Oh I need to add, I don't go chasing max tax relief. Eg if I don't max out the rm2500/year and I only max rm1500, so be it. I dont go buy a new phone or new laptop just to chase the max rm2500/year.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 5 2023, 02:56 PM

I don't know about your tax bracket but mine does not make sense to spend just to get the tax relief (based off my calculations). I think it was spend lots to get little tax relief? Basically amount spend > amount saved.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 5 2023, 07:09 PM

There's only one person here I know who's trigger happy with the report button.

Er actually no. Unless you buy from the agent who's selling them then only the agent who sell you gets your money. If they list out what's available and you decided to buy from another person, the other person gets the money. Not the one who listed out what's available.

My suggestion is contact the insurance company directly be it AIA, prudential, great eastern, allianz etc via email. They will arrange an agent to meet you at your specific place and time. That time ask the agent and see if they got anything that you are looking for. Be clear that you want for tax saving purposes. Yes there will be some who try to sell you other stuff (been there and done that, told them off I am only looking for this specific product). I find AIA and Great Eastern are the fastest in contacting you with an agent. That's how I found my product. I told them specifically I don't want ILP and only want standalone medical insurance. Yes some did try to push me ILP. Stand your ground.

Another alternative is try personal finance planner. That one you pay by the hour. A bit expensive but I think they can get the job done.

I recommend this based of Mr stingy review (he's a blogger who write on personal finance). Reason I tried his recommended insurance agent and she didn't even try to sell me anything. She gave me what I wanted. No spam messages on latest insurance promo. No attempt to try sell me other stuff.

The service below is not agent but more of financial planner who is not commission based.
https://mypf.my/access/financial-planning/

Btw lifebalance, I don't troll and I don't care whether I am most popular guy.

I share what I know freely and for the sake of sharing. Reason is because someone shared and teach me stuff that I didn't know previously. I am just returning the favour and I do it as I wouldn't be where I am today without their help.

Oh I don't have the "must win/must always be right by any means attitude/die die must prove somebody wrong" I am happy to be wrong. If I am wrong, even better. Then I learn extra stuff.

If you are easily kecil hati, by all means, please report.

Thank you.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 13 2023, 09:36 AM

It's quite common. I have seen a few myself, I asked for product a, they try to sell me product b. Then some also talk about savings/investment.

Can't blame them as they got family to feed also. For me, once they try selling to cross sell me other product/spam my WhatsApp with peomo, I will say no and look for other agent.

Told off one GE agent for spamming me with promo from GE. Told her I am not interested in buying other insurance as I already got what I wanted and I won't buy from GE at all. Another agent from allianz also spam me with promo from allianz.

That's why I found an agent who didn't spam me and didn't try to sell me things I didn't want.

Of course if one only know FD and nothing else, then likely will get caught/persuaded by insurance agent. But when your returns are better than theirs, you wont even want to take a look at their products. That's why important to get educated.

Never ask a barber if you need a haircut and no one cares more about your money than yourself. Never be tempted by greed.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 13 2023, 11:17 AM

Depending on what you want and how long you want to cover for

If you want standalone, the cheapest long term is
Medisavers (written by lonpac, subsidiary of public bank)

If you want from the top 3, my recommendation would be AIA. It's definitely more expensive long term more than medisavers. Stay away from GE. Prudential does not have standalone expect if you are going via prudentialbsn
Standalone RM1500-1800/year.

If you are going via ILP route, make sure to make everything min if your focus is only on medical. Cause the more coverage you have and the more stuff you add on, the lesser years you get from your medical insurance. Recommended estimatrd cost RM3000-3600/year.

Keep in mind, the premium increased every year with age whether it's standalone or ILP. In theory you should not see in increase of ILP premium but that's not the truth and you should not expect any cash value from your ILP eventhough it's investment as it will be used to pay your premium. Also keep in mind, usually somewhere down the road, the insurance companies will ask you to topup your ILP. If you don't topup, your sustainability will decrease (number of years, your medical insurance have left).

I took 6 months+ to research medical insurance for myself. So I have more or less the premium for my age.

My recommendation is leave your contact at AIA, GE, Prudential, generali, medisavers, get quotation from them and compare and choose the best that suit what you want.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 16 2023, 01:01 AM

For me I went with AIA cause of
1. Easy to claim when you need to use it.
2. Not problematic unlike great eastern. I had GE but I exercised my cooling period and get full refund. Cooling period is 2 weeks after you make payment.
3. Heard from my friends working in private hospitale that AIA now have GL for dialysis. All other insurance still use pay and claim.
4. If you never claim anything from AIA before, AIA got this policy of migrating you to a newer and better policy without any new underwriting, something that GE doesn't have. Not sure if Prudential have it. This is good for rewarding the policyholder who holds an old and obsolete plan that didn't abuse the insurance. By them migrating you to a better policy, you get better coverage and because it's a new policy, there's more new money in the pool hence in theory premium won't hike so much. I have known 2 people who got upgraded to new policy without any new underwriting even though they have illness as they have never use the medical insurance for admission (never claim anything)

But as long as you play by their rules and declare all honestly, all insurance the same.

