I'm aged 42 and have 150k SA of limited pay WL plan with CI coverage. Thought of adding on 100K for my CI coverage. Dilemma between term + CI or limited pay WL & CI (expensive). Is ntuc star assure good?

Hi there, different plans from different companies has its own unique features.
Typical recommendation of Critical Illness coverage is 5x annual salary and taking into account inflation. Choice between Term or Whole life depends on consideration for your dependents needs on your support also.

Whether A plan is good or not depends.
For example in the case of CI, depends on what the individual is looking at in terms of

1. the types of benefits covered

2. what types of CI protection you are looking at (Eg Star Assure with Advance Assure Accelerator covers major impact benefit (for infection or requiring stay in ICU for a total of 5 days or more in 1 hospital admission

3. the sum assured coverage

4. other considerations depending on your needs, and till how old you wish to be covered

For NTUC Income , our Starassure with Critical illness plan comes with flexibility to choose the protection level with multiplier by 100%,200%,300%,400%,500% of sum assured.

On top of this flexilibty, there is up to an additional 200% of sum assured for accidental death and premiums waived upon retrenchment.

Hope this helps. If you want to know more details, please feel free to connect. :)

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Hi anon,

It's good that you are reviewing your current coverage. It sounds like your $150K CI plan was bought some time ago.

Now, with respected to Term + CI rider vs Limited Pay whole Life + CI, I would say that you need to consider your needs first. Do you want to have CI coverage for the rest of your life? If you do, then a LPWL will probably make more sense than a term plan with CI rider.

The numbers are also important. I will give you some sample numbers based on your situation. Assuming you are a male and ANB 43, let's say you get a term plan covering $100K CI till 70. That'll cost ~$924.8/yr for a total of $25.9K. A limited payment whole life with a x2 multiplier will cost $1881/yr for 20 years or about $37.6K, but you retain at least $50K CI cover after 70. So you're paying around $12K more for the intangible benefit of at least $50K CI cover after 70, as opposed to a term plan whereby you will not have any more cover after 70. For a female, the numbers would be quite similar.

In such a case, I'd just spring for a whole life if having CI cover after I retire is important to me. For early CI, the numbers are even more stark and it's even more difficult to justify early CI on a term plan. Thus, don't just look at the yearly premiums, but the total premiums as well.

As to whether Star Assure is 'good', we need to know what you are comparing it against. Admittedly, no two whole life plans are exactly similar, but unless there is a unique feature on Star Assure that you are looking at that can't be found on other plans, then I generally would think that you should look at whole life plans from Aviva , China Taiping or Manulife.​​​