum policy that one should be getting. Every single day if you happen to walk into any hospital, there are so many people inside. Sometime you wonder what happen to them and whether are they financially prepared for times like that.

I remembered i did try to get my client to purchase one but the reason she gave was that she want to put on hold first as she has many policies. Since i have not been the aggressive type, i didn’t insist on her getting the shield plan. Lucky this time round is not a serious event for her if not i will really feel guilty towards it. After today, i realised that it is a MUST to ask my client to get a shield plan.

I guess the most fearful moment of an adviser is when your client’s family member calls you to ask if she is covered for insurance and the answer is ‘Nope’. I believe at that moment the family members will be very upset to hear that and for the adviser, will also feel very lousy about himself. This is the reason why i am still enjoying my job after so long. I keep telling myself that i am out there to give the best advice and to ensure i am doing the right things to them, making sure that they are paying for what they need!

Although this job can be quite challenging in the intital stage but once you are stable, you will enjoy it. Like most people said, ” You got to love what you are doing” I totallly agreed to this statement. Till today i still wakes up every day feeling excited to meet people and talk to them. There are so much things to learn from one another and sometime it can be quite enriching. I have benefited alot especially talking to people who are much older than me and have gone through life. They openly shared with me their personal life and how we should be living it. Such experience is something that we can’t obtain if we work in another other jobs. It’s priceless!

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