“Dear Wilfred, I hesitate to do a comprehensive financial planning because I bought a product X from Y a few years ago which I regretted because the product offers poor returns. As I have put $ZZZ amount every month into it, I will suffer heavy losses if I would to terminate it. Regards – K”

Dear K,

In the above few words, there are a number of issues at hand.

Firstly, comprehensive financial planning has nothing to do with product purchases or product terminations. The industry has given an impression to consumers that financial planning means to purchase insurance or an investment product.

Secondly, whether the product is good or not can only be determined after a complete financial health checkup. Thus, you should not assume the product you bought is bad just because someone else told you so.

Thirdly, products are merely solutions to solve a problem. Unless you know what the problem is, a product is merely a product. Moreover, many solutions to problems have nothing to do with products.

Fourth, by not wanting a complete financial health checkup because you suspect you are having a problem imply that you are just trying to escape from reality. It is like saying you refuse to see a doctor because you suspect you are sick. Whether you see a doctor or otherwise cannot change the fact that you are ill – if you are indeed ill.

Fifth, to err is only human. Everybody makes mistake. If you think you have made a mistake in the past to invest in a wrong product – you should now learn what lessons you can learn so that you can make better decision in the future. By refusing to learn from past mistake is the greatest mistake you can have.

So please seek advice to get a wholistic financial advice.