Using the information provided and only quoting for medical only, you can get a much lower premium. Maybe your agent quoted some life and CI coverage for your father as well.

GE claims have been ok for my clients as well so far. It's unfortunate that there are agents out there who are unaware of the fine prints before explaining to their clients. Non-invasive keyhole surgery or angioplasty is a common knowledge and only entitled for 10% of the critical illness coverage. As for the hospital bills such as surgeries and treatment costs incurred, it will be fully paid out.

Depends on what is your objective. You will need to pay for 20 years for Great Flexi Plus and the maturity is 30 years. You may consider Great Flexi Wealth which you can choose to pay for 5 or 10 years and maturity is 20 years.

Savings plan is good for:
1. Disciplined force savings
2. Low risk investment
3. Life insurance protection for accidental coverage

Let me rephrase your statement to make it easier to understand:

Life: 500k
Payment Term: 5 Years
Annual Premium: 10k

Life: 500k
Payment Term: 20 Years
Annual Premium: 2k

Yes, you are correct. The shorter the payment term, the lower the premium is. This is because of the investment capital is larger in the first few years while the insurance charges is still low. Hence, the return on investment can cover for the sustainability of the policy. This is assuming the investment performance is up to benchmark. The waiver rider cost for a shorter payment term is lower as well, therefore the premium is cheaper for a shorter premium term.

This post has been edited by GE-DavidK: May 25 2020, 12:40 PM

It's not necessary cheaper.

By having your policy being paid off at a shorter period, due to the investment capital is received in a shorter period rather than little by little over the long term, you may potential gain a higher return due to that factor.

However, when such funds are put into an investment fund, it's always best to pay it on a monthly basis over the long term due to the averaging cost to mitigate the investment risk of fluctuation.

Most likely your 20 year pay term policy premium can be lower.

Request agent to quote you the lowest premium for X number of years coverage for both payment term option. You can also request for the Sales Illustration and check out the Cost of Insurance, from there you can determine which is cheaper.

Which term you go for is entirely dependent on your financial situation.

Personally, I'd go for the longer payment term as I do not need to fork out so much money upfront. I prefer to pay as little as possible right now as this will give me more flexibility in what I do with my cash.

Remember, cash value is purely base on projection and it would be prudent to look at the lower scenario projection.

Best,
Jiansheng

hi Irving, true enough every company got "negative" feedback on claims and customer service. i wouldn't comment much on those that i read online because i'm not involved and not so sure exactly what happen in between. I'd dealt with claims from AIA, Allianz, HLA, GE, Prudential, Manulife and AXA. so far there is not hiccups on my side (certain cases is due to policyowner's complaint and feedback on their agents and the company). so long i know what exactly is happening, then things can be easily resolved.

anyway you can pm holocene. my good buddy from Allianz

hey Jared, you can use GE Flexi Plus to max out the life insurance portion for tax relief. it will be better to prioritize on life insurance first then only savings. one more alternative to max out is putting in PRS.

Life Insurance RM3,000
Medical Insurance RM3,000
PRS RM3,000

for the 20 years plan, is it possible to make it RM2,500? in this case cant comment much because the premium can actually be adjusted (of course there is a minimum based on the coverage term sustainability).

Hi Jaredtay,

In addition to maximising tax relief, you can also consider insurance for your financial risk management. There are alternatives that can be considered, each having its own benefits.

Hi All,

I had medical coverage from GE as below :

Life + CI
SM200 (medical)
Premium waiver
Smart Extender 120K

However due to family history, I may prone to be high risk on canceer. Hence, would like to get some advice :

1) Is my current coverage sufficient?
2) If no, is it advisable to top up (either additional riders or increase coverage limtis) or purchase from another insurance?

Other opinion or suggestion are welcome.
Thanks

This post has been edited by veloos: May 26 2020, 10:32 PM

hi veloos, i will recommend you to upgrade your SmartMedic to SmartMedic Xtra because there is a lifetime limit for SmartMedic. other than that, cant comment much unless you are okay to disclose your coverage amount for life insurance and critical illness payout. also maybe you can share what's your age and occupation? any other liabilities currently?

I would recommend to top up on critical illness.

As for your medical card, it’s advisable to upgrade as the annual limit coverage is low for the existing plan.

You have option to look and upgrade your existing policy or to pick up a newer policy.

Hi all,

Need a recommendation on a life insurance policy and seems like this tered might be a good place to start.

Details about myself

- age: 24 y/o
- occupation: bank executive. So pretty much just office work
- non-smoker
- single ( unfortunately ) and only one debt commitment for a car. But the monthly installments are just below 15% of my gross

Am looking for a Non-participating term-life policy. The kind that can be bought online at an affordable price. I've taken a look at a few companies and noticed eTiQa is the cheapest at under RM 50 a month. But I would like to know if anyone here have better options to suggest.

I'm a bit unsure as to how much coverage I need, but I assume RM 500k for 20 years coverage since I may want to pursue larger financial goals like buying a house maybe 10 years down the road

Would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions

Side note: The reason why I really highlighed the word "non-participating" is because despite this is what I firmly want, the insurance agents that I spoke with (just the ones i asked, no further) cannot seem to understand. A participating policy or IL-policy is always suggested with high premiums that I don't want. For me, cost is a major consideration when buying term insurance.

This post has been edited by Eurobeater: May 27 2020, 01:01 AM

If you're looking purely for cheap and low cost initially for your insurance coverage then term insurance will suit you.

You can go online and shop on which company you want to go with. The price won't really go far from what you've just mentioned.

Without knowing much more on what your commitments or income.

Basic guide is as below
10x of your annual income for life/TPD not inclusive of debts.
5x for Critical illness
Medical Card

Cheers.

