Me & My Money Series (Sunday Times)

[Bibi]

$1m may sound a lot but not really that much if you divide $1m across 6 or more people which includes parents, parents-in-laws, wife, children etc.

I prefer to buy only what i need than to buy extra. I dont expect my parents to live another 30 years since they already 70+ years old. If i want to make sure should anything happen to me and they are well taken care of financially, i will buy a decreasing term insurance. I bought a S$200k 10yr decreasing term just to ensure sh anything happen to me, my son will be taken care of financially till he is 21 years old. This is base on my calculation that in 10 years time if nothing happens to me, my savings should have increase by 200k.

For low income group who are young and healthy, they might like to buy an accident plan instead of life insurance. The chances of the death of a young healthy person is usually due to accident. The company i work for allows us to buy very cheap accident plan which costs S$64 per year for S$500k coverage.

[hyom]

I prefer to buy only what i need than to buy extra. I dont expect my parents to live another 30 years since they already 70+ years old.

Absolutely rational of you. On this basis, I will probably be overspending on coverage because my parents are also quite old now. However, when it comes to family, I would like to indulge myself to buy extra for that extra peace of mind.

[yeokiwi]

I prefer to buy only what i need than to buy extra. I dont expect my parents to live another 30 years since they already 70+ years old.

Absolutely rational of you. On this basis, I will probably be overspending on coverage because my parents are also quite old now. However, when it comes to family, I would like to indulge myself to buy extra for that extra peace of mind.

The amount in CPF can also be factored in to reduce the coverage.

[CityFarmer]

I prefer to buy only what i need than to buy extra. I dont expect my parents to live another 30 years since they already 70+ years old.

Absolutely rational of you. On this basis, I will probably be overspending on coverage because my parents are also quite old now. However, when it comes to family, I would like to indulge myself to buy extra for that extra peace of mind.

The amount in CPF can also be factored in to reduce the coverage.

On top of that, Cash saving and/or discounted liquid asset (e.g. equity) should also be factored in to reduce the coverage IMO

[Temperament]

i have recently read an article about people who are bankrutpted in America despite having medical insurance to help them cover part of the hospital medical cost. i suppose it would be not much different in Singapore. You can die but you better not have serious long-term illness like LKY's wife. No???
Anyway if you can't afford it (medical treatment) you surely will die so much earlier or sooner than those who can. To me it's O. K. to die sooner rather than to drag on living life like a zombie because your family can afford all the medical treatment to 3 shift of nursing care.

[hyom]

i have recently read an article about people who are bankrutpted in America despite having medical insurance to help them cover part of the hospital medical cost. i suppose it would be not much different in Singapore. You can die but you better not have serious long-term illness like LKY's wife. No???
Anyway if you can't afford it (medical treatment) you surely will die so much earlier or sooner than those who can. To me it's O. K. to die sooner rather than to drag on living life like a zombie because your family can afford all the medical treatment to 3 shift of nursing care.

Cheap death insurance can also be used as a form of medical insurance to protect the family. Should a breadwinner be hit with a serious illness that disables him from earning an income to support his family, he can consider suicide. The payout to the family will be huge and quick. As Temperament said, it's O. K. to die sooner rather than to drag on living life like a zombie. Even better if the family benefits from it than be burdened by it.

Besides, it is more honorable and worthwhile for a person to die for his family (people whom he loves and loves him back) than for the country (strangers who treat him as a death statistic).

By the way, for those who want to try this method, check your contract first. Some policies will not allow claims for suicide cases if it is committed within 12 months of purchase.

[Temperament]

Oh dear! Mercy! Suicide is not allowed in most religions. Especially Christianity and Muslim.

Nevertheless you will most probably die sooner if you are without the money to seek specialist's medical treatment. Just imagine, just to see a specialist from a public hospital you have to wait for weeks to months. If you have the money you can go to MT. E. or Gleneagles you can get almost immediate attention. Your delay in seeing the specialist alone will ensure you die sooner. Sad but it's the truth.
Ever wonder why specialist doctors in private practice are so much richer than most of the people. Because when you are rich (patient) you don't want to die. You want to live as long as possible. So you make the specialists in private practice richer than most people.

[Muck]

For maximum protection with minimum cash outlay, there are much cheaper insurance plans to cover death insurance. Personally, I recently received a letter from Aviva that gives me the option to upgrade my death coverage(SAF Group insurance) to $1m at a cost of $128 per month. I took up the offer within minutes with little hesitation. This plan is usually cheaper than $128 per month because it gives back cash rebate regularly at the discretion of Aviva.

hi hyom,
Great to see ur post on the Aviva Saf Group Term Insurance. I had posed this question before without an answer to it, and hope to learn from you since you've bought this policy. Question is: "Does this policy pay for death not due to natural causes, illness or accidents?" For e.g. If I had pissed someone of and he murdered me (for argument sake, the act of murder was planned), will this insurance policy pay out to my beneficiaries?
I asked because I felt it unusual for a policy's benefit for death to be ltd to only natural causes, illness, or accident. If I was gunned down I'd like to know my dependants still have something left!

[hyom]

For maximum protection with minimum cash outlay, there are much cheaper insurance plans to cover death insurance. Personally, I recently received a letter from Aviva that gives me the option to upgrade my death coverage(SAF Group insurance) to $1m at a cost of $128 per month. I took up the offer within minutes with little hesitation. This plan is usually cheaper than $128 per month because it gives back cash rebate regularly at the discretion of Aviva.

hi hyom,
Great to see ur post on the Aviva Saf Group Term Insurance. I had posed this question before without an answer to it, and hope to learn from you since you've bought this policy. Question is: "Does this policy pay for death not due to natural causes, illness or accidents?" For e.g. If I had pissed someone of and he murdered me (for argument sake, the act of murder was planned), will this insurance policy pay out to my beneficiaries?
I asked because I felt it unusual for a policy's benefit for death to be ltd to only natural causes, illness, or accident. If I was gunned down I'd like to know my dependants still have something left!

This is a good question. Every policy has its own set of exclusions. Exclusions give you the reasons why similar insurance policies are priced differently. There is a section on exclusions for this policy provided in the link below;
http://www.aviva.com.sg/pdf/SAF_GTL_Brochure.pdf

Being murdered or gunned down is not one of the exclusions. So, your specific worries should not be a concern. Certain things to note regarding the exclusions;
- If a policy holder wants to commit suicide, he had better succeed. This is because he cannot make disability claims for the injuries as a result of the suicide.
- Don't be a womanizer and make sure your spouse is faithful as well. AIDS and venereal diseases are not covered
- Don't die like Ma Chi. He is the Ferrari driver who killed himself and innocent people for speeding. No pity on such a person anyway. Risky sports activities are not covered.
- Buy this policy while young and healthy. Death from pre-existing conditions is not covered.

[Muck]

Thanks for the link hyom. I'd read it already hence my question that arose. The full exclusion list would only be in the policy cert, which only the owner would have. Guess I'm just really sceptical when it comes to insurance, and in this case found it exceptionally strange to state benefits for "death due to...", when I thought most policies' death coverage was "death" period. Being for my dependants' benefit, I would not want them to suffer becos I died an "unnatural" death, which the policy does not cover explicitly, except through illness or accident.