Term(life) insurance Plus CI rider or CI standalone term plan?

Hi there. Term/life insurance pays out a lump sum in the event of death. If that is not your priority, then your focus should be on getting standalone CI plans, if not a majority of your premiums paid will be going to waste.

If your priority is to cover for critical illness, early CI coverage is very necessary. The early CI stage is when you need the lump sum of money to combat the illness as it is very curable at that stage. If one only receives the payout at late CI stages, the money might not be of a great significance anymore.

You can reach me here to find out more. I cover 9 insurers including Aviva, NTUC, Manulife etc.

Hi anon,

A CI single payout standalone plan is generally cheaper than a term + CI, as there would only be payable benefits associated with the occurence of a CI, whereas a term plan also needs to pay in the event of death/TPD.

However, a multipay CI plan would cost more, everything else equal, since the chance of a second payout is there. Multipay plans nowadays will payout in the event of early CI, if you don't wish for this, then a standalone term plan or standalone CI plan for late CI might be better and cheaper.

Speak to an independent financial advisor to understand the options. While term+CI or standalone CI plans are quite straightfoward to compare, multipay plans are more complex due to their nature (payout structures are already different from plan to plan, there is no way to compare them head on). So it's important to know how it works before getting a CI plan for her.

If there are no more liabilities in the household, then there isn't strictly a need for death/TPD coverage. Although there are rules of thumb for coverage, given her age, premiums won't be cheap and you might have to work based on budget.