The card about the aunt who sells insurance

Some cards in DECADES are about a big money idea. This one is about a dining table.

It is called "Your aunt's Raya sales pitch". It can turn up any time after the first year of a life. In the Malaysia edition it opens like this, word for word:

Between the rendang and the money packets, your aunt, who has just become an insurance agent, corners you. She offers a special family rate if you sign today. The form is already out.

And here are the three choices, also word for word:

• "Take the brochure home and read it first."
• "Sign now so she does not lose face."
• "Say maybe later and dodge her all day."

Why this card exists

A lot of people know this moment. A festival visit, good food, the whole family in one room, and a relative with a new job and a form in her bag. The relative is usually not a bad person. She is often new at the job, she has targets, and family is the easiest place to start.

That is what makes the moment hard. The money question is simple: do I need this cover, and is this the right policy? But the table is not a simple place. There is love, there is face, there is an audience, and there is a pen already in your hand.

So this is a card where the hard part is not the maths. It is saying "let me read it first" to someone you love.

What each choice does in the game

Take the brochure home and read it first. This is the choice the game scores highest. In the story, you read it at home, calm. It turns out to be a decent medical plan with some pricey extras bundled on top. You drop the extras and buy the part you need. The lesson line: cover you need is worth buying, just never at the table.

Sign now so she does not lose face. This one costs you. In the story, a RM 180 monthly premium starts, and half of it is investment padding you would never have picked. Cancelling now means an awkward talk with your aunt. In the game, you pay RM 180, your score drops and your stress goes up a little. The lesson line: buying to spare someone's feelings is how the wrong policy gets sold. A good agent is happy for you to read it later, family or not.

Say maybe later and dodge her all day. This one feels like a win. You get a little joy for escaping, and no money leaves the bank. But the score still drops. In the story, "later" turns into "never", and you stay with no medical cover at all. The lesson line: dodging a pushy pitch is smart, dodging cover altogether is not. The pitch was wrong, but a medical card is a real need.

So the card does not say "insurance is bad" or "your aunt is a crook". The way it was sold was wrong. The thing being sold might still be something you need. The best answer takes both seriously.

The card is fiction

The aunt, the policy, the RM 180 and every other number in DECADES are made up. The card is a story about a moment, not a review of any real product, agent or company. Nothing in this post is advice about your own money or your own cover.

Where to check the real rules

The real rules are on official pages:

• Bank Negara Malaysia looks after insurance and takaful in Malaysia. Its insurance and takaful page is the starting point. You can check whether a company is licensed on its list of licensed financial institutions.
• Bank Negara's guidelines on medical and health insurance set a minimum 15-day "free-look" period for new policies, a window to read a policy and decide if it suits you. Check what your own policy says.
• To ask a question or make a complaint about a financial service, Bank Negara has an enquiries and complaints page.
• PIDM, Malaysia's deposit insurance body, explains how your insurance and takaful benefits are protected if an insurer fails, on its Takaful and Insurance Benefits Protection System page.
• AKPK, the credit counselling agency set up by Bank Negara, offers free money counselling if premiums and other bills are getting too heavy: akpk.org.my.

Play it

Not every life meets the aunt. The International edition tells the same story at a holiday dinner, in dollars. Play DECADES in your browser, free and with no sign-up, and see which answer you give when the form is already out.