Buying Whole Life Insurance | Is Whole Life Insurance Worth in Singapore?

Insurance | Life Insurance

by Priyadarshini 31 March 2022

Whole Life Insurance?

At its most basic, life insurance is simply a contract between you and the insurer in which the insurer agrees to pay out a set amount of money if you die (or become terminally ill, or totally and permanently disabled). In this blog, we discuss if buying whole life insurance in Singapore is a good idea?

Aside from the standard death payout, whole life insurance has an additional financial benefit. You have the option of cancelling your insurance in exchange for a separate payout (referred to as “cash value” or “surrender value”).

Buying Whole Life Insurance in Singapore

Is it a smart idea to buy entire life insurance?

If you have dependents, you should consider purchasing life insurance. If you died, the payout would assist them to get by in the short term. And if that’s all you require, term life insurance is a great place to start. You’d probably consider whole life insurance just if you’re interested in the extra benefits.

Pros
Almost lifelong coverage

First and foremost, good stuff. The most obvious advantage of whole life insurance is that it provides virtually everlasting coverage. Most whole life insurance policies will cover you for the rest of your life or until you reach a certain age, such as 99 or 100. This removes the need to decide when you want your protection term to terminate. Furthermore, it’s highly certain that you’ll die by then, so your family will almost certainly receive a settlement. 

Has a monetary value

One of the most important benefits of whole life insurance is that it allows you to accumulate cash value over time. As a result, people consider whole life insurance policies to be a hybrid insurance-investment product. The notion is that you can benefit from life insurance while you still have dependents. However, if you reach the point where they no longer rely on you, you can choose to pay out your policy. The whole life insurance policy then pays out a cash value or surrender value, albeit there is no assurance that you will receive a satisfactory return if you cash out early.

This cash value varies somewhat. It could include a guaranteed component as well as non-guaranteed incentives or dividends based on the profitability of the insurer’s assets. The objective is that this cash value will exceed the whole amount of premiums paid over the years.

Cons

Premiums at a low cost

The main disadvantage of whole life insurance is how much more expensive the premiums are when compared to term insurance. For a 30-year-old, term life insurance premiums might range from $18 to $100 each month. For the same amount of coverage, you’d normally need to pay at least 10X the amount (so anywhere from $200 to over $1,000 per month!) with whole life insurance.

Related – Insurance in Singapore

Buying Whole Life Insurance in Singapore

Why is whole life insurance so expensive?

The monetary value

When you pay your premium — say, $1,000 — the insurer deducts a percentage — say, $100 — for insurance coverage. After fees and commissions, the remaining $900 is invested. This helps to increase the cash value of your whole life insurance policy.

Long-Term Commitment

Term insurance is a pay-as-you-go option; just keep paying your payments throughout the policy term and you’ll be covered. If you stop paying, your coverage will end . Because you can’t choose when your policy will expire, whole life insurance requires a considerably lengthier commitment than term life insurance. And this is concerning when you have monthly premiums to pay. Cash value is another aspect that contributes to compounding. Although you can surrender the policy and cash it out in the middle of the term, the cash value may be low.

Complex

Whole life insurance is also a lot more sophisticated as a hybrid insurance-investment package. First, there’s the issue of determining financial worth. What is a certain component? What can you expect in terms of non-guaranteed bonuses? When will you receive your (non-guaranteed) dividends? What exactly are “multipliers”? Some whole life insurance policies allow for partial withdrawals at a later date, however, this may reduce the cash value.

Meanwhile, several policies provide “premium holidays” and/or “limited pay,” which let you avoid paying high premiums if you are laid off or retired. 

Is whole life insurance appropriate for you?

It all depends on what you want to get out of your policy. If you’re searching for simple financial security, term insurance is usually more than enough (and a lot less expensive). However, whole life insurance may be appropriate for you if…

You are utilizing it to assist you in accumulating cash for the future. You would be interested in the monetary value portion. You won’t be able to reproduce that with simple term insurance; you’ll also need to manage your own, independent investments.

You can pay the rates, which are often significantly more than those of term insurance. Go for full life insurance just if hefty premiums aren’t an issue for you right now.

Insurance | Credit Cards | Loans | Banking |