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)

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

Cancer Income : Does Life Still Goes On When Cancer Strikes?

In today's advanced medical technology, if Cancer strikes an individual, there is still hope for recovery. However, the truth of the matter is that lifestyle costs also increases after the arrival of this dread disease, no matter how hard you try to contain it.

What are the costs?

TM Protect PA - Another New Personal Accident Policy From Tokio Marine

In our earlier post, we shared on TM PA, which some clients thought was a pretty good plan with its unique extensions, but there were a handful who felt that the sub limits were pretty confusing when it came to claims. Well, it is still with mixed reactions, that Tokio Marine's product team has once again launched another personal accident policy known as TM Protect PA. This is not a replacement of the old plan, but to complement the existing TM PA. What makes TM Protect PA stand out?

PRO

1. One of the few PA plans which you can have Outpatient Claims for HFMD, Food Poisoning, Dengue Fever, Insect Bites. Many other companies only allow it for Inpatient claims.
2. Covers Weekly Income - this time with no need for proof of employment (Great for homemakers & Self Employed!)
3. Double Indemnity is now extended to Private Cars (most policies only cover public conveyance)
4. Definition on what is deemed as an accident is less stringent in its policy wordings, compared to its predecessor, TM PA.
5. Child cover is more comprehensive compared to TM PA..which means they can enjoy same cover as an adult. (less the weekly income)
6. Housewife is under Class 1, other insurers will normally place them under class 2 for PA.
7. Singapore PR, Work Permit Holders Class 1 and 2 can be covered.
8. Monthly premiums are available via GIRO, compared to many personal accident plans, which normally have annual modes of payment only. 
9. Coverage can start for babies as young as 1 month old!
10. Once the child is 19 years old (ANB) and above, he/she is entitled to the accidental weekly income benefit. (No other personal accident plans offer this)! This benefit lasts till the client is 65 years old (ANB)
11.  The policy last entry age is 70 years old (Age Next Birthday). This means the policy really covers a wide spectrum of ages!
12.  People who work On Board Vessel (OBV) can finally buy a PA policy! (Most of the time, these class of people are declined risk)

CON
No more FREE child cover
Weekly Indemnity is not payable for HFMD, Dengue Fever & Food Poisoning


The product is to be launched on 5 May 2015, so if you like what you see above and want to get one for yourself, do contact us now!

How To Retain Your Good Employees?

In today's world of labour scarcity, Human Resource Managers are really scratching their heads as to how they should be trying to keep their staff happy; and to add on to the daunting tasks, HR must also attempt to prevent the best ones from being poached by the company's competitors or having the employee leave to venture out on their own.

This is where Tokio Marine Life Insurance Singapore (TMLS) has developed a few programs to entice and encourage the employee to remain loyal to their bosses and continue to be employed in the company like the pioneer staff of yesteryear.

No, we are not going to give you the usual "Give your staff credit when it's due", nor are we going to tell you to "Treat your employees like how Google treats their people". We will also spare you the "Communicate & reward your staff" lecture and neither are you getting the "Give them ownership and listen to their feedback" sales pitch.

But if you seriously care and are curious to know how Tokio Marine has managed to convince so many of their corporate clients into going with the program....Contact us now! Do it now before your competitors find out the secret and apply it on YOUR people!

On a separate note, if you want some additional advice on your company's existing Group Insurance, this video might help

Wealth Accumulation

Wealth Accumulation seems to be the buzz word these days when the entire financial world is so full of uncertainty. However, with so many options demanding for our already stretched dollar, which plan is the right one?

Here's a great plan for those who are rather risk adverse :
Tokio Marine's TM Nest Egg (Limited Payment)

Features

• TM Nest Egg is an Endowment plan and is for anyone between ages 1 to 60
• Financial Protection in event of Death & Total & Permanent Disability
• Policy terms from 10-30 years (in multiples of 5) 
• Limited Premium Payment terms from 5 - 25 years (also in multiples of 5)
• Option  to receive maturity proceeds in lump sum or yearly payment between 3 and 25 years.
• Min Sum Assured S$30,000
• Has Child Maturity Option, which allows the child to purchase a new Whole Life or Endowment policy without further medical evidence.

