TM Early Cover To Replace TM Early Care From Tokio Marine Group For Critical Illness

Early detection for Critical Illness or Dread Disease has been the buzz word these days and insurance companies have been launching many plans to meet the demands and improving/ replacing existing early detection policies with new and better ones. , TM Early Care was not spared either. On 29 January 2018, it was replaced by TM Early Cover.


The differences between the 2 plans are not really significant, but let us share with you what are some of TM Early Cover's features:

• 3 Coverage terms to age 70, to age 75 & to age 85 
• Customer can buy from as young as age 1 till age 65 (Age Next Birthday).
• Maximum Claim Limit per stage is $350,000 , compared to the old TM Early Care, which was $75,000 only.
• However for TM Early Cover, each payout reduces the claim compared to the earlier plan, which does not.
• Covers 36 Critical Illnesses (Terminal Illness has been added as a CI, whilst Angioplasty is now 1 of the special benefits)
• Another Extra 20%, subject to a maximum limit of $25,000 can be paid out for the following 10 Special Benefits:  

Tokio Marine TM Term VIP For Your Company Keyman Insurance ?

Buying a Keyman Insurance for your company's CEO or senior management can be a tricky business.

Simply because most insurers require these head honchos to go for a medical examination once the sum at risk crosses the insurance company's risk appetite and many a times, that amount is also pretty low or not even worth considering.

Then some financial advisers would attempt to propose that these top brass take on individual life insurance where the firm might feel that it is quite costly to even consider purchasing. Tokio Marine Life Insurance or the Tokio Marine Group has recently added an upmarket Term policy into their arsenal of innovative insurance plans. Appropriately named as TM Term VIP; it is to address the needs of individuals who need high coverage. The following are some of the features of this value for money policy:

Final Expense Is Not Death Benefit In Integrated Shield Plans

In Singapore, all of us citizens & Permanent Residents would have been enrolled into the Medishield Life as a compulsory program and a large proportion would also have signed up with an Integrated Shield Plan (ISP) through a private insurer one way or another. However, how many of us actually took the time to read or even understand 1 of the benefit known as "Final Expense" in the benefit table?

When I first read it, I thought it was actually some sort of death benefit like in most company insurances, whereby the insurer pays out a lump sum out of sympathy or goodwill to the deceased's family for the purpose of helping them in the completion of the final rites etc.

However, when my own relative passed on recently, then did I realised that this Final Expense was just a feature to waive the deductible or co-insurance, if one did not buy the cash riders. Here are the screenshots of 2 of Singapore's top insurers' table of benefits and definitions of the feature (click on image to enlarge):

Standalone Group Dental Insurance Now Available

The heading of this post is quite self explanatory. We often have enquiries from Singapore companies looking for stand alone Corporate Dental Insurance or Group Dental Insurance, which many insurers are not keen to offer; Tokio Marine has now launched one recently, so if your company is one of those which needs such a policy, do contact us. The benefits are in the screenshot below, if you want it customised, let us know. (Click on image to see larger view)

Marine Cargo Clauses and Claims Procedure

How many of you can remember what the ICC (Institute Cargo Clause)  ICCA, ICCB or ICCC covers in the Marine Cargo or Cargo Insurance wordings?

Well, now you can have a snapshot of the coverage of each clause in just one page! (Click on the image to have a clearer picture) No thanks needed! Just remember to bookmark us. :)

For newbies of General Insurance and even the "old birds"; where there are occasional tendency to forget the kind of documents needed during a Marine Cargo claim. Thanks to the insurer, QBE that this wonderful 1 page summary can be shared with people in the general insurance industry and their clients.

For customers who often buy cargo insurances, although it will be nice to get yourself the most comprehensive clause, which is the ICCA; your cargo insurance policy may not be bought or processed in accordance to your expectation. So before you submit the claim, do not always assume that you can claim for all things under the sky! DO take a closer look at your Marine Cargo policy to see which clause you bought before jumping at the agent or insurer.

