Can I get some advice please :(

[Zombiewar]

Disability Income Insurance (DII) is very important indeed, especially in Singapore. Personal Accident Insurance is not.

DII premium depends on how much income you like to insure. Iirc, its also quite costly. For non fixed income persons, not really good. Disability also hard to meet the criteria of inability to perform three or more Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)

PA on the other hand is cheap. If s***, really happens, at least theres some $ for dependants. Also, some PA cover TCM tui na treatment suffered from accidental slip and fall.

 

[CWL84]

(3) ILPs have fees. Know why you are paying fees for. Its primary to avoid paying estate duty tax on whatever you have invested. You are paying fees to reduce the tax. But most people most say ILP is bad due to fees. If you intend tk buy IWDA, just take note of $310k tax exemption (anything above is taxed 33%), and anything above $60k in US stocks or funds is subjected to 40% estate duty tax. (but if you earn little and invest little, no point buying. Not for you. Only for HNW). SGD stocks/shares and everything, no estate duty tax.

Where did you get that information? That is not true at all. IWDA and other Ireland domiciled ETFs are always recommended here because investors are not subjected to US estate taxes and only have to pay 15% dividends tax instead of 30%.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Nonresident_alien_with_no_US_tax_treaty_&_Irish_ETFs

 

[Value.Matrix]

Where did you get that information? That is not true at all. IWDA and other Ireland domiciled ETFs are always recommended here because investors are not subjected to US estate taxes and only have to pay 15% dividends tax instead of 30%.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Nonresident_alien_with_no_US_tax_treaty_&_Irish_ETFs

I stand corrected for Ireland domiciled ETFs. After reading through the whole paragraph. I had done a rough research and did not manage to find until you showed me this.

For US stocks though, it still applies. I will post an edit and clarification.

 

[polyglob]

Honestly, don't be too quick to invest. Especially on the advice of random people in a public forum.

Take the time to read up and learn about investing yourself. Find a style that suits you and then come and ask more specific questions about it.

Take responsibility and ownership for your financial education and don't spend your money just because some random fella said you should.

+1

Market is always open. Fight FOMO.

 

[BBCWatcher]

DII premium depends on how much income you like to insure. Iirc, its also quite costly. For non fixed income persons, not really good. Disability also hard to meet the criteria of inability to perform three or more Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)

No, you're misinformed about the definition of disability in DII. It's a much broader definition, tied specifically to the utterly catastrophic loss that you'd actually experience if you were unable to generate an income from work due to disability.

PA on the other hand is cheap. If s***, really happens, at least theres some $ for dependants.

No, that's not correct. Usually Personal Accident Insurance pays nothing (that's why it's "cheap"), and whatever it does pay is not for dependents. It's for you, to try to muddle through the bus that ran you over but didn't kill you. And it'll be grossly inadequate even if it does pay.

Life insurance protects dependents.

Also, some PA cover TCM tui na treatment suffered from accidental slip and fall.

Fabulous. I hope that TCM makes you feel better when you're trying to figure out how how the hell you're going to live in Singapore after losing millions of dollars of earning potential due to disability.

Thank you so much for your inputs guys!
For now, I will
1) Increase my RSP to 500/month
2) Look into IWDA (200/month?)
3) Look into Robo-advisors (100/month to dabble?)
4) Focus on maxing out my Multiplier account first
5) Reject the ILP

6) Pay your taxes? Value.Matrix is correct. If you're a citizen or Permanent Resident, shouldn't you be making at least CPF MediSave contributions as a freelancer?

I am still kind of on the fence regarding the CI vs DII. Mostly because I can't seem to find much information on how much premiums are like for DII.

Well why don't you ask for quotations? Here are the three carriers you can contact: Great Eastern, AIA, and Aviva. They have Web sites and phone numbers.

I'm currently paying 48.90/mth for Term Death (1.1m), 5.55/mth for TPD Advance Cover (1.1m), and 69.70/mth for Multipay critical illness (100k). I am an only child, and my parents have enough to cover their retirement.

Since you don't have dependents, why are you buying life insurance?

 

[tesarise]

Thank you so much for your inputs guys!

For now, I will

1) Increase my RSP to 500/month
2) Look into IWDA (200/month?)
3) Look into Robo-advisors (100/month to dabble?)
4) Focus on maxing out my Multiplier account first
5) Reject the ILP

I am still kind of on the fence regarding the CI vs DII. Mostly because I can't seem to find much information on how much premiums are like for DII.

I'm currently paying 48.90/mth for Term Death (1.1m), 5.55/mth for TPD Advance Cover (1.1m), and 69.70/mth for Multipay critical illness (100k). I am an only child, and my parents have enough to cover their retirement. I am also currently single.

Would anyone be able to advice if I should cancel the CI portion of my insurance? And if I do cancel it, should I look into DII as well?

You mentioned you are a freelancer. Multiplier might not work for you because it needs salary credit using the SAL code specifically.

Clients transferring money to you doesn't count, and you might be just stuck with the base 0.05% salary

 

[Mecisteus]

My agent told me that I should buy now just in case I get any health conditions down the road which will exclude me from signing up for one. Also, don't the premiums get more expensive down the road? I thought the general consensus is buy earlier will be cheaper overall.

What do you expect the agents to tell you? Not to buy life insurance?

Buy early because cheaper is a typical sales pitch.

You buy the life insurance if you have dependents.

