I will build on what Tat Tian has shared. 1) The main difference, besides cash value, is also the premiums. Another factor to consider is also your current age, if you are above 35, generally speaking, whole life plan premiums may be way more expensive. 2) Most importantly, you should consider what you need in terms of the various coverage. As a general rule of thumb, 10x Annual Income for Death/Permananent Disability and approximately 5x Annual Income for Critical Illness. You may also consider taking up 1 - 2 x of your annual income for Early Stage CI. 3) As for what would work best, it really depends on your investment skills and options. If you are able to generate the returns as per what Tat Tian has mentioned, you may consider going for a Term plan and put in the conscious effort to Invest the Rest. 4) Whole life as the name sounds only matures at age 99/100. I guess the Age 70 you are referring to is likely the multiplier effect which means the coverage for post-70 will be based on the Bonus plus Base coverage. If you would like a tailored solution. Feel free to reach out to me via my email: [email protected]

3 years is really a short time to leave the money untouched. Instead of what you should invest in for these 3 years, the more important question would be what is the purpose of this money. Are you using the money for wedding, renovation, holiday, or for retirement eventually? If the objective of this money is for something that is definitely happening in 3 years time, perhaps you would like to invest into instruments that are liquid and less volatile. An Example would be SSBs or a high interest bank account, or Fixed income funds. In fact, STI or SGX stocks would not be a good suggestion at all because no one can predict the price points 3 years down the road, and unlike what was mentioned, STI or SGX is relatively volatile compared to the instruments which I suggested above. What if a market crash were to happen when you need the money? However, if your purpose is for retirement, perhaps you should start reading up some Seedly Articles on Investments and ETFs and get yourself started by setting up a brokerage account. You may consider S&P500 and QQQ or IWDA ETFs. Once you start having a deeper understanding about equities and fixed income and REITS, you may consider building your own portfolio of individual holdings of stock, bonds or REIT.

Insurance is meant to be a tailored solution to fit each individual needs. Term is most cost effective for Death/Disabilty coverage, whereas for CI & ECI coverage, Whole Life may make more sense. Like what Hariz mentioned, its really not about Term or WL but rather what combination would fit both your needs and budget. Perhaps you should speak to a financial advisor that is able to provide you with proper advice. Alternatively, you may always reach out to me via https://www.facebook.com/brandan.chen

1) You wouldnt require the S$65,000 straightaway. I would suggest to combine your money with your spouse to set up a joint account for Citibank Maxigain and keep S$70,000 there for emergency funds. (This is for the money that you and your spouse will not need to touch unless an uneventful situation crops up) As for the money that you intend to draw down, you can consider SSBs or CIMB fastsaver which has no spending nor salary crediting requirements. 2) Even if you decide to stop work temporarily to care for your child, you still need to retire eventually. Being a low to middle risk taker, some suggestions would be to place the money into fixed income funds, Balanced Equity Funds, Endowment Plans. Unless you are sure that you do not need the cash at all, you may consider topping up your CPF SA which gives a guaranteed 4% return. 3) As suggested in point 2, you may consider the options that were suggested given your risk profile. You may also reach out to me via https://www.facebook.com/brandan.chen should you like a deeper discussion.

Everyone starts somewhere. Like what Gabriel mentioned, it would be good to start checking out articles by seedly and read through some of the Investing 101 questions that were previously answered by the fellow community. You can also start by reading up on books and articles related to investing. After grasping the fundamentals of investing, the next thing is your risk profile/appetite to determine what kind of investments would suit you.

There is no such thing as a best form of investment. All investments come with risk. At the end of the day, what matters most is your risk appetite/profile, stage of life and portfolio allocation. For example, some of my clients are younger and are more growth-oriented. For such clients, they would be open to taking up a larger proportion of equities and high yielding fixed income instruments in their portfolio. Whereas for another segment of my clients that are older and nearing retirement, they would prefer to allocate a higher proportion of their assets into Capital Guaranteed Instruments or solutions that will provide them with sufficient passive income. At the end of the day, education is key. For starters, you may want to read up some articles on Seedly or connect with me. I can be reached via https://www.facebook.com/brandan.chen

This boils down to how you define Better since better in my opinion may not necessarily mean better in your opinion. Perhaps, take some time to understand yourself such as your risk appetite, knowledge, returns, as well as hunger to succeed. If you are willing to take on some risk, as well as willing to learn about stock investing, perhaps this would be a better choice for you. If you are willing to take on some risk, and would wish to be passive about your investment, you can consider Robo-advisors, ETFs, or speak to a financial advisor that can help you manage your funds. If you are conservative, and would prefer to be passive in your investments, an endowment plan/Fixed Deposit/ SSB may cater to your needs. Having said so, given your long horizon, I would assume that you are still young. Hence, do ensure that as you seek returns from saving up for retirement, you should also have adequate insurance coverage such as Health and Life Insurance. You may also speak to me via my weblink below: https://brandanchen.manulife.sg/

Short answer to your question is that High Risk, High Return. Indeed such economies may be volatile as you have rightfully pointed out. However, it can be seen as an opporunity since emerging markets are likely the next growth spurt. It really depends on your investent horizon when it comes to this type of investments, if you are able to hold it up through the storms, likely that you would benefit from the opportunity.

I assume that you had bought your ISP Rider after the news was announced. As for your question, this is highly dependent on which Insurer your ISP is with. For some Insurers, the rider actually increases the duration of the pre and post hospitalisation. On top of which, if you are referring to private hospitals, a serious illness such as Stroke can easily bring up the bill to 100k or 200k for just 3 - 4 weeks stay in the hospital. In such scenarios, riders typically have an annual cap of S$3k, meaning your maximum outlay is S$3k per year instead of paying S$10k for a $200k bill. For specific advice regarding the rider, I would suggest that you have a discussion with your financial planner. Alternatively, you may always reach out to me via my website: https://brandanchen.manulife.sg/