Pet Insurance Is Now Back In Singapore

Back in the 90s, there was an insurer carrying Pet Insurance, but due to the low market demand, the policy was taken off the shelf, more likely due to the abuse of claims by the public and thus low margins made from the policy.

Now with the affluent lifestyles of Singaporeans, many homes will have a pet of some sort and with the high cost of living, pets medical expenses are not cheap either. Some of the pets may even cost a bomb at purchase and losing them does not only hurt emotionally, but financially as well!

Introducing Liberty Insurance's PetCare! You can now insure your prized dog, cat or hamster! With 3 plans for you to choose from and with annual premiums ranging from $350-$750, it definitely is a good deal for your pooch or kitty! Some rules though....

Benefits at a Glance

1. Covers up to 70% of eligible vet bills arising from illness or accidents, up to S$10,000 each year
2. No medical examination required
3. Freedom to use any vet, anywhere in Singapore
4. Covers third party liability arising from owning the pet
5. Covers loss due to theft or accidental death
6. Toll-free Helpline
7. No Claim Discount of up to 15% to reward healthy pets

Can You Live On Just CPF Retirement Sum Scheme In Singapore?

Singapore's Minimum Sum Scheme (MSS) is now renamed to Retirement Sum Scheme (RSS). As of 2017, the Full Retirement Sum (FRS) to be set aside in your Retirement Account (Comprising of the monies in your OA, SA & some property pledging) when you turn 55 is $166,000. This amount is projected to increase by around 3% to $181,000 by 2020. No updates on the amount after that year.

So what happens after setting aside your money for the Retirement Account (RA) at age 55? Well, for some lucky few, you will be getting a lump sum in excess of the RSS ($166,000 as at 2017), whilst for others, all you can get is S$5000, because your retirement sum (RS) amount has not been reached. Something to note is that you can only pledge* half your house for the full retirement sum (eg. if the FRS is $166,000, you can only pledge $83,000); the remainder must come from your SA and OA (from what we understand, they will "wipe out" the SA first to form your RA, before using your OA). As to how the pledging of property works, you can refer to this author's write up.

The money in your RA will then be paid out to you in monthly instalments through CPF Life (please see CPF website for details on matters concerning CPF Life), when you reach your retirement age of 65. (see the table below). For the records, if one does not fulfill the RS at age 55, it just means that the monthly payouts on reaching 65** will be lesser. We're no experts on CPF matters, but you can actually search on the internet or the CPF site to find useful tools like this payout projector when you reach the retirement age of 65. The table below shows you the approximate payouts :

^*Payout figures are estimates, based on the CPF LIFE Standard Plan and computed as of 2017

CPF Life Standard provides a higher monthly payout than LIFE Basic Plan, but leaves a lower bequest for your beneficiaries.
CPF Life Basic provides a lower monthly payout than LIFE Standard Plan, but leaves a higher bequest for your beneficiaries.

So now that you know approximately how much you are going to get from your CPF monies on retirement, do you think it is enough to live out your retirement on that monthly amount and have you made plans to increase this amount according to your current lifestyle?

Even if you claim to be cutting down on your expenses upon retirement; with inflation factored in, is your CPF Retirement Sum sufficient for you? Can you continue to live on the Minimum Sum Scheme or Retirement Sum Scheme?

Another alternative is by doing small top ups through retirement plans from Tokio Marine to complement your CPF Life payouts and be financially ready when you enter into the Silver Generation! Remember the earlier you start, the less your monthly commitment for your policy and the more your payouts.

Contact us if you want to find out more about Tokio Marine Life Singapore's Retirement policies!

*Pledging of property does not mean the value of your home, but the amount which you have already PAID for your home and your promise to return this loan from CPF plus interest upon selling of your property back into the RA.

**As at time of this writing, retirement age or the age of monthly payout of CPF Life instalments is still at age 65. (going up to age 67 very soon)

Legend:
OA : Ordinary Account
SA : Special Account
RA : Retirement Account
RS : Retirement Sum
RSS : Retirement Sum Scheme
MSS : Minimum Sum Scheme

FRS : Full Retirement Sum
BRS : Basic Retirement Sum