Why so many people regret their ILP after a few years?

Insurance agents may be incentivised to sell ILPs because commissions can be attractive. This may at times lead to advice that is more sales-driven than needs-based, with insufficient depth spent assessing suitability or explaining the product clearly. That is not to say all agents operate this way, but it can happen.

My parents bought an ILP years ago, marketed as a “savings and passive investment plan”, but there was little discussion of cash flow, retirement needs, or whether there were any actual protection gaps. In the end, no one in the family really understood what the plan was meant to do. Even when I later asked the same agent for clarification, I was simply told it was “a very good plan”.

The same agent also sold my parents an expensive endowment plan without considering a foreseeable cash-flow gap between my parents’ retirement and my younger brother reaching working age, even though premiums were still due during that period.

In this case, the regret probably stems from not fully understanding the products and how they fit in with our actual needs before committing to them.

People change their mind, last time like, now don't like. human are like that sometimes.

The fees are crazy high. I have two ILP, HSBC Life Pulsar and Tokiomarine Go Treasure I gotten many years back. I had them on premium holiday and will surrender the Pulsar one first.

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How bad is the fees? For Pulsar, if I put 3k in a year, 1.2 k can goes to the fees.

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Now you all have a much better understanding. Please don't repeat my mistakes. Take the hint, don't sign new ILP, premium holiday indefinitely your existing ILP or just surrender your existing ILP.

Expensive in the long run