Insurance products to me is a good way to reduce or eliminate your financial exposure to risks such as accidents, death, disability, illness etc. That said, get the proper product to serve you according to your financial need, risk appetite and affordability.

We are not supposed to say the plan is not good. The plan actually had its own benefits. The problem is whether is it what you need or want. PA and medical might be good enough but the protection is still not complete. Insurance is like umbrella, when raining heavily, you will hope that the umbrella would be bigger. However, when you do not have an umbrella then its already too late to go home and get one.

Get the most protection from what you can afford. Insurance is a lifetime commitment, so think twice.

would you mind sharing more about this? what is it exactly, how much per month, how much returns?

---

Added on January 10, 2010, 9:58 amyou have to ask yourself, do you NEED insurance protection? things to ask:

1. what are your commitments? do you have family members who might rely on your future income to survive? e.g. your children?
2. are you married? single? if single, you may not need much insurance as there are not much commitments
3. most companies provide some form of insurance/medical. have you checked if you have enough coverage?
4. insurance is a long term affair (except short term insurance like PA) - think before you commit.
5. for the same amount of money that you are putting into insurance, can you invest in other ways?

personally, to me - the most basic question to ask is if I die -> how much money is sufficient for my beneficiaries to continue living comfortably?
next question -> if TPD/medical problems -> how much money is needed to sustain yourself and family (if any)?

you should also ask the insurance agent - why should you buy a life policy and why from them?

---

Added on January 10, 2010, 10:33 amsolarwing, can see from the attachment that you are very young, 24 next birthday. there is a lot you can do with rm150 per month or rm1800 per year over many years. how long do you need to pay for this insurance? till 70? or only x number of years?

i agree with the rest that rm50k is quite low coverage. give it a think, by the time you are 40, RM50k may not be a lot to you but you may be still stuck with this policy (unless you want to cash out, but i don't think you'll get much back).

if you are relatively healthy (non-smoking some more, do you exercise regularly?), is there really a need for life insurance/crisis cover? for a healthy person, i think the risks of accidents would be higher than medical illness. what are the odds of you at this young age getting diagnosed with the 36 illnesses?

also agree with the rest there are too many riders. what is compassionate benefit? rm5k? do you really need that? also accidental medical reimbursement?

and for takaful saver, which unit trusts are you investing in? have you checked out their performance so far (although past performance is not an indicator for future performance, it does give you some idea on how they are managing their investments).

i'm guessing that your premium of RM150 is there because it's the minimum, right? i've met with agents who told me the minimum is rm150 per month, so they add/reduce the components to meet this number. honestly, i'm not happy with this 'minimum' premium, so i have yet to commit.

so give it a good think whether you NEED the protection/coverage as in the policy. it's a long term affair. if you have the discipline to save rm150 per month, say in monthly FD @ 2%, after 180 months or 15 years, you would be looking at RM31k. of course, if you invest in something that gives you an average of 5%, you would be looking at RM40k after 15 years. and if you invest in something that gives you 8% returns, you would be looking at RM51k. by then you would be aged 39. and in my humble opinion, it's still not too late to get insurance then.

personally, if your company provides you some form of life insurance/pa/medical, i think maybe you just need to top up a bit on these components.

disclaimer: please think and decide for yourself, as with insurance, if something happens and you don't have coverage, i don't want you cursing at this lowyat forummer for giving such advise. good luck!!


This post has been edited by poolcarpet: Jan 10 2010, 10:33 AM

solarwing,

i agree with epalbee3. it's costly and way under-covered. spend the money - or less - on the essentials and keep the balance for future payments. you will see that you can get far higher cover like this and the savings will allow you to pay premium increases in the future.

ermm... if i not mistaken from the medical statistics i found tat there are also quite some middle age/youngster tat get these 36CI nowadays, of coz compare to elders its not that much... correct me if i am wrong?? 36CI coverage is the living costs that one will be relying on if diagnosed as one will not be able to work like the way they were before.

indeed if one is healthy,non-smokers; accident risk is higher and depends on occupation hazard some might even need a big amount of accident cover ^^

solarwing;
if you dun like investment link (which some people find tat traditional is better) my suggestions is you can actually get urself a standalone medical card + PA which i think the commitment is way lower and if you think you need a 36CI u can get another cover for tat. its actually depends on your need rather than asking around; our opinion only can be use as a guide as everyone need is different

yeah agreed. some middle age/youngsters may get hit by one of the 36 CI, but i'm asking - what are the odds? i'm sure insurance companies will have their statistics from the claims paid out. there will always be risks out there, one can't buy insurance to cover all risks. we'd be bankrupt just by paying insurance and at that point i think we will be worth much much more dead than alive

obviously insurance is again a 'hindsight is 20-20' thing. if i know i'm going to get one of the 36 CI when I'm 30, i will get the insurance - but if i don't get the insurance but get diagnosed with one of the 36 CI, then i wish i had bought it.

in a nutshell, it's still about evaluating each of our individual needs for protection and coverage in the event of something bad happening. Not about getting this cover and that rider as there is a chance of that happening.

Just my personal opinion.

