Three years ago, an elderly woman walked into OCBC’s Jurong Point branch with a clear plan: Put money into a fixed deposit and take up an insurance plan.
After a long conversation with Mr Bryon Loke, then a personal financial consultant, she walked out with neither.
The turning point came when Mr Loke asked about her financial situation, her goals and what she wanted the money to do. She told him she had been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
“I wanted to close the deal,” he said. “But when I found out she only had a few months to live, I could not in good conscience ask her to proceed.”
The question was no longer which product to choose. A fixed deposit could limit access to her funds for a period, while the insurance plan required a longer commitment than her situation allowed. Mr Loke also learnt that most of her healthcare costs were covered and that she did not need to set aside the savings for dependants.
He encouraged her to consider what she wanted the money to achieve in the time she had left. “I told her that maybe it was better that she used the money on experiences with her family and friends,” he said. “Sometimes, the right advice is not to invest more. It’s helping clients make decisions that are aligned with what matters most to them at that point in their lives.”