Your ING policy is not a purely medical plan, it is a life insurance with medical plan rider.

1. For GE stand-a-lone medical card, at your age at about RM764 p/a, you have annual limit of RM180k and Lifetime limit of RM600k, with co-insurance. Do note this is a term insurance, so you have to pay yearly and in the end if you nvr use it, you money just burn off.

2. You current ING agent will definitely ask you to just upgrade it, while agents from other insurance company will ask you to get a new policy. You'll have to compare both policies, the pros and cons.

3. GE's SLC for RM800p/a your BSA is around 27k.

4. I believe your question is will you be under/adequately/over insured. There are various way to calculate it, in the end it depends on what you need. The bare minimum is to cover your expenses for at least 3 yrs if you are not able to work or generate any income.

5. Yes they are, provided you've not claim it and in good health condition.

thank you for your input.

1. co-insurance means both the insured and insurer have to share the cost right? isssit true that all medical card are term insurance?

2/3. hmmm... any ING agent here? can give me quotation for 3D protection, RM 800 p/a?

4. at least 3 years of expenses... that's alot ain't it. BSA of RM 150k? i think the premium is about RM 5k p/a already. I can't afford it... at least for now... coz i still leech from my parents.

5. Really? But I read on some thread, they say most likely traditional plan is not upgradeable.

6. Ah.... another question ah... what do you all think about investment-linked plans. If i were to go for investment-linked, i would get more BSA for RM800 p/a right? (compared to traditional plans).

1. co-insurance means the policy holder have to bare certain amount of medical cost. For GE it is 10% (max RM500) of the medical cost. Most stand alone medical card in the market are term insurance.

2/3. Y not you ask your current ING agent?

4. No that's is not alot, and actually may not be enough as well. If you require kidney transplant, you need $$ to buy the kidney unless someone is kind enough to donate to you. Medical card does not cover the "purchase of organ". If you are working, and you have car loan & probably house loan, are you still able to pay those loans if you have a dreaded desease? Why BSA of RM150k? you're spending over 4k per month? For BSA of RM150k, GE's SLC annual premium is around 4.1k.

5. Can point me to the thread?

6. Put it simple.
Term insurance: Minimum Premium, Max Coverage
Traditional Plan: Affordable premium, Good coverage
Investment Link: Premium between Term & Traditional plan, Max coverage.

In GE's (ILP) Great Life Portfolio, for a minimum of RM1200 p/a, your BSA is RM207,000. (without any rider attached)

1. Ok.. Get it...

2/3. I personally dunno this agent. It was my dad who bought this policy for me, 2 years ago. Do you knoe any ING agent?

4. I see your point... Thanks for enlightening me.

5. It's on this thread also. I might have interpret it wrongly though. Refer to the answer no. 1 on this post : http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...post&p=13986660

6. Harh... then why don't every1 buy term insurance since it's cheap? ILP's BSA is not guaranteed right? if GE's ILP can offer BSA of RM207k @ RM 1200 p/a, why would anyone buy SLC which only offers BSA of RM50k @ RM1500 p/a ?

Btw, ILP is a pure Life Insurance right? It doesn't come with medical card?

Thank you!!! I really appreciate ur reply, bbjslee

This post has been edited by cooldownguy86: Jul 5 2008, 03:19 PM

I only have friends working as AIA agent

5. Traditional also can.

6. Term insurance has no cash value. Meaning upon maturity if you have not claim any insurance, you won't get back any money too. They also have limited choices of rider and no waiver.

ILP is the "IN" Insurance plan now in the the Insurance market. It does come with it's disadvantages.
- BSA does not increase. Your death & TPD is BSA (at purchase) + total investment value. But it has the potential to have higher increase of BSA than traditional plan if investment is very good .
- In time of economic down time, if your insurance agent has overloaded (usually load to the max) your ILP, there is big chance that the Insurance Company may ask you to top up premium.
- ILP CAN come with medical card as a rider.

