Articles

CancerCare from TM Asialife

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:30:00 -0400

This latest offer is a cancer-only term cover up to age 70. Claim up to 5 times for early stage cancer diagnosed on different affected organs. More information is available here.

CancerCare focuses on the no. 1 killer disease in the world which is known to have a higher probability of recurrence. Hence if you were to contrast this with similar products from Prudential & Great Eastern that have broader cover over all critical illnesses, the premiums are significantly lower.

Noteworthy is its simplicity – no waiting period between insured events + clear cancer definitions too!

Great Eastern Answers PruMultiple Crisis Cover with Early-Payout CriticalCare

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:48:00 -0400

Fresh from the oven?. this term plan which covers till age 75 pays out in tiers, based on severity of the medical condition / critical illness.

Key differences are that:

1) In the case of Major Cancers, Early-Payout CriticalCare will provide a payout upon the diagnosis of Carcinoma-in-Situ (Stage 0 of Cancer) across 15 body sites.

2) Multiple claims across critical illnesses or progressive claims of the same critical illness without any waiting period are allowed.

Details can be found in www.lifeisgreat.com. My take?

Priority should always be on the coverage of your hospital and surgical plan, as well as a disability income cover. Major illness cover comes a quick second, especially if disability income cover is absent.

For a comparison between GE & Pru's plans, read the archived insurance articles in www.imsavvy.sg dated on 12 April 09 which were published in The Sunday Times. A correction is need though?.

Stated as a negative against the Early-Payout CriticalCare in the article ? " There is a limit of a one-time claim entitlement for each severity level of the same critical illness. Once a claim is admitted, no future claims can be made under the same or lower severity level of the same illness."

This is incorrect. For a $200K cover, the first low severity claim is limited to $25K, a second and final low severity claim of $25K is also admissible because low severity claims can be at most up to 25% of the total cover.

Changes in Legislation on Insurable Interest for Child

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:43:00 -0400

The Central Depository (CDP) has lowered the minimum age for trading of shares in Singapore from 21 to 18. This change follows a recent amendment involving contractual age, which saw the age at most contracts are binding and enforceable against a minor being lowered to 18.

Hence for all new third party policy applications where parent takes a life policy insuring his child, the child has to be below the age of 18 years old. This change takes immediate effect.

The impact?

Well, policyholders who had planned on taking up participating policies (ie. accumulates cash value) through their children older than 18 years because of their own substandard health conditions, will have to rethink again.

And of course, if by local standards, 18-year olds are mature enough to trade shares, then they should also be able to resist spending the coupons due from anticipating endowment policies should their hardworking parents decide to plough some savings into.

Changes in CPF

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:55:00 -0400

– From April, members need only to have CPF balances of at least the prevailing Minimum Sum instead of 1.5 times before being allowed to top-up someone else’s account.

– From May, investors must keep at least $30,000 in their Special Account on top of the current minimum $20,000 in Ordinary Account before the excess can be used for investments.

– From June, Medisave withdrawal limit will be raised.

– From August, age restrictions for top-ups recipients will be removed where currently they have to be at least 55 years old.

– By end December, interest rates of the Special, Medisave and Retirement Accounts (SMRA) will be floated and pegged to the average yield of 10-year Singapore Government Securities rates. CPF account holders will earn the floating rate plus 1 percentage point. Had it not been maintained at 4% for 2 years till end 09, the SMRA rate works out to be 3.69% in Feb 09.

Structured Products

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:33:00 -0500

The Securities Investors Association of Singapore (SIAS) will be working with financial institutions to establish a risk rating on all structured products. It will also create a standard questionnaire to help investors judge if such products are suitable for them. These initiatives will be implemented soon.

Findings from an annual consumer attitude to saving survey revealed that Singaporeans were the second-most risk averse investors among 25 countries and territories. They also have short investment horizons, which could explain why structured products, with fixed returns over three to five years, have been popular.