Getting started with insurance

[xtwis7]

I’m actually puzzled what warrants the request for 3 different sum assured based on the same multiplier. Or how did @Rusty89 derive those amounts?

 

[xtwis7]

It took me about 4 years to organise my messy insurance plans accumulated over the years. The motivation was the realisation then that I was growing older and signs of aging were creeping in.

Fortunately, my health was still generally good and I could add/drop insurance policies without issues and my increasing income allowed me to add coverage a bit here and there. It just took a lot of time to compile, create online accounts to the existing policies and call up the insurance companies directly for information, and then read up and compare across. I had to create an Excel to tabulate the details.

The most significant change is after reading up about the highly affordable Aviva Mindef insurance plans in this forum, I dropped some of my expensive and/or duplicated insurance plans. I used the saving to increase some coverages and added a few missing ones that are available at the Aviva Mindef or Aviva itself (although now I realise the latter is a bit more expensive than the market average but the coverage is good).

I will take a break from this optimisation effort for a long while unless there are some major changes e.g. integrated shield plan reviews

Did you miss out DII during your optimisation?

 

[andyhtc]

Did you miss out DII during your optimisation?

I have considered that but the cost is rather high.

I have other forms of insurance such as MyCare Plus and Total Permanent Disability plans. Besides, I have other savings and investments as backups.

Nowadays, I plan to just increase my saving, keep fit, and reduce my stress level rather than spend too much on insurance.

Thanks.

 

[nebenzhal]

Can't start a thread to seek advise due to insufficient posts. Therefore sorry to "borrow" this thread.

I am in a dilemma wrt insurance claim. I have insurance with 2 companies - Aviva and GE.
I signed up with Aviva during my NS days and serious this insurance sucks as they only payout for permanent loss of limbs etc. I am paying about $30 in total for these 2 policies.
The GE one is pretty good. Am happy with their product summaries but i only signed up for them recently about 2 years ago.

Recently i got hospitalised to do operation. May i check if i can do a claim for ambulance costs on BOTH companies?
As Aviva doesn't cover my surgeries etc, GE will reimburse me the payments. My 2nd question is should i consider terminating Aviva? Seems like i will get payout only when i lose my limbs or upon death. My GE policy covers that as well.

Thanks!

 

[reddevil0728]

Can't start a thread to seek advise due to insufficient posts. Therefore sorry to "borrow" this thread.

I am in a dilemma wrt insurance claim. I have insurance with 2 companies - Aviva and GE.
I signed up with Aviva during my NS days and serious this insurance sucks as they only payout for permanent loss of limbs etc. I am paying about $30 in total for these 2 policies.
The GE one is pretty good. Am happy with their product summaries but i only signed up for them recently about 2 years ago.

Recently i got hospitalised to do operation. May i check if i can do a claim for ambulance costs on BOTH companies?
As Aviva doesn't cover my surgeries etc, GE will reimburse me the payments. My 2nd question is should i consider terminating Aviva? Seems like i will get payout only when i lose my limbs or upon death. My GE policy covers that as well.

Thanks!

You need to be more specific about the plans you have under the 2 companies.

 

[nebenzhal]

You need to be more specific about the plans you have under the 2 companies.

I have the following:

Aviva - Mindef Group Term Life, Group Personal Accidental

GE - Great Term, Great Supreme P Plus, Great TotalCare (Elite P), Essential Protector Plus Plan C

Hope that helps. Thanks in advance.

 

[iLuvDoggies]

Hi, I bought a GE retirement plan last year with a commitment of premium of 20% of my take home salary for next 20 years. As I opted for yearly payment mode, I had already paid 1 year of premium. Now I feel like it is a bad choice and overcommitted myself (sighz), hence I am thinking of terminating it. I understand the worst case scenario is forgoing the full one year premium. Though I am prepared to forgo it, are there any options I can look at? Thank you

 

[xtwis7]

Hi, I bought a GE retirement plan last year with a commitment of premium of 20% of my take home salary for next 20 years. As I opted for yearly payment mode, I had already paid 1 year of premium. Now I feel like it is a bad choice and overcommitted myself (sighz), hence I am thinking of terminating it. I understand the worst case scenario is forgoing the full one year premium. Though I am prepared to forgo it, are there any options I can look at? Thank you

You should be having this conversation with your agent. The other alternative that you can consider is if resale endowment companies would want to take over from you through a absolute assignment. You may receive a token sum that’s all since it’s only the first year paid.

