A potential client is risk-averse and only wants to save money in a bank, but they have dependents and no life insurance. How would you handle this situation while upholding your fiduciary duty?
Why This Is Asked
The mandatory training course includes ethics because advisors handle sensitive life savings; the Forum assesses whether you naturally prioritize client welfare over a quick sale, aligning with Sun Life's "doing what's right" culture.
General Approach
Demonstrate empathy first, then educate with simple analogies, and always disclose both benefits and limitations. Frame insurance as a complement to saving, not a replacement. Let the client decide, showing you respect their autonomy.
Sample STAR Answer▾
Situation
In a personal finance class, a classmate confided that her father refused insurance, believing it was a scam, and kept all savings under their mattress. She worried because he was the sole breadwinner for three children.
Task
I had to help her see the risk while respecting her father's perspective, without being a licensed advisor yet.
Action
I shared simple, non-technical examples of how a small insurance premium could protect their savings from being wiped out by a medical emergency. I compared it to a helmet: you hope never to need it, but it saves you if you fall. I gave her a Sun Life financial literacy pamphlet from our school career talk and suggested she show it to her father, emphasizing that it wasn't about distrusting banks but adding a layer of protection.
Result
Her father agreed to meet with a licensed advisor after seeing the pamphlet and hearing his daughter's concern. The family later purchased a basic life plan that fit their budget.
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