Hi anon, I'm not a licensed financial advisor but just sharing my thoughts below. Please read through and do a proper research before committing to any plan(s).
If I'm not wrong, most ILPs allow for unlimited fund switching so that shouldn't be your consideration to take up an ILP.
Anyway, critical care sounds like a CI rider. If so, please take either one of the options below to cover yourself instead:
a) Limited Pay whole life plans with fully accelerated CI rider. If multipliers are available, make full use of it so sum assured $60k with multiplier x5 would give you $300k cover till age 70 and $60k + accumulated bonuses (which helps to account for inflation) thereafter. Note that life plan should not be considered as a savings plan.
b) Add on ECI rider to your base life plan if you find it important to cover ~2 years of income while you seek treatment for early recovery.
c) Term Plan with accelerated CI and/or ECI rider. Note that this gives pure protection so no cash value and you pay for as long as your term lasts. A suggested age is usually 65-70 as by then your dependents (eg children) should be able to support themselves already and your loans (eg house) should have been paid for already. If you want to terminate can just let your policy lapse and should auto terminate (I think). But once you terminate, you would no longer have CI / ECI cover and what's worrisome is that you may (touch wood) contract any of the illnesses at old age. Which probably by then you may have downgraded your hospitalization plan?
d) Some insurers have multipay options eg Aviva Multipay IV, PruTriple Protect, AIA Power Critical Cover, which covers CI occurrences multiple times with a 1-2 years gap I between each and some even covers ECI.
If you have dependents, can consider getting an additional term plan with no CI / ECI rider to cover for death/TPD to cover liabilities plus support your loved ones few years while they recover and find another source of income for the family.
In terms of investment, look towards ETFs for diversification across companies / countries etc. Or you could start with robos while figuring out how to invest as although robos also have fees (usually less than 1% pls check) some do not have minimum investment amount and most do not have lock in periods. You could always not contribute to your account if your finances become tight that month or anytime increase / decrease your contribution with no fees for some. The ILP may have premium holiday period, which may be worse for your account as you are not contributing any premiums but their monthly / yearly charge will eat into your returns faster than it grew over the years. Always always always do your own due diligence before starting out any investment.
If you want to lock your money up in investment, might as well direct your funds to your CPF MA / SA which gives you guaranteed 4% interest. But MA allows you to pay for medical insurance and bills.
Hi anon, I'm not a licensed financial advisor but just sharing my thoughts below. Please read through and do a proper research before committing to any plan(s).
If I'm not wrong, most ILPs allow for unlimited fund switching so that shouldn't be your consideration to take up an ILP.
Anyway, critical care sounds like a CI rider. If so, please take either one of the options below to cover yourself instead:
a) Limited Pay whole life plans with fully accelerated CI rider. If multipliers are available, make full use of it so sum assured $60k with multiplier x5 would give you $300k cover till age 70 and $60k + accumulated bonuses (which helps to account for inflation) thereafter. Note that life plan should not be considered as a savings plan.
b) Add on ECI rider to your base life plan if you find it important to cover ~2 years of income while you seek treatment for early recovery.
c) Term Plan with accelerated CI and/or ECI rider. Note that this gives pure protection so no cash value and you pay for as long as your term lasts. A suggested age is usually 65-70 as by then your dependents (eg children) should be able to support themselves already and your loans (eg house) should have been paid for already. If you want to terminate can just let your policy lapse and should auto terminate (I think). But once you terminate, you would no longer have CI / ECI cover and what's worrisome is that you may (touch wood) contract any of the illnesses at old age. Which probably by then you may have downgraded your hospitalization plan?
d) Some insurers have multipay options eg Aviva Multipay IV, PruTriple Protect, AIA Power Critical Cover, which covers CI occurrences multiple times with a 1-2 years gap I between each and some even covers ECI.
If you have dependents, can consider getting an additional term plan with no CI / ECI rider to cover for death/TPD to cover liabilities plus support your loved ones few years while they recover and find another source of income for the family.
In terms of investment, look towards ETFs for diversification across companies / countries etc. Or you could start with robos while figuring out how to invest as although robos also have fees (usually less than 1% pls check) some do not have minimum investment amount and most do not have lock in periods. You could always not contribute to your account if your finances become tight that month or anytime increase / decrease your contribution with no fees for some. The ILP may have premium holiday period, which may be worse for your account as you are not contributing any premiums but their monthly / yearly charge will eat into your returns faster than it grew over the years. Always always always do your own due diligence before starting out any investment.
If you want to lock your money up in investment, might as well direct your funds to your CPF MA / SA which gives you guaranteed 4% interest. But MA allows you to pay for medical insurance and bills.