Traditional plan on the other hand are very safe. They could even be a type of Forced Saving. I'm not sure about other Insurance company's traditional plan detail, but here are some features of GE's SLC.
- Buy back option- In the event of the life assured is dianosed to be suffering from any 1 of the 36 illnesses, the LA shall be given the option to buyback the death benefit.
- Good cash bonus (Last yr GE declared RM900 million additional bonus to all participating plan policy holders)
- Surrender value and total premium paid is usually break even between 15 - 20 yrs.
- Your BSA would double in about 20 yrs time.

6. Ok assuming that I want to own both of them and I can only choose one of them at the moment. In your opinion, which one should I buy first, ILP or SLC?

And which one offers more protection, ILP or SLC?

7. Both ILP and SLC also can add riders right?

8. Can you adjust the protection:investment ratio/leverage in ILP? i.e. with the premium fixed, can i adjust the level of sum insured that i want? So it will be more protection, less investment. And can I allocate the premium on protection alone, and no investment?

9. I heard that starting next year, GE is not going to offer SLC anymore. Issit true?

Thank you!

This post has been edited by cooldownguy86: Jul 6 2008, 02:21 PM

To answer your 6 & 8 question read this blog post 1st:
http://jeanchai.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/i...-or-unit-trust/
It is written by our forum member Jean72 (hope i got the member name correct ). Though she's not an Insurance Agent but she explained how it works quite well.

7. Yes

9. No news of it yet.

I'll suggest you go for a Traditional Life/Universal Life or ILP & include your medical card together in a plan

1st. I believe ur stand alone medical card from ING is a "revewal basis" card which term medical card is alwaz better if you can afford it
2nd. ILP or Traditional Life is better as you are young now & can log in with cheaper premiuim with returns over the years
3rd. Yes most of the policy are upgrade able but premiuim paid also upgrade accordingly Taking into consideration of ur age & just about to graduate, i think you dont need that much of life coverage atm . . . . get a better medical plan for urself & a Personal Accident policy 1st

The GE Supreme Livin'Care Plus is a very good CI product.
Not much insurance company provide increase SA every year.

Plus it's the only plan with 'buy back option', which means upon diagnose
of critical illness, we still given one last opportunity to buy the same amount of SA for
another Life coverage for Death and TPD. CI patient suppose not qualified
for any insurance right, and that's why this plan is good!

Go ahead with this plan la! I support you.

What is the meaning of this?

It means that in the case of CI (touchwood), the policy holder can buy another policy (which covers death only), with sum assured no more than his/her current policy.

So basically u still can buy insurance in the event of CI (touchwood).

This post has been edited by cooldownguy86: Jul 9 2008, 10:02 PM

Wow, so many pages already. My cheap 2 cents view (can't buy anything with 2 cents already..) is that if you're that young, you don't need to buy life insurance, unless you have dependants. The life insurance is for your wife or kids to survive, not yourself (you'll be dead already).

1) Also, not sure if this is mentioned, but about 70-80% of the first year's premiums go to the agency/agent. The 2nd year, 60%-70% and the 3rd, 50%-60% until the 5th or 6th year! So if your first year premium is RM1,000, your agent & his/her agency happily gets up to RM800 in their pocket. But nothing after the 5th to 6th year. That's when most agents "disappear"... never send you happy birthday cards anymore..... Or, they call you - to start a new policy or to increase your coverage! 99% of all agents don't tell you this commission structure that they get so fat on, but read your policy - it's in there. Now you know why agents so keen to call all their friends & relatives to buy.

