RISCARIO INSIDER

June 28, 2014

MAKE SURE YOUR INTERNET SERVICE IS RUNNING AT THE PROMISED SPEEDS

Internet service isn’t cheap. How do you know if you’re getting the speeds you’re promised (and paying for)? You can’t tell unless you monitor regularly. You then have a baseline for comparison.

Your Own Tests

You can run your own tests with Ookla SpeedTest from your browser or as an app on your mobile device. For better results

measure via a wired Internet connection (Plan B: use a wireless device close to your WiFi source)
disconnect all other devices accessing the Internet (Plan B: accept lower results)

Note: The speed over WiFi is lower, fluctuates and varies by room. One reason to get a faster plan is to accommodate these drops. (Related: How to get your wireless Internet working)

If the results are far from what you expect, call your provider to find out what’s wrong.

Detailed Monitoring

Rogers is the only Internet provider in Canada with certified speeds. We’re part of the independent monitoring via SamKnows. Our service is monitored 24/7 and we can see the detailed reports ourselves. That’s how we find out and verify problems.

Speed Today

Our Rogers Ultimate unlimited plan promises 150 Mbps downloads and 10 Mbps uploads. We routinely get faster downloads (about 190 Mbps) and slightly faster uploads (about 11 Mbps). Since our service is reliable and stable, we don’t routinely check the performance.

Our speed today is much lower than usual — about 100 Mbps (blue line in graph below) instead of 150 (the red line). That’s too big difference to ignore.

Speed This Month

This month, our service started deteriorating on the 10th. That’s when the blue line dropped below the red line below. We noticed but didn’t notice because our service was still fast. That’s another reason to get a faster plan.

Anomalies happen and are usually fixed quickly. I called Rogers. They said our Internet signal strength has dropped to marginal levels. They’re sending a technician tomorrow.

Speed This Year

Overall, Rogers is excellent at delivering consistent fast speeds. This graph of speed year-to-date shows this. The last slowdown was minor, months ago and quickly fixed. At that time, there was apparently a problem affecting the neighborhood, perhaps caused by the polar vortex.

Lessons

Just because speeds are independently certified doesn’t mean you’re getting them or will keep getting them.

Without monitoring, we might not have called Rogers. It’s easy to think that slowdowns are caused by other users, including family members. If we checked the monitoring more regularly, we would have had a fix earlier.

Links

PS We upgraded our unlimited plan from 150/10 plan to 250/20. Is Hybrid Fibre better? I’ll share details once our service is fully functional.

June 22, 2014

SIX QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE SELECTING AN INSURANCE ADVISOR

If you're looking for an insurance advisor, you’ve got lots of choices. Before picking one, interview several and ask questions, including these six.

1. How Did You Get Into The Insurance Business?

This is an indirect way of asking why they decided to sell insurance. Who grows up aspiring to get into commissioned sales? Are they part of a family business? Couldn’t they find another job?

One advisor may look much like another. When you start with why (see Simon Sinek’s TED Talk), you often find big differences.

2. What Products Are You Licensed To Sell?

Many advisors are reluctant to "leave money on the table". They may sell a range of products like life insurance, health insurance, employee benefits, mutual funds, segregated funds, annuities and mortgages. You'll often see what they provide on their business cards and websites.

Did you buy your last TV at a department store?

One-stop shopping may look appealing but can an advisor really master everything? You could hire specialists instead. A plumber, electrician and painter each have much more practical experience than a handyman.

3. Which Companies Do You Have Contracts With?

A captive advisor is like a commissioned employee and only allowed to sell what that company permits — which may be less competitive and less flexible. The advisor’s business card often has the name of the company, rather than their own brand.

An independent advisor can have a contract with most insurance companies. To get business, the insurers must be competitive. Since products and procedures differ, an advisor cannot realistically know them all well. Advisors often do most of their business with several insurers.

Variants: which companies’ products do you not sell? Why?

4. What Designations Do You Have (And What Do They Mean)?

The world of life insurance is especially complicated because you're dealing with risk, accounting, investing and law. Assessing your needs and developing optimal solutions takes skill. Yet selling insurance requires little more than passing a multiple choice exam.

The better advisors take the time to earn designations that require some effort. Look for a CFP (Certified Financial Planner), or — better still --- a CLU (Chartered Life Underwriter). These designations impose additional standards of conduct on their members. For instance, there are requirements for continuing education.

Ask advisors what their designations mean, how much continuing education is required and why they matter.

5. What Associations Do You Belong To?

There's no self-regulating association to which insurance advisors must belong. There are for accountants, actuaries, doctors, engineers and lawyers. The associations can investigate and discipline members for misconduct. The processes may not be perfect, but they're well intentioned.

Insurance advisors aren't required to belong to any association. In Canada, the main association for advisors is called Advocis. It’s reasonable to expect advisors to belong, though some prefer the Independent Financial Brokers (IFB). Advocis has an sister organization for top advisors called Conference for Advanced Life Underwriting (CALU). There’s also the Million Dollar Roundtable (MDRT).

Associations promote the interests of their members. Yet some advisors won't join. They get the benefits from the lobbying the associations do without spending a penny. What moochers! If they'll take shortcuts like this, be wary.

6. Where Is Your Blog?

Advisors often acknowledge they should have a blog but they don’t have time, they don’t know how, they aren’t convinced of the ROI, …

Advisors can create and publish their original content through a blog (or podcast or video). LinkedIn is an excellent, easy-to-use platform. How often do they publish? How much do they publish? When did they last publish?

There are many advisors but only one you. Why not take the time to find the right advisor for you?

Links

PS For fun, ask “are you a fiduciary with a legal obligation to put my best interests first”?