I got a whole life plan with a higher sum assured and lower multiplier. I feel that health complications are more likely to occur during old age. Did I make the wrong choice?

It is true that health complications tend to happen when you're older, at the same time more people are getting CI when they're younger.

Ultimately, understand the purpose of your CI policy. It is meant to keep you and your family going while you are not well. The multiplier takes care of you until 65/70. by that age, you probably would have topped it up if you had done a proper review nearing your golden years. Buying coverage for later years also incur high costs Which not many are willing to pay for.

Consider your situation now, many make the mistake of projecting too far in the future instead of considering their immediate needs And overlook other areas like disability income and personal accident which could have been comfortably been in the budget Insterad of throwing all into CI alone.

Hi anon,

There's nothing wrong to get a plan with a higher sum assured and lower multiplier.

In fact, if you belong to the camp that believes in having CI cover in old age, then having a higher sum assured is definitely more important. A lower multplier just means that your 'drop' in coverage after the multiplier ends will be less drastic, ensuring that you retain a decent amount of coverage when you retire. $100K x 2 is very different from a $50K x 4 plan after you retire. The impact compounds when you realise that the cash values and bonuses are actually based off your basic sum assured, and this really grows the value faster than a small sum assured.

Although medical advancement has allowed CIs to be detected earlier, it is still by no means any guarantee or indication of when you will contract CI. So you need to always make sure that your coverage stays relevant and sufficient to you, especially during major life stage events such as having a child, getting married, etc. There is no need to review your policy from year to year, but if you haven't looked at it for a few years, it is better to have a quick review just to make sure that you know what you have is still adequate. Rules of thumb help you establish an approximation of the amount of cover you need, but ultimate it is still your needs that determine the final amount.