Insurance & Costs of having and raising a child

[NTL]

Definitely not as normal. Some adjustment need to be made. Some expenses need to be trimmed. More grandparent help will be needed.

[opmi]

Too many Singaporeans has wrong type of
coverages. Too many whole life, personal accidents
and ILPs.

Need more term protection. AVIVA SAF or SAFRA Group
is a good place to start to get value for money TPD and CI
coverage.

And get your children on medishield ASAP. Even
newborns can get medishield now.

[NTL]

NTL,

If I insurance agent, of course it's not enough!

It's very easy to come up with "surveys" and "statistics" to show how long $200,000 will last your dependents - based on today's high living costs.

Throw in inflation scare tactics, opps I mean statistics, $1 million also not enough!

We have to work till 75 or more!

Ah ber then? Blame medical technology lor!

Once upon a time, we were "supposed" to retire at 55 and knock-off by our late 60s...

We living longer is messing up those projections made 30 years ago

My Prud agent once tried to get me to get a $1M term insurance, without even assessing my financial situation.

Question is... Do I need it, or do I want it?

---

Too many Singaporeans has wrong type of
coverages. Too many whole life, personal accidents
and ILPs.

Need more term protection. AVIVA SAF or SAFRA Group
is a good place to start to get value for money TPD and CI
coverage.

And get your children on medishield ASAP. Even
newborns can get medishield now.

Not just Medishield. A private Shield will be more useful for budgetting.

[Porkbelly]

Having insurance is important.

Its ensuring the correct type that is mismatched.

I am insured $250K and there is still Dependant Protection Scheme
That is enough. All policies payable upon death only.

The reason is: The money is sufficient to pay for coffin and estate stuff
and to cover household expenses for about 1 year. I expect mourning and grieving to be over by then. The family is expected to survive on their own. ( my kids are over 20 years old )

If the family is young, then the insured amount should be decided so that it is sufficient for 1 or 2 years of expenses. Beyond that, the family should get their butts off the chairs and start looking for work.
Nobody should benefit from insurance.

[NTL]

Having insurance is important.

Its ensuring the correct type that is mismatched.

I am insured $250K and there is still Dependant Protection Scheme
That is enough. All policies payable upon death only.

The reason is: The money is sufficient to pay for coffin and estate stuff
and to cover household expenses for about 1 year. I expect mourning and grieving to be over by then. The family is expected to survive on their own. ( my kids are over 20 years old )

If the family is young, then the insured amount should be decided so that it is sufficient for 1 or 2 years of expenses. Beyond that, the family should get their butts off the chairs and start looking for work.
Nobody should benefit from insurance.

Agree!

Not forgetting that upon my death, my family have assess to my CPF, which adds up to another $200+k (OA + SA + MA).

Think my family benefit from me more that I am dead than alive!

[sgd]

I think the big misconception is that everybody thinks they will die easily their immediate family will benefit from death insurance claim so easy like abc.

In most cases there will be some sickness or 'contributing factor' that leads to their eventual death, like cancer stroke leukemia all these treatment are going to cost a bomb and going to take long time before it kills them. Who's going to pay for it if you don't have the money, unwell cannot work no income need nurse you when you bedridden, Sh** and peed on your bed who's going to clean it? Your family is going to do it and there's no benefit in this for them. Somebody in your family or collectively need sacrifice which means time spent taking care of you means that time is not used to earn money.

So please buy correct things like hospitalization which is very important don't underestimate, death insurance not important people are not known to drop dead so easily.

I'm not insurance agent so no vested interest.

[Temperament]

Having insurance is important.

Its ensuring the correct type that is mismatched.

I am insured $250K and there is still Dependant Protection Scheme
That is enough. All policies payable upon death only.

The reason is: The money is sufficient to pay for coffin and estate stuff
and to cover household expenses for about 1 year. I expect mourning and grieving to be over by then. The family is expected to survive on their own. ( my kids are over 20 years old )

If the family is young, then the insured amount should be decided so that it is sufficient for 1 or 2 years of expenses. Beyond that, the family should get their butts off the chairs and start looking for work.
Nobody should benefit from insurance.

Agree!

Not forgetting that upon my death, my family have assess to my CPF, which adds up to another $200+k (OA + SA + MA).

Think my family benefit from me more that I am dead than alive!

It's normal or natural that almost all of us are "richer" dead than alive. All our assets are then usable or realisable ma -benefitting our love ones or kins who have to carry on living.
So aga, aga, - no need to skimp and save - leaving behind too much. Or spend like no tomorrow and burden someone.

[chialc88]

Among many insurance, Reducing Term Mortgage Insurance (RTMI) is relatively unknown and not many people talk about it.

I am a beneficiary of RTMI and would like to share my experience for your benefits too.

My first property was a private walk-up apartment.
I took up a S$355K loans and also purchase a Reducing Term Mortgage Insurance.
I paid single premium as it was not too expensive and I thought it will be cheaper to pay upfront vs paying for 25 years (the coverage is for 25 years).

Three years later, I sold my walk-up apartment and purchased a HDB resale flat.
Instead of buying HPS insurance, I just show the HDB officer my RTMI (which still has 22 years balance)

Three years later, I brought a condo and again the same RTMI provides some partial coverage (and full coverage after I sold off my HDB flat).

Everyone is aware of buying term and invest the rest.
Now, you are aware that other than your life Term insurance, there is also an alternatives Reducing Term insurance for your housing loan.

Give it a thought....
(Please do not ask me why Insurance agent never push this product... your guess is as good as mine.)



Love Compassion

[NTL]

Reducing Term Insurance can actually be bought anytime. Need not buy with mortgage. I believe that it was discussed many times in this forum.

My AIA agent, who I think is more ethical than my Prud agent, did recommend their reducing term when I bought my HDB 10yrs ago. The flexibility of a private insurance really worth consider over the rigidness of the HPS then. So I took up the plan with single premium too.

Recently when my brother in law bought his own flat, I also realised that for HDB, one can use wholelife and other insurance to cover the insurance. One need not get extra insurance to cover the insurance needs by HDB.

[CityFarmer]

I will merge this thread with a previous thread, for the benefit of all. The previous thread has many valuable posts on the topic. For those new buddies who are interested on the topic, it might be useful to refer to the old posts in this merged thread.

Thanks

Regards
Moderator