This post has been edited by poolcarpet: Jan 11 2010, 05:05 PM

well from the premium vs. cover the risk seems to be between 0.097% and 0.061% that any one of the 36CI will hit you at 24.

but bear in mind that we are talking about a cover of just 50k - that wont cut it for long. and thus it's pretty much a worthless cover. if you really want to adequately cover the risk then the cover should be a multitude of 50k. i.e. 500k or higher. at your age the premium for 100k cover will be around 100 RM p.a. with non-term. you can gradually reduce the cover to relect the need to offset loss in earnings due to CI. H&S should pay the medical bill for a CI!

ya pretty much agree on tat, no one will get insurance till they have to go bankrupt. tats not the point to get an insurance... tats y everyone have to know their needs and budget ^^

but if one have the budget why not get the covers? its not like you'll lose ur money? u'll get the coverage and the money still come back to u or it will be passed down to your family members when u're gone ^^?

50k cover is really insufficient... i would say at least get a 100k cover ^^
my one cent ^^

no offence

H & S might able to pay for CI medical fees. But CI main purpose is to replace the income during the diagnosed or treatment of CI. Consider tha PA and Life only pay out when death. I wouldn't say that 50k is worthless cover, but 50k is definitely not enough. Besides, we should allocate 10% of our income for insurance.

Remember no body ever went bankrupt from paying premium, however people do went bankrupt for not paying the life insurance premium.

very much agree, 10% of income for insurance is a good ratio ^^

50k is not enuf but for some people with lower income maybe 50k is better than nothing, so i think its depends on one's situation, but indeed nowadays if one is quite stable, 50k coverage is really not enuf...

ya again CI policy main purpose is to cover the living costs after being diagnosed and medical card is to settle off the fees...
my opinion; no offence

i absolutely agree on the purpose of CI - sorry if i was not entirely clear.

but please also consider that you need to be struck with one of the famous 32/36 - anything else that keeps you out of job and you're done for. so a PA does make a lot of sense and frankly it's much more likely you are unable to work due to accidental reasons than due to one of those deseases. they are statistically less likely. but of course this makes cover cheap and that why you can get it just in case without loosing too much money.

i would however not try to allocate 10% of my salary just for the %-sake. PA/CI should if possible cover 10-20 years of income clear of taxes. that amout can if placed properly provide an infite income replacement. with 20x you need 5% with 10x you would require 10% so you should expect depletion of funds.
health on the other hand should cover as much as possible where economically feasable.

10% might not be enough to cover the required risks and in other cases it would be a far to high allocation. it totally depends on your income level and the stuff you need to insure (house, houselhold, car also counted in those 10%?)

the total amount you pay for insurance should be around 2-5%.

Pjusa, 10% is the maximum amount and all the insurance is included in it. As i know, we got 5 main parts to cover,

1) Death
2) Total Permanent Disability
3) Medical card or H&S
4) Critical illness
5) Personal Accident

Each parts are equally important and short of one you will still considered under insured. Some of the products in market cover all the protection with only RM 150 per month. Consider your income of 3k , RM 150 is only 5%. Although 10% might not enough but try to cover all with it.

Maybe you all prefer PA and Medical Card but my opinion is that even though the chances might be little, i wouldn't wan to gamble with my life. This is just my opinion and i totally respect your choice.



This post has been edited by weikian: Jan 11 2010, 10:54 PM

To me different people perceive risks differently hence what seems risky to some may not be to the other.

Which is why if you're totally comfortable with just a medical card and PA then you should get it.

Some would like to reduce risks further hence would like other forms of protection as well and there are plenty of good products out there as well.

Always go with what you're able to digest and make an informed decision after weighing in all the variables. Once the decision is made stick with it and review it from time to time as your variables may change.

Cheers,

HH

Hello everyone.

I need some help. I'm planning to buy insurance for my kid 2+ yrs old. I prefer to buy something more as an investment plus insurance. So that they would have some money in the future if it goes untouched long term.
I guess insurance is now a necessary investment or evil ha ha ha.

Anyway, my budget would be about 3k a year.

Would appreciate anyone can suggest a good plan in the market or if you have better ideas , pls share

Thank you very much

Hi Guys,

I need a good insurance plan for medical and accident. It's better if it's comes with a saving plan.

Any insurance agents here? The honest ones surely.. Hehe... Or can suggest me any plans u all know..

I'll suft tru the net then.. I'm sorry coz can't go tru all the posting since need to continue with my work..

guys,

you should always seperate investement and insurance. they cater for totally different purposes. it makes no (or little) sense to mix them.

weikian,
true - everyone should cover the risks they deem relevant. but why attach a number to it? i would express the need of insurance as a required sum insured. if i cant pay for it it must be reduced. but i guess this is personal preference.

Separate investment and insurance is good provided that you have the discipline to invest the rest of the money and also if you were familiar with other investment method. My opinion. Term insurance and invest the rest would be good for those who have knowledge and time to do the investment.

i think it's not just good for some but for everyone because ILP create a customer lock by means of charing today for the future. unless the insured remains for the entire tenure with the insurance, he/she would pretty much always be getting a much better deal by seperating insurance and investment and buying say bonds for the balance. of course this requires minimal skills in terms of investment but if you can figure out you need insurance and you can manage to renew it then you can also place the balance elsewhere upon insurance-renewal.

Based on below plan quote from prubsn, whch one will you all go for?

Plan A:


Plan B:


Hope can get advice on u all. Any prudential agent kindly pm me. Thx.