Ok, so I went to Fundsupermart insurance and entered the following criteria.

Age:35, Gender: Female, Smoker: Yes, Coverage Term: 20 years, Sum Assured: 500,000.

The cheapest quote for annual premium is RM2k.
However, Allianz got a product I think it is called Allianz PremierLink, which can give you coverage of 500,000 with annual premium of RM1.2k.

The more expensive RM2k is Term while the RM1.2k is Investment-linked. Obviously I would choose investment-linked with lower premium yet same coverage. Am I missing something? Why is ppl bashing Investment-linked life insurance?

check what are the T&Cs

1) what specifically do the plans cover and not cover*

2) how much money do you receive if you cash out at which year

3) what happens at the end of the contract life

4) what is the guaranteed return rate. hint: investment-linked usually promise the sky but guarantee rock bottom.

*and don't take it as face value, hidden in the T&Cs you will find that practically unless you are dead or dying they will not pay out.

Based on the above statement, there is nothing guaranteed in returns in any investment linked policies unless it's a traditional whole life policy.

As for investment linked policies, it's quite surprise to see that the term insurance is more expensive than the investment link policy. Which is normally the other way around meaning term insurance are normally cheaper than investment link policies.

The main benefit of Investment link policy is whereby you are able to attach riders such as
- Critical Illness
- Personal Accident
- Early Critical Illness
- Multi Critical Illness
- Medical Card
- Waiver of Premium
- Hospital Income
- Ladies Plan such as Pregnancy and Birth, Female Specific Illness
- Cancer Plan

However standalone / term insurance normally only covers a specific area with no rider attachable to it.

With so much rider attachable to an investment link policy, it's normally more advantages in the long run if there is any claims because you need not to worry about making any premium payment if you have riders like Waiver of Premium which will kick in upon Critical Illness claim or Total Permanent Disability.

You'll also be payment higher than term insurance as part of an investment to sustain your policy. Good thing is that you can lock in the premium to be paid at a younger age while paying at a lower premium compared to when you're much more older. However this doesn't guarantee your policy will last forever subject to the changes in COI ( Cost of insurance ) and also Account Value ( your investment return over the years ).

Hi! Thanks for tagging me on this question. Didn't see it on the thread.. Different thread perhaps.

First thing's first I have to say I am not familiar with the protection plan from Fundsupermart hence I can't comment on their pricing.

Allianz PremierLink for the premium you've stated is for purely for life protection. That is Death Benefit or Total Permanent Disabiity. If by 100 years old non of the above happens, the remaining cash value will be returned to the client.

When it comes to Investment Linked Product (ILP) there is an investment element to it hence you're able to maintain your premium at a certain price for a certain number of years, depending on how the fund performs. Theoratically it is possible for the fund to underperform but it is also possible for it to outperform its projected estimates.

For your case, being a smoker your premium will start at RM1,271 instead. And based on the low scenario of 3%, the premium is projected to last another 22 years before requiring additional contribution from you. Paying RM1,271 is the bare minimum, you do have the option to increase the premium, hence driving up your cash value. Depends what your financial situation is currently. Some clients do opt to make additional contribution to the investment portion later on.

Perhaps another thing you'd be interested to know is the Cost of Insurance or Insurance Charges. This will also affect the premium.

Best,
Jiansheng

Investment is all about taking a risk. You gain some, you lose some, if you want, you can also keep monitoring on all the performance return but the point is that Insurance is for protection and why do you even care about the returns if you're saying that the next 20 years is more on coverage.

If you don't intend to spend any amount for investment then go with term insurance