As you get older your POV changes. Products that you had decades ago are not the same as the ones you get today, and the needs have changed too.

When it comes to making any decision, and not just limited to financial decision, it is important that we make them based on the time that we live in and our own situations.

For example, for an older person who is nearing his/her retirement age, and have not taken any medical insurance before, it may be pointless to start now especially when he/she already has a medical condition.

For those those who are young, and dont know what their future situation, it is important to insure oneself appropriately. Saying that so-and-so is NOT important without taking a look at situation and condition of the person we are advising is rather foolish.

IMHO, 1 more situation i think of - if having current value of money of RM300K emergency funds
AND having >RM3.3M (ie USD1M) of easily liquidated investment assets,
medical insurance may be moot too - ie if cannot save my life with RM300K+, forgetit lor - better to leave for my family's future usage.

Of course, each individual should self-value lar up to what cost is worthwhile or not to save their own life.
my life's cheap gua

Bro, nobody's life is cheap (esp. you who selflessly give sound advices without expecting returns), except of course my enemies.

My medical insurance only cover me to 60yo and is too costly to upgrade. Apart from self-insured, I hope I have the discipline to live healthily, mentally and spiritually, once I am retired . And hopefully still can get quality public healthcare in the future.

Money will self depreciate as told by insurance agents, but they never tell you the dirty fact : insurance will depreciate faster than money.

I havent looked into that last point of yours, it's very interesting.

But my rule of thumb is that, if you need to invest, do it in an investment company. Medical card should only be bought for the card and not for the "investment" portion that comes with it. Too many insurance agents dont even know how to properly explain their ILPs

My friend got dengue few months back, non of the private hospitals willing to take them as they bought the insurance for > 10 years already. At the end, have to go to private hospital that collecting donation to keep alive type.
My friend are driving a red Iswara while the agent that sold him the insurance are driving car also, but Merc E230.
Is not the insurance don't know how to tell you, is they are warned not to tell the truth of insurance.

Agreed.

When I just graduated, I bought a life+critical illness+disability insurance with Sum Assured of RM60,000. That's quite a lot back then.

I'm now 30++, no prize for guessing how much my net worth have appreciated since then - I don't really need this insurance anymore, as anything bad happens to me, my dad can live off my net worth.

Please take note that CRITICAL ILLNESS can only be claimed when u are already half dead/one foot in the grave. Still want that money for what? Eat no taste already, drink also cannot, give u 3 wives also cannot enjoy already.

Disability? I've already told my friends and relatives to drop me off Genting Sempah cliff should one day I become an OKU.

But I'm keeping it still as this plan were generating investment returns in excess of EPF dividend rate if kept to maturity/keep until 50 years old (last time I checked, IRR >6-7%, yeah I know my IRR calculation ), so I'm just keeping it as an "additional EPF".

This post has been edited by Pink Spider: Nov 20 2014, 01:23 PM

That is sad to hear. But this leaves with so many questions that I dont even know where to begin.

Was the premium continuously paid? Was this matter brought to mediation with a 3rd party?

Most insurance agents do not mention the fact that the company is taking up to 125% of the insurance premium paid over the first 6 years - 25% for the first 2 years, 21% the following 2 years yada yada until it reaches 125%... the figures are stated in the policy but the agents do not mention it unless asked due to not wanting the prospect to second-guess their own decissions.

I know that, that's why I mentioned "...investment returns in excess of EPF dividend rate if kept to maturity/keep until 50 years old"

U also another honest and frank wealth advisor. I salute u

Unker roystevenung, kenalkan

This post has been edited by Pink Spider: Nov 20 2014, 01:30 PM

Thank you. Well yeah that's what you become when you do not put all your business in one basket.

Anyway, you may also want to look into the funds your insurance company is investing in, the management fees (what is the percentage) and consider that the policy has a policy fee of RM70 (++???) a year and if it is worth your input-investment or not. The EPF returns are nett, while the insurance returns are... wow, so many fees here and there I take some time when reviewing clients old policies myself.

Well, the one I have is not an investment-linked policy, so its not that transparent. All I see on the annual statement were (guaranteed) cash values, dividends and interest and total cash value.

When I bought the insurance, I have a full illustration of cash values (that scenario A vs scenario B thingy). I used the numbers of the optimistic projection and calculated the IRR, it's around EPF returns. It's been a few years already, and the ACTUAL cash value is actually better than the optimistic projected numbers. I guess this is good enough to keep as an additional investment/cash reserve/retirement fund.

This post has been edited by Pink Spider: Nov 20 2014, 01:40 PM

Noted, well good for you. Keep up tracking your portfolio. Anyway that's the funny thing about investments with insurances, im sure you get updates every now and then in the form of mails, but if you do not take the initiative to track your funds, you could end up with a surprise decades down the road.

UT has that issue too until they introduced online UT tracking like in Fundsupermart and even PM (they resisted doing it, and among the last to do it)

So why we want to buy insurance? That's why I cancel all totally.

The agent is his relative, every month sharp on the same date she will come.

That's why, DIY wealth management is NOT suitable for people who put in near-zero effort.

If u lazy, please engage a professional

Or else, don't rant and bark when your money disappears into thin air

U need insurance when you have little net worth AND u have dependents.
That's why best to buy cheap TERM insurance to cover the period when u actually NEED the insurance.
Once u don't need it anymore, cancel/terminate.

For people who cannot save/invest, insurance is still a viable option though

Relative? I don't even want to buy from a friend, cos I hantam ppl no give face wan.

My EPF money are more than enough to cover their expenses for the next 20 years.

What if they outlive that 20 years?

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan revealed to the Dewan Rakyat that just 8.9 per cent of EPF members have savings of more than RM201,000, noting that the government has estimated a minimum of RM196,800 to live on for 20 years after retirement based on a monthly earning of RM820, which is the poverty line.

Ahmad said during Question Time that 3.9 per cent have savings of between RM201,000 and RM300,000, 1.8 per cent have savings of between RM301,000 and RM400,000, 1 per cent have savings of between RM401,000 and RM500,000, 1.6 per cent have savings of between RM501,000 and RM1 million, while just 0.6 per cent have savings of more than a million ringgit.

Should retirees need RM2,000 a month to get by, a nest egg of RM480,000 is required, which only about two out of 100 EPF contributors currently have.

http://www.msn.com/en-my/news/national/les...cid=mailsignout

Who cares
They have to think the way to survive. If not, I give them rm1M also they can finish at no time