An Example (Click on the image to have a clearer view) :

Benefits of this Wealth Accumulation plan

1. Maturity Benefits if it's taken in instalments, the remaining balance left with the company still earns interest, which is  definitely much better than Fixed Deposits rates in Singapore; what it means to you is that it helps you control your savings too and not squander it on some impulse purchases if the proceeds were to be taken in a lump sum instead.
2. When compared to their closest rival, Tokio Marine's TM Nest Egg (LP) is a limited payment plan as compared to their competitor, which is a regular payment plan. (Wouldn't a limited liability be better for your wealth accumulation planning since it helps you forecast your expenditure in a more foreseeable future?)
3. Tokio Marine's TM Nest Egg (LP) has POSITIVE guaranteed yields as compared to their competitor's negative yields throughout their policy term. (Can you remember reading in the news about certain insurers cutting bonus rates over the recent years? These same insurers gave high projections when policies were sold initially-A high percentage of those projections were Non-Guaranteed!)
4. If you are buying Tokio Marine's TM Nest Egg (LP) policy for your children, the insurer is currently the only company in Singapore (as of August 2011), which allows "waiver of premiums" rider to be bought on both parents lives, so that whatever happens to either parent, your gift to your child is still secured. (Other firms only has this rider available to the payer)

If you want to find out more, feel free to contact us now!

Fixed Deposits - Love them or simply hate them!

Love them because they provide you with liquidity and that's the same reason why you hate them: it can't help you with any wealth enhancement simply because it's so accessible!

Even though they do have a lock in period with penalty charges, how many of us actually bothers with the puny interest which the fixed deposits pay out and when crisis comes a calling, we simply just move the funds to where it's needed most or for some of us, move it into a better interest yielding vehicle.

 You can see how pathetic the FD rates in Singapore here (Click on image for clearer view):

By now I believe you can see that they don't really help in hedging against inflation in Singapore. However, there are still some of us who just sleep better to know that cash is available and accessible. Well to these people, here's something from Tokio Marine Life Insurance which you might find of some interest as a replacement to the usual Fixed or timed Deposits.

The good and bad of TM Wealth Enhancement or what some of us might call TM-ENrich:
(Click on image for clearer view)

• Minimum investment is $25,000 (only cash, no CPF funds are allowed)
• 5 years plan.  (The whole idea is that you should not have easy access, else your nest-egg will never be built!)
• Pays a death benefit of 125% of your capital, in event of a misfortune. (Banks' fixed Deposits will only pay you back your capital invested)
• On the 5th year or maturity year, the guaranteed interest of your capital is already 4.6% ($459/$10000). Based on a $10K example (see above).
• Every year, once Tokio Marine declares the bonuses to you, that declared bonus, will then become part of your guaranteed bonuses. (contact us for the details if that statement was mind boggling!)
• Tokio Marine is one of the only insurer which has not cut their bonus projection for many years and is the only company which is still projecting and delivering positive guaranteed yields. (ie unlike some firms, which seem to give higher rate of returns, but they place their high yield projections on the non guaranteed element).

TM Legacy Plus (Revised 14 Oct 2011)

TM Legacy Plus : The name by itself often puts the man on the street off; simply because "legacy" seems to be often associated with "an amount of money or property left to someone in a will" and to many, it involves a lot of money.

Well, it still involves a substantial amount of money, but it will be coming from TM-legacy plus to your loved ones as an income replacement or simply as the gift from you to your loved ones, otherwise known as Your Legacy. This product is in essence a whole life plan to protect one against unexpected dread disease and death benefits. What makes TM Legacy Plus stand out from the crowd are some of the following benefits which are listed below (a few of them are revised from the older version):

• Limited payment premium : to allow you to better plan your budgeting; TM legacy plus is great for grandparents to leave a bequest for their grandchildren, because of this limited premium feature! Another group of people who can benefit from this feature, are probably young families who just want to try and clear all liabilities fast, so that they can do their family planning!
• Removal of exclusion clause for Critical Illness rider where Tokio Marine will not pay Critical illness claim for "any congenital or inherited disorder which first manifested itself before the Life Assured’s 7th birthday"- which is a big plus in this revised version of the policy against Tokio Marine's competitors because let's face it....we didn't choose to be born with congenital defects when we come into this Earth, so why should we be penalized for it?
• When placed against its closest competitor, Tokio Marine's business rival has very high non-guaranteed returns, compared against this revised plan.
• The Minimum Death Benefit (MDB) is extended to age 70 from 65 (in the older version). This applies to the Critical Illness accelerated rider as well: This is in fact the strongest selling point of this product! The MDB is shown in the table below.

There you have it; if you still want to know more about this incredible policy which has taken Singapore by storm, feel free to contact us and find out why Singaporeans are raving about this plan.