Hi kyith, what's your opinion of buying a savings plan from an insurance company? Specifically, what do you think of the savings plan PruWealth? ?

The savings plan from an insurance company are actually endowment plans. They are like savings that can help towards your retirement goals. However, you need to commit to a number of years and you may even get back lesser money compared to what you have put in if you withdraw earlier. I would personally prefer Singapore Saving Bond where you can withdraw anytime without any penalties.

Hi there, i think i missed out this question that is meant for me during the AMA.

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I think you can listen to what Luke said about what it is. From my interpretation, Pruwealth looks like a long term endowment that is pretty long. It guarantees that you will earn back your principal at the 20 year mark. From the brochure it does not seem to be distributing cash flow but i think at any time after a certaintime, you can draw down your policy for it.

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My thought is that this is a savings plan. Some of the folks here will say its not guaranteed and all but then if you put it in a robo advisor, you invest yourself, unit trust or STI ETF, those are not guaranteed as well.

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From the way its structured it is likely you will get about 2-4% in savings return. You have to ask yourself whether that is good enough for you. Endowment plans is such that for the first few years, you are locked in, and if you surrender, you are going to lose money. Are you ok with that configuration? If not then perhaps this is not for you.

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I think that as a form of savings with a rough 2-4% returns its not too bad.

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I got round the idea these stuff is out to fleece you, because there are folks that I cannot help to build up competency. this is a better stuff than a lot of poison i can think of. Would I get somethign like this myself? No I would not.

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As always, you have to see whether it has a place in your overall wealth plan

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Hope this helps.

i think there are better investments out there that give better returns and provide more liquidity.

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For me an endowment plan‘s Time frame is too long and returns are too low.

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things get sticky if you are not able to pay the annual or monthly dues as well.

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If you believe in the saying - don't put your eggs in one basket, you should get a savings plan from an insurance company. There're 5 asset classes - cash, property, equities, bonds and commodities. In the world today where nothing seemed to be certain, best to have your savings/ assets spread across different instruments.

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Personally I use PruWealth as part of my retirement plan for the following reasons:

• capital guaranteed

• 4%p.a. interest

• flexible to withdraw varying amounts after 20 years

• limited payment term - I chose to pay off this policy in 10 years