2) They always tell you, the earlier you buy, the cheaper it is. This is very misleading. If you don't need it, don't buy it yet - you are just wasting your money and keeping the agents very rich. Keep the money in FD or gold etc first, or when the stock market is better, invest in unit trusts or directly into blue-chip stocks (some pay good dividends too). When you need life insurance, ie get married to a wife with no income, or have kids, THEN buy insurance. In the long run, it's much cheaper this way.

a) Agents try to convince you that the premium is "cheaper" when you buy earlier. Sure, you might pay RM1,000/year at 20 instead of RM1,500/year at 25. But you would have wasted RM5,000 from 20 to 25 for coverage that you don't need!

b) They also try to say that part of the RM5,000 will be invested and you will have returns. When they show you the impressive chart of returns, it's usually based on some fantastic estimated figure like annual 10-20% returns (which will be impossible this year, look at the stock market.). Also, the returns will have many fees deducted - administrative fee, policy fee, management fee. Check for these extra charges. Prudential lists these, not sure about others, they might not be listed, but they're there. It might add up to a whopping 4%-6% off your "returns".

c) And, the actual cost of coverage always increases with age. It's just mathematical - when you get older, you are more likely to die. They just "hide" it by keeping your premium the same. As mentioned, they invest a portion of your premium, and the returns are used to offset the higher cost of covering you. But if the returns are not enough, then expect that they will increase your premium as you get older. They might be some "guarantees" that the premiums will never increase - but of course, you don't get a free lunch. These premiums are higher to begin with. Much like your bank "capital-guaranteed" structured products.

I have nothing against life insurance though. It's a lifeline for dependents. But if you don't have dependents yet, you really don't need it. It's like buying baby powder 5 years before you even have a kid.

There is a very special situation where life insurance might come in handy even if you don't need it - as a tax saver. If you know your taxable income every year is RM75,999 after all the deductions you can take (books, sports equipment etc) - then just buy a RM6,000 policy. Wham! You are knocked down from the RM70,000 tax bracket (24%) to the RM50,000 one (19%). You pay 5% less tax on RM69,999, and essentially don't have to pay 24% on that RM6,000. Of course, if every year you make RM70,500, then no sense to buy insurance, just donate RM501 to charity and save 5% on tax. Cheem, right? Check with your accountant though, don't let these rotten people take your money and waste it on angkasawans or stupid projects.

Medical insurance is a different matter...

Any dissenting views?

This post has been edited by hspace: Jul 10 2008, 10:12 AM

Wrong. 1st year the commission we earn is 40%. And depending on which type of plan, some we only earn 2%.
- What about management fees?
- Processing fees?
- No need to pay the customer service / underwriter... etc?

Consider this:
- Diseases are getting younger. More and more people in their early and mid 20s are starting to have heart attack, kidney failure and even breast cancer.
- You buy an insurance plan 1000/yr from age 20 till age 87 (maturity). You buy insurance plan 1500/yr from age 25-87 for the same amount of BSA. You do the maths which one is more.
- Medical card only covers surgery but not the cost of "organ" required for transplant (if required).
- Imagine someone just grad, came out to work 5 months, bought a kancil. Unluckily he had heart attack, bed ridden for 3 months. Luckily he has medical card.
a) Is the company going to give him 3 months paid leave or 3 months unpaid leave or worse, terminate his contract?
b) How is he going to pay his car loan? PTPTN? Monthly medicine fees (not covered by medical card)?
c) Can he still work in an environment with high pressure and long working hours?
- Worst case, Total Permanent Disability for the rest of the life due to disease or accident, how to survive for the rest of the life?
- Quotation is usually show 4% - 8%, and as Bank Negara rule, have to show a low return & a high return quotation. I'm not sure which insurance company show you 10% - 20% return. That's even better than most unit trust out there.
- Are your parents your dependent too? They may not be, but do you still want to add to their burden?
- Funeral also need money. Have you seen people asking for donation to have a decent funeral for their family member?

Do you know that Insurance and Charity have different rebates?
Have you actually declared your income tax before?

I view Insurance as a 'TOOL" whereby you could transfer your risks to a third party. You can be self-insured by not buying any insurance too, it is your choice. You too could drive a car on the highway with an expired auto insurance too. Drunk where driving also makes the insurance to be ineffective.

However, INSURANCE is always an important risk transfer tool in more developed countries. Practically, most people there understood the important of Life Insurance, no hard-selling is needed like what is happening in Malaysia. It is much more "misunderstood " in Malaysia culture. many do not see the "needs" for Life Insurance.

Whether the risk transfer tool is of any benefits. The forumers have to judge their own.

