Good to purchase: AIA Guaranteed Protect Plus (II)?

Hi anon,

If you don't have critical illness cover, then yes, you'll want to get it.

The question is, do you believe that you would only want critical illness coverage for a period of time, or for a lifetime of coverage?

Remember that the purpose of critical illness cover is to provide a lump sum of money to ease the financial burden. This sum of money is meant to cover your daily expenses while you are out of work and recovering, as well as an additional sum to take care of out of pocket costs that are not covered by your hospitalization plan.

Now, if you believe that you only need this cover for a period of time, then what you really want is a term plan, and AIA GPP II is NOT a term plan. You would then want to look at term plans. I note from your previous comments on other answers that you are looking at having the ability to claim multiple times. Then very specifically you are looking at multipay plans.

Now, if you believe that you'll want a sum of CI cover to be present to you throughout your life time, then a whole life plan with an added boost in coverage during your working years is a good way to achieve this without having to pay a lifetime of premiums. This is what we call a Limited Payment Whole Life plan.

In this case, AIA GPP II is indeed a LPWL. But there are also other factors in choosing a LPWL plan, and you'll want to know all the options on the market available to you. Some insurers cover more conditions than others. Some insurers pay out the bonuses on top of the muiltiplier. The list goes on.

So the question is, what exactly are you looking for?

As a side note, a general guideline is that you should not be spending more than 10% of your income on coverage.

When I first started working and looking for insurance, I didn't know what I wanted and followed blindly what the agents said. I think it is always better to start talking to a few agents and see who you are comfortable with, because it should be something you will tag along for the rest of the journey (probably one of the few)

You should try to ask and find out:-

(1) What do you want VS What do you need at this stage of life? And then have a rough idea in the stages of 10 years. Will it change?

(2) What can you afford now? Should you need something long term? Or just something short term? How much do you need to folk out for this? Will it be a burden? Do not start something premium and then ending up not able to afford it.

There are so so so many products out there, so check in details what each of them, ask your agents, and work your budget with them. You do not need to be shy if $100/month is what you can afford, every budget has their plans. ​​​