Hong Leong does not have RM1m plus coverage for standalone. Only for their ILP. Same goes with Manulife. I won't pay for ILP as it's paying extra for stuff you don't want/don't need and I keep my insurance strictly insurance. I do not mix investment with insurance.

That's why I said long term medisavers is way cheaper than any insurance I found for long term. What one agent told me is take a sum of EPF and set aside for medical insurance. I was like no. My EPF is for retirement and not to pay for insurance.
You do your own calculations. If you are worried about premium increasing, go with garhercare (it's crowd funded insurance like scheme). You only pay Rm400+/year for coverage until 100 years old without incrrsee in premium Vs other insurance company in Malaysia. You can use that as backup in the event you cannot afford to pay after you are not working. Yes that means paying double. One for premium with normal insurance company, one more for gathercare. Has it been reliable? From their posting (they post all the claims make every month) of claims, yes.

Keep in mind to only use the insurance after 2 years of buying to be on the safe side.Yes you can use it after paying for stuff like accident, dengue, good poisoning but in the event the insurance company found out that you have diabetes or other stuff during your admission to hospital, they can reject your discharge GL which means you pay for everything. This is what a lot of agents don't tell you. For me personally, I will only use it after 2 years old and seek treatment at govt hospital in the mean time.

Also, insurance does not cover outpatient unless it's dengue or accident. You need to be admitted then only it's covered. Yes even simple food poisoning.

Don't rush. It took me 6months to find my medical insurance. Few word of advices:
1. Avoid agents which spam your whatsapp for promo from their company.
2. Avoid MDRT agents
3. Avoid agents that try to cross sell you stuff or push you other stuff
4. Just ask them when can I use the insurance? If they tell you straight away, it's flashing red light. Remember it's 2 years (this is a test you can do yourself)
5. Check and see if they are driving some luxury car or some beaten up old car. My agent was driving an old car. That's why I am impressed (not important, but it tell you the agent characteristics and personality).
5. Ask everything you want to know. They should be able to answer you..

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 16 2023, 01:44 PM

My critical illness insurance, I went with Singapore insurance for the following reasons.
1. multipay
2. Covers all stages of critical illness
3. Half the price for same coverage Vs if I get the policy in Malaysia (I save 50% of premium just by buying it in Singapore Vs if I were to buy it here)

The cons is you need to travel down to Singapore sign the purchase contract. Can't do it virtually.

Read back my post in the last page.
https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=107699935

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 17 2023, 01:25 PM

I only apply AIA med life regular and med booster.
What 120k? They mentioned as charged. But for me no go for medisavers cause follow up only 60 days. After that you need to pay. AIA up to 120 days.

I have trouble to get Generali agent to contact me. They don't seems interested in my money. Anyway I did excel calculations for the premium until 80 years old, Generali I think more expensive than AIA and GE.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 17 2023, 02:22 PM

Just leave your contact here and see if AIA reply back to you. Form my experience they do get back to you.
https://www.aia.com.my/en/our-products/medi...ed-regular.html

GE I need warn you first before buying. They ask for everything and stupid stuff before they give you the GL. I give you few example, my friends gave me. Patient admitted for food poisoning. GE asked for colonoscope report. Basically a procedure where they put a camera into your butt and look at your large intestine.
Second one, patient came in for appendix (need to be operated on). Great Eastern asked for lipid blood test (no connection). Insurance more than like 5 years. Not sure why they asked for the test. Just my thoughts, GE is trying to reject/delay giving you the GL. When I heard all the issue with GE, I canceled my insurance with them straight away. Exercise my cooling period and get full refund. Better to pay more to AIA for ease of admission. Not saying Great Eastern won't issue you GL, they will issue the GL after they cannot find reason to reject you.

Not to mention Great Eastern does not have upgrade to new and better plan without new underwriting if your plan is obselete while AIA have it with certain terms and conditions. Not sure what are the terms and conditions. I known 2 people who got upgraded to the new and better plan even though they have illness. My guess is maybe if you never use the insurance?

Prudential as mentioned does not have standalone. Only Prudentialbsn have.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 17 2023, 03:08 PM

Wow didn't know that

Actually have. The Prudential agent told me. Prudential don't have. But Prudentialbsn have it.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 17 2023, 03:35 PM

Don't know. 2 Prudential agent said the same thing. So it have to be correct.

Actually both increase. Only in ILP you don't see the increase as they are being minus from your cash value. Also your agent should tell you that there will come a time where cash value cannot sustain the insurance anymore and you will be forced to topup. Failing to topup means your insurance duration will be reduced.

Not to mention, if your agent didn't tell you not to expect any cash value upon the end of your contract, you should run far away from that agent. So at the end the ILP also have no more cash value.

Actually it's wiser to go with standalone and put the difference in savings into EPF as overtime ILP usually cannot match EPF returns (over 10 years+ duration). Then once retired, use part of the EPF to fund your standalone insurance.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 17 2023, 08:36 PM

Er you know right for premium of around RM3k/year, the premium can only sustain until say 70 years old+? I have looked at great eastern, allianz , AIA, prudential. All same only.