 

[coocoonana]

hello all. i went to look at some DPI endowment by NTUC

i want to ask how did they calculate the yield to maturity?

premium: 4k / year
pay for: 10 years
total premium paid (10 years from today): 40k

assume 3.25% with cash benefit option paid yearly

total payout at maturity (70 years from today): $127,464

yield to maturity: 2.95%

how was that 2.95% calculated?

ah. please correct me if im wrong
-> calculated by dividing the total premium over the total number of years : 40k/70years to calculate the 2.95%?

first time reading through the summary and figures of these insurances. feel so.. lol..

on one row they took 127,464/40000 to give a 319% which is a huge and nice figure. i wonder how this number is wrapped up to make it look very attractive.

or am i wrong?

 

[soneat]

hello all. i went to look at some DPI endowment by NTUC

i want to ask how did they calculate the yield to maturity?

premium: 4k / year
pay for: 10 years
total premium paid (10 years from today): 40k

assume 3.25% with cash benefit option paid yearly

total payout at maturity (70 years from today): $127,464

yield to maturity: 2.95%

how was that 2.95% calculated?

ah. please correct me if im wrong
-> calculated by dividing the total premium over the total number of years : 40k/70years to calculate the 2.95%?

first time reading through the summary and figures of these insurances. feel so.. lol..

on one row they took 127,464/40000 to give a 319% which is a huge and nice figure. i wonder how this number is wrapped up to make it look very attractive.

or am i wrong?

First of all, DPI endowment insurance by Income???

There is no DPI endowment insurance. What you are probably trying to say is your went to Income website to get a quotation and BI.

 

[coocoonana]

First of all, DPI endowment insurance by Income???

There is no DPI endowment insurance. What you are probably trying to say is your went to Income website to get a quotation and BI.

Lol ok . then that probably is. Any idea how the ytm is calculated?

 

[firsttimebuyer]

Hi everybody,

I need some advice.

I have the following policies from GE Life:
DEPENDANTS' PROTECTION SCHEME (bought in 2009)
GREAT TotalCare (ELITE-P) (bought in 2010)
GREAT SupremeHealth P PLUS (bought in 2009)

Actually, i am very blur, but around 2014, I went to see a doctor for mental stress and was prescribed medication. But it was a small matter, no big deal. May i check, am I obliged to update my insurer? I have NOT done any upgrades since then, nor made any new purchases.

But I am thinking of buying into the GREAT Wealth Multiplier: https://www.greateasternlife.com/co...ltiplier/great-wealth-multiplier-brochure.pdf

I am kind of worried: that if I need to declare any condition, it will affect the coverage that I previously bought in 2009 and 2010.

 

[boredboiboi]

Hi everybody,

I need some advice.

I have the following policies from GE Life:
DEPENDANTS' PROTECTION SCHEME (bought in 2009)
GREAT TotalCare (ELITE-P) (bought in 2010)
GREAT SupremeHealth P PLUS (bought in 2009)

Actually, i am very blur, but around 2014, I went to see a doctor for mental stress and was prescribed medication. But it was a small matter, no big deal. May i check, am I obliged to update my insurer? I have NOT done any upgrades since then, nor made any new purchases.

But I am thinking of buying into the GREAT Wealth Multiplier: https://www.greateasternlife.com/co...ltiplier/great-wealth-multiplier-brochure.pdf

I am kind of worried: that if I need to declare any condition, it will affect the coverage that I previously bought in 2009 and 2010.

Before is ok, after 2014 need to declare. And the multiplier plan looks like saving plan, saving plan is guaranteed issuance so no issue and mind asking why that plan?

 

[firsttimebuyer]

Before is ok, after 2014 need to declare. And the multiplier plan looks like saving plan, saving plan is guaranteed issuance so no issue and mind asking why that plan?

Thank you very much for your reply, you are a lifesaver!

As for that plan, a friend of my younger sibling introduced to me. I don't have any other savings plan plus some stocks and ETFs here and there. This is going to sound strange but in the past five years, my financial knowledge actually regressed, and I feel so out of touch with what is happening with regards to financial self-planning. I don't spend much though.

 

[winthony]

Hi everybody,

I need some advice.