 

[Zombiewar]

No, you're misinformed about the definition of disability in DII. It's a much broader definition, tied specifically to the utterly catastrophic loss that you'd actually experience if you were unable to generate an income from work due to disability.

yeap, done some reading and indeed I have misunderstood between DII & TPD. looks like a good thing to have. will chat with my agent to understand more details

No, that's not correct. Usually Personal Accident Insurance pays nothing (that's why it's "cheap"), and whatever it does pay is not for dependents. It's for you, to try to muddle through the bus that ran you over but didn't kill you. And it'll be grossly inadequate even if it does pay.

Life insurance protects dependents.

actually i treat the PA policy as a gamble that if i were to die in an accident, there will be a bonus in my estate. $370/yr to fight for additional 500K.

Fabulous. I hope that TCM makes you feel better when you're trying to figure out how how the hell you're going to live in Singapore after losing millions of dollars of earning potential due to disability.

hopefully my other shareholders wouldn't fire me when i become disabled.

 

[lazysundae]

agent is not ur friend
agents pushing ILP as investment should he cut off

Sent from YNWA at Anfield using GAGT

 

[bobobob]

My agent told me that I should buy now just in case I get any health conditions down the road which will exclude me from signing up for one. Also, don't the premiums get more expensive down the road? I thought the general consensus is buy earlier will be cheaper overall.

Would you buy home insurance in advance for the home you'll buy later on, if it also turns out to be cheaper to buy early? You will probably have your own place before you have dependents (kids). So makes sense to buy home insurance early on also.

 

[BBCWatcher]

actually i treat the PA policy as a gamble that if i were to die in an accident, there will be a bonus in my estate. $370/yr to fight for additional 500K.

Police: "Spouse of Zombiewar? I'm afraid we have terrible news to report. Your dear Zombiewar died earlier today."

Spouse of Zombiewar: "Oh no! Are you sure?!?!"

Police: "Yes, unfortunately Zombiewar is no more."

Spouse of Zombiewar: "Uh, would you mind telling me HOW he died?"

Police: "Zombiewar was run over by a bus."

Spouse of Zombiewar: "Yahoo! Jackpot, baby! ....Uh, OK, thank you for that information."

....Seriously, is this your "thinking"? Who the hell cares how you die? Your dependents don't, or shouldn't. They either have genuine financial need or they don't. So-called "Accidental Death Insurance," which is the part of Personal Accident Insurance you're describing, is utterly dumb.

Would you buy home insurance in advance for the home you'll buy later on, if it also turns out to be cheaper to buy early? You will probably have your own place before you have dependents (kids). So makes sense to buy home insurance early on also.

Why stop there? Why not insure your unborn grandchildren now? After all, it's "cheaper."

 

[Cryophoenix]

Police: "Spouse of Zombiewar? I'm afraid we have terrible news to report. Your dear Zombiewar died earlier today."

Spouse of Zombiewar: "Oh no! Are you sure?!?!"

Police: "Yes, unfortunately Zombiewar is no more."

Spouse of Zombiewar: "Uh, would you mind telling me HOW he died?"

Police: "Zombiewar was run over by a bus."

Spouse of Zombiewar: "Yahoo! Jackpot, baby!"

 

[undiscern]

When dbs was $15,everyone says crash crash, do you dare to pump in 100k?

 

[Zombiewar]

Police: "Spouse of Zombiewar? I'm afraid we have terrible news to report. Your dear Zombiewar died earlier today."

Spouse of Zombiewar: "Oh no! Are you sure?!?!"

Police: "Yes, unfortunately Zombiewar is no more."

Spouse of Zombiewar: "Uh, would you mind telling me HOW he died?"

Police: "Zombiewar was run over by a bus."

Spouse of Zombiewar: "Yahoo! Jackpot, baby! ....Uh, OK, thank you for that information."

....Seriously, is this your "thinking"? Who the hell cares how you die? Your dependents don't, or shouldn't. They either have genuine financial need or they don't. So-called "Accidental Death Insurance," which is the part of Personal Accident Insurance you're describing, is utterly dumb.

Yeap. my dependents sure shouldnt need to care how i die.
What i need to do while alive is to ensure that if i were to die one day, out of the sudden in an accident, they will have a sum of money. Is that not the reason to buy insurance? Similar to buying term insurance.

if spending $370/yr for a 500K PA policy is deemed not worthwhile in your opinion, thats cool with me.

 

[tesarise]

Yeap. my dependents sure shouldnt need to care how i die.
What i need to do while alive is to ensure that if i were to die one day, out of the sudden in an accident, they will have a sum of money. Is that not the reason to buy insurance? Similar to buying term insurance.

if spending $370/yr for a 500K PA policy is deemed not worthwhile in your opinion, thats cool with me.

I think the point BBC was trying to make is that it is not advisable to buy a narrowly focused insurance like PA, as your dependants won't get anything if your cause of death is not an accident.

Recommended life insurance instead which doesn't distinguish between cause of death

 

[Zombiewar]

I think the point BBC was trying to make is that it is not advisable to buy a narrowly focused insurance like PA, as your dependants won't get anything if your cause of death is not an accident.

Recommended life insurance instead which doesn't distinguish between cause of death

Totally agree.
Medical/hospitalisation insurance is the most important one should get as early and comprehensive as possible.
Followed by term life insurance.
PA is optional after the above 2 is sufficiant.
I was misunderstood about DII previously prior been pointed out by BBC. After reading about it. Its actually a good policy too.... But I think its not for everyone. Eg freelancer, high allowance/commission earner, business owner etc. One also have to note that DII is also much more complicated than most insurance when trying to claim. Thats when those mini fonts and asterisks in the T&C gets magnified.

Anyone here has got first hand experience in claiming or has helped client claim for DII?