Er again not sure where you get the data from, all good agents I talk to said don't expect your ILP to have cash value. Expect 0 value at maturity and you will need to topup along the way for it to be sustainable. How much topup around RM50k. Of course the bad agents I met said don't worry, ILP will cover everything. Lol.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 17 2023, 10:40 PM

No la. When you generate the pdf table with the agent, you can see the insurance can sustain you untill what age. I like to use BMM conservative 2%p.a return Vs 5%p.a as mentioned most ILP cannot outperform EPF.

So if you minimize everything and only focus on medical, that's the projection I get with all agents.

Of course if you increase your premium to say rm4k/year than it's different story. I set it to rm3k-3200/year and that's what I got.

Cause life insurance is counted. So if life insurance limit max out already, critical illness can be under medical.

You can also do the other way around. If your medical insurance max out, you can claim critical illness under life insurance.

That's why I don't want and won't bother with ILP. I am not going to pay extra for stuff I don't want.

What product? Also depending on product, age, occupation, smoking.
Standalone and ILP different pricing yo. You can select your premium for ILP but you cannot select for standalone. Of course higher your premium for ILP, the longer it can sustain.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 18 2023, 12:58 PM

None. You need to contact the agent and ask for it yourself. Than how you can compare to see who can give you the better deal. That's how I compare and choose the best deal. More so if the product you are looking for is an ILP. Standalone might still have.

Only one where you can see the premium upfront is fi.life. Coming soon policy street.

Of course you can contact those independent financial planner and they have access to all plans and price under one roof but you need to pay them consultation charges.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 18 2023, 01:06 PM

The fee waiver is useless. It only cover the basic CI and TPD. If you have TPD, you are basically vegetable. Again thanks to my agent for pointing it out. Her client had stage 2 cancer or something like that, because of waiver only cover the basic 36 illness, the client didn't fulfilled the waiver condition and forced to continue payin for it. Yeah I was tempted by it too when I heard about it. Only one agent had taken the time to tell me about the waiver. The other agents were like oh if you have xyz disease, they will automatically waive you (not true, as mentioned you need to fulfilled the waiver definition and condition).

You can designed your own CI plan which is better than what is included in ILP. I know as I have looked into it. I recommend moneyowl from Singapore. They offer better plans for CI than what Malaysia side offer. Downside is you need to travel down and sign all the documents there and it's priced in SGD. I have not look into life or TPD so cannot share my knowledge on that. Moneyowl is not commission based and they are able to offer you multiple insurance from different providers. You also don't need to pay them for consultation. I consulted with them via Microsoft teams for 2h+ and was satisfied with the plan they came out for me. (50% Cheaper than what Malaysia have to offer for same protection with multipayment, their premium is fixed and you got option to grab life, TPD and CI). Dont take my word for it. Kindly compare with what Malaysia side have to offer and you will see it for yourself.

I favour standalone for the following reasons:
1. Pure insurance. Never ever mix investment with insurance.
2. ILP return sucks. Well majority. Take your time and look though all the investment. You will be surprised they cannot even beat EPF returns over say 10 years. Yes there are few rare cases but as mentioned again basically lousy returns. So basically you are paying extra for lousy returns when you can put the savings into EPF and then use part of it to pay for the insurance in the future and get more than what the ILP can give you. Does that sound like value for money for you? It doesn't sound like value for money to me.
If you are even braver, rather than dump into EPF, if you dump it into QQQ or CSPX, you will get more than EPF returns. (that's what I am doing I am getting min 10%p.a Vs what they can give me)
3. You are paying extra. All the ILP have ongoing fund fees of around 1.5-1.8%p.a (unit trust annual management fees). Over long time, the 1.5-1.8%p.a add up. That's why I advocate for ETF where the fees are only 0.05%-0.1%p.a
4. You are paying extra for life, tpd and CI when you only want the medical portion (if you are like me).
5. With ILP you are forced to topup somewhere down the road or agree to pay higher premium or else your insurance duration will decrease say from 80 years old to only 70 years old (just an example). They can ask you to topup as soon as say 6 months of purchase. How much and how frequent to topup depend on
1. Condition of the market.
2. Fund performance
3. How much money is left in the insurance pool

Yes standalone medical insurance also increase in price. But based off me asking several agents from different companies, all told me the same thing. Usually they follow the projected rates in the table/contract. Rarely they deviate from it unless something really bad happen. So you will know more or less how much you are paying.

Topup is guaranteed for ILP. down the road. It's just a question of when they will ask you to topup. There's no topup for standalone unless they increase the premium above what's projected.

Pros of ILP
1. Premium holiday -unless you are horrible pay master, this is useful to you. Or if you need to stop paying for some unknown reason, you can take a short break. Also if you forget to pay, your insurance won't lapse unlike standalone.
2. You can move between ranks of your medical insurance easily. If you need to downgrade down the road. Of course if you are already on the lowest rank of the plan, you cannot move down anymore.
contestchris is an ILP holder. Here is what he shared about ILP.



Hope this help.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jul 19 2023, 01:37 AM