I have the following policies from GE Life:
DEPENDANTS' PROTECTION SCHEME (bought in 2009)
GREAT TotalCare (ELITE-P) (bought in 2010)
GREAT SupremeHealth P PLUS (bought in 2009)

Actually, i am very blur, but around 2014, I went to see a doctor for mental stress and was prescribed medication. But it was a small matter, no big deal. May i check, am I obliged to update my insurer? I have NOT done any upgrades since then, nor made any new purchases.

But I am thinking of buying into the GREAT Wealth Multiplier: https://www.greateasternlife.com/co...ltiplier/great-wealth-multiplier-brochure.pdf

I am kind of worried: that if I need to declare any condition, it will affect the coverage that I previously bought in 2009 and 2010.

Hello there! Nothing wrong with seeking medical help and hopefully everything is fine

For policies that you got prior to the visit in 2014, should be fine! But going forward, of course to be on the safer side, declaring would be necessary.

For most savings/investment products, they are guaranteed issuance basis - meaning they do not look at health/medical conditions so dont have to worry too much about it!

As for the particular product, shop around! There are plenty of options out there and many companies do offer the same structure to the great wealth multiplier so you can compare across! the GWM is sorta like a perpetual endowment so you might want to see if the time horizon and the nitty gritty details on the product is suitable for you

 

[boredboiboi]

Thank you very much for your reply, you are a lifesaver!

As for that plan, a friend of my younger sibling introduced to me. I don't have any other savings plan plus some stocks and ETFs here and there. This is going to sound strange but in the past five years, my financial knowledge actually regressed, and I feel so out of touch with what is happening with regards to financial self-planning. I don't spend much though.

You are welcome.
Maybe u want to explore more plan instead of that only option.

 

[firsttimebuyer]

Hello there! Nothing wrong with seeking medical help and hopefully everything is fine

For policies that you got prior to the visit in 2014, should be fine! But going forward, of course to be on the safer side, declaring would be necessary.

For most savings/investment products, they are guaranteed issuance basis - meaning they do not look at health/medical conditions so dont have to worry too much about it!

As for the particular product, shop around! There are plenty of options out there and many companies do offer the same structure to the great wealth multiplier so you can compare across! the GWM is sorta like a perpetual endowment so you might want to see if the time horizon and the nitty gritty details on the product is suitable for you

Hi Winthony,

Thanks so much for your reply.
The reason why I am a bit reluctant to take up any more new policies is because doing so, if I need to declare my mental health treatment in the past, even if I make claims for my old policies for issues related to accident and disability, I am afraid that to avoid paying the payout, GE might find evidence in their interests.

 

[xtwis7]

Hi Winthony,

Thanks so much for your reply.
The reason why I am a bit reluctant to take up any more new policies is because doing so, if I need to declare my mental health treatment in the past, even if I make claims for my old policies for issues related to accident and disability, I am afraid that to avoid paying the payout, GE might find evidence in their interests.

Hi. Whether it’s GE or any other companies, upon claims there will be a need to provide medical reports so the insurer may also liaise with the doctor/hospital directly if needed. If there’s no evidence found that you had any signs and symptoms at that point of time during your application, don’t see why there will be a dispute since it’s not like you’re making a claim from a policy that was just inforced like last month.

The agent’s duty is to document as clearly as possible when it comes to the health declaration such that claims have a lower possibility of being rejected.

 

[firsttimebuyer]

Hi. Whether it’s GE or any other companies, upon claims there will be a need to provide medical reports so the insurer may also liaise with the doctor/hospital directly if needed. If there’s no evidence found that you had any signs and symptoms at that point of time during your application, don’t see why there will be a dispute since it’s not like you’re making a claim from a policy that was just inforced like last month.

The agent’s duty is to document as clearly as possible when it comes to the health declaration such that claims have a lower possibility of being rejected.

Thank you very much for your advice and reply.

What does "inforce" mean? Does it mean like the start date of a insurance policy that was bought by someone?

 

[firsttimebuyer]

Very, very sorry to bother the experts here again, but I wanted to ask something about the AVIVA NS Group insurance.

I was talking to this agent and he previously advised me to drop it because he said "Group" Insurance means that the payout is not guaranteed because the insurer needs to spread it out across all clients, so in the event of a mass payout, the insurer may not be able to pay me, I was a bit confused because I thought this is a problem that all insurance companies may face, even though it is unlikely.

I am asking cause I am not sure if this agent is reliable because when I asked him if the GE Wealth Multiplier is "guaranteed issue" (I read online that it is), he didn't know what I mean.