When you deal with a salesperson, the salesperson will say certain things in certain way due to some reasons. Knowing these reasons will help you make better decisions. Here are the things why salespersons say certain things in certain manner:

If you are an insurance agent stuck with one company you would say -

“The name and the products of the insurance company are not important but it is more important to find a good agent.”

(My comment: The values and internal compliance monitoring of the insurance company are important matters. A company that focuses mainly on profit will be detrimental to the customer. If the company only sells expensive product, you are in trouble. Ask those who have suffered significant losses due to the insurance company cutting bonuses on their par product. The agent says this as a distraction so that you’ll focus on the adviser, not the company.)

If you are an investment adviser or a fund manager you would say –

“Valuation is lower the average 10 years PE. Asia and US will decouple. It is a good time to buy now!”

(My comment: Historical performance is not indicative of future. The investment adviser will never ask you to sell since that means he or she will lose his wrap fees / trailer fees. They will always ask you to buy to earn the commission & wrap fee.)

If you are a mortgage broker you would say –

“There are good debts and bad debts. The good debts are like mortgage loan. Potentially you can get better return than the interest on the loan”

(My comment: Of course, if you pay off your loan you will not refinance your mortgage. The mortgage broker cannot earn the commission if you are not going to refinance your property!)

If you are a bank staff trying to get people to sign up for credit cards:

“Our credit card is FREE for 5 years. There is no harm signing up.”

(My comment: The truth is that a huge number of people actually defaulted on their credit cards either because they forgot to pay in time or that could not manage borrowed money. Banks hope that by law of large numbers, there will be people who will not pay out their bills and thus incur huge interests)