But one fact remains the same : Anyone could die too young or living too long, that what makes Life Insurance works in one's favour.

You make your decision.

This post has been edited by SKY 1809: Jul 10 2008, 12:44 PM

There is no universally correct policy, the right policy can be described as one that will provide you with adequate financial protection and is affordable.

Life insurance should be bought based on meeting your insurance needs. Few people can afford to buy all the insurance they desire immediately. Those who afford to buy all the insurance in fact does not need an insurance at all. It is therefore necessary to decide which insurance needs are of higher priority.

Hi cooldownguy86, I dont know if i'm allow to promote POWERLINK from Allianz here but since you wanted to know some option on buying an all-in-1 life insurance, i wanted to help.

Based on your age (22y/o) non-smoker, Powerlink can suggest you the following;

Both quoted with RM1200p/a premium and for your info, it can be in monthly basis (RM100p/month in this case) .

BENEFITS:

Death/TPD - RM80k

36 CI - RM70k (till age 99) (payout without deducting Death/TPD which some company do)

Personal Accident - RM40k (till age 99)

Medical Card - RM50k p/a with lifetime limit of RM500k (till age 80) no co-insurance.

*also included - PayorCover (Premium will be waived once diagnosed of CI)
- Saving and Investment

Or

(Recommeded)

Death/TPD - RM36k

36 CI - RM30k (till age 99) (payout without deducting Death/TPD which some company do)

Personal Accident - RM40k (till age 99)

Medical Card - RM75k p/a with lifetime limit of RM750k (till age 80) no co-insurance.

*also included - PayorCover (Premium will be waived once diagnosed of CI)
- Saving and Investment

As you can see, the recommended one provide you with High Coverage of MC coping with the raise of medical charges (average of 15% higher p/a)
And please take not that the MC is guarantee renewal till age 80. So, peace of mind to those with CI before age 80 or use up the lifetime limit of RM750k, which ever come first.

That's a life insurance should be. If you want more cash value or bonus or watever returns instead, i advice you search somewhere else.

Hope that helps.

This post has been edited by raiverex: Jul 31 2008, 09:45 PM

you can't only see the death issue,you must also consider what if not die,but tpd happen,so for those can afford,life insurance is one of the basic insurance you need,regardless you single not.

life insurance is only a tool for us to reduce income tax. Frankly speaking who likes to be death and let the relatives to get the insurance money (even the relatives got it - the value might shrink tremendously due to heavy inflation)

What about your Parents? Brothers Sisters? Husband? Wife? Children? Or even grandparents?

If you have neither of those, then fine. You do not require Life Insurance.

Life Insurance is not because someone have to / going to die, but it is because someone have to live on.

This post has been edited by bbjslee: Aug 1 2008, 09:53 AM

If you check the national mortality rate for young people around 20-30 year old, most of them have the cause of death related to motor vehicle accident. So basically you need an accident PA which the annual premium is much cheaper than life insurance

Of course if one can have life insurance would be better, but if he/she dies at young age then again what's the point of having compensation from insurance company?

True enough, of course the most important thing is to earn more money if you are young.
I you got a lot of money, you dont even need life insurance.

But if you are paying house loan or car loan then you need something like mortgage

---

Added on August 1, 2008, 10:55 amyes you can have life insurance+EPF for aggregate taxable income deduction (not rebate please, it's a totally different thing!!). The maximum amount for this deduction is only RM6000. Imagine if you earn a good salary with EPF contribution of at least RM6000 a year, the life insurance premium paid can't even be used for tax deduction (make life insurance sounds crap again for the purpose of tax deduction)

It's advisable to buy medical insurance/education policy to reduce your income tax. Can use up to maximum RM3000 for aggregate taxable income deduction.

A gift of money to an approved charitable organisation entitles you to a tax deduction for the amount given, but from 2008 onward , this amount cannot exceed 7% of your aggregate income. However Charitable donations that were made in 2007 are not subject to this limit.

This post has been edited by muscaa: Aug 1 2008, 11:03 AM