Hi ckdenion, current life and CI are 300k, as for medical had additional rider smart extender which extend the annual limit to 1.2 mil with deductible of 120k which is cover using SM200 (120k annual limit with lifetime limit 1.2 mils) . Major burden will be my parents medical around 2-3k per month (installments) n house loan of 1.5k.

Currently 36 n work as engineer.tq

Hi lifebalance, in ur opinion what will be the optimum amount for critical illness? FYI, I'm single.tq

Recommended to be 5x of your annual income.

You can include in an early CI of 100k in case of any early stage cancer.

There are specific cancer plan that payouts for cancer and recovery.

I would suggest not to put too much burden on increasing too much on your insurance if your financial is tight with your current commitments. But otherwise go ahead to get more coverage if its a great concern for you.

Most newer medical plan comes with annual limit of 1 mil nowadays without much cost difference than the older plans.

Considering you are clear with your objectives and looking for a term coverage, an ideal coverage for life insurance is 10 to 15 times your annual income. If you have any outstanding debts, you will need to take it into consideration as well.

As for critical illness coverage, it would be 3 to 5 years of income replacement, assuming a RM5,000 monthly expense, RM300,000 critical illness coverage would be ideal.

For the eTiQa plan you mentioned, you will need to take note that the annual premium will increase every year which is shown in the sales illustration. There is also some major exclusion in this plan such as TPD caused by consumption of alcohol, inhalation of poisonous gas, etc.

Hi veloos, I assume you have the Smart Extender Max which extended the annual limit with deductible of 120k. So for medical protection wise, I think the protection is adequate.

If the life and CI coverage are from medical card, then the amount is shared together. In other words, once you claimed CI, life would be reduced by 300k as well. You may consider adding life insurance due to this reason.

An ideal CI coverage would be 5 years of income replacement. You will need to take into account of any debts you have at the moment. 300k CI coverage you have should be enough for 5 years of income replacement.

Alright. In terms of claims, would you know which company tends to have the smoothest process? eTiQa looks good, but I'm keeping my options open.

In terms of income, my current gross is 4k. For now, I'm only wanting a term insurance that covers life and TPD only. In terms of CI and medical card, my current employer will cover that with no limits. Hence, they are unnecessary for the time being.

Thanks for the info. Though as some quick questions.

1) Even basic term insurance also will have increases in premium as policyholders age?

2) If premiums do increase over time, does the Sum Assured also increase as well? (i.e if it costs RM 50 per month for a RM 500k coverage for 20 years, if premium increases to RM 75 per month, does the SA go up to RM 550k for example)

Further, would you know which insurer have the broadest term insurance coverage on death / TPD? I didn't know about the exclusions and wonder if there are any general ones across the industry or some companies are more restrictive than others.

Most of the claim process are done rather quickly as there are cut off time in place.

Bigger companies like AIA / Allianz have no issues so far.

Not sure about Etiqa though as they are smaller.

1. Yes all term insurance premium will increase over time as you grow older. You pay cheap now but it will be more expensive than an ILP monthly premium when you're much older.

Then when you think it will be cheaper 20 years later to buy an ILP insurance, it is not.

Insurance is a very fair product where you can't really beat the system (Insurance companies have actuarist to do all these calculations) to where you think you are saving cost now and expect the price will be cheaper later on.

2. No, unless the product provides such feature. Even so, the cost of insurance will normally increase as well with the policy, I've yet to see insurance company that don't charge for something they mention "Free".

Frankly no insurance company offer broad range of term insurance as it's a very basic coverage and its not profitable. They won't be focusing to make a product that has minority demand.

Considering you are planning to get insurance online, the process can be frustrating if you do not know where to look for when doing claims. For eTiQa, it would be via email or phone call to their customer service. For claims with complications, good agents can help clients to appeal against the insurance company.

As for employee benefits, you will need to take into account that:

1. You might change job in the future or getting retrenched due to uncertainty of economy
2. Employee benefits is not guaranteed and companies may change their benefits from time to time
3. For CI coverage, companies may terminate you while you are recovering from CI

Due to the above reasons, I would advise getting an all in one medical plan with life insurance, CI, waiver would be the best for your age which is still in early twenties. This would serve as the first layer of protection for you and protect you from all angles.

As lifebalance mentioned, we won't be able to beat the insurance system whether we choose term insurance or investment-linked. However, we have to agree that insurance is essential to us because it is using a small expense to exchange for a large payout.

1) For most term insurance, the premium will increase according to age band or every 5 years which is why it is affordable in the first place.
2) No, sum assured does not increase while premium is increased.

Hi Eurobeater,
If it does interest you, AIA is currently having a promotion for term life insurance. Three months waiver on premium ( you pay only from Month 4 onwards). It's a limited offer with maximum sum assured of RM 100,000 for 20 years. For your age, the premium will be 28.19 monthly.

Hi Veloos,
If cancer is your primary concern, you may want to consider insurance products that are cancer specific, such as AIA Cancer360.

That seems nice. What's that policy name under AIA? I might check it out.

Hi, can I ask one thing in regards to your industry.

Many times I have to sit down and listen to an agent talk for 1-2 hours about the product offering. I'm aware most features are standard. When I ask about their competitors and how their plan differs and what are the advantages / selling strengths, they are unable to give any meaningful points. Most of it boils down to "Let me see the policy and I'll advise you."

Is there a lot of obfuscation in regards to competing policies or is it just smoke and mirrors ? I understand a sale is hard to make in this time and age but I really despise having to sit down for an hour or two to make small talk for this sort of thing.

That’s the disadvantage of dealing with agent who represent only 1 insurance company where they won’t give you a neutral point of view with real comparison. They may also be bias with their own company product while putting down on others.

I would normally provide 3 to 4 companies as comparison and let my client to decide for themselves