These days, it seems as if there’s an insurance product for everything — engagement rings, babies, even pets.

The tricky part for consumers is choosing which policies are truly worthwhile — and which ones will never pay off. One rule of thumb: The insurance that’s worth it typically covers your health, your earning power or the assets you’ve accumulated, including your car or your home.

Here are four types of insurance policies everyone should consider:

1) Health Insurance

Just because you eat veggies and hit the gym regularly doesn’t mean you’re immune to an illness, or won’t have an accident.

Everyone requires medical help at some point and if you don’t have insurance, the resulting bill is going to be painful. Deliver a baby — without complications –and expect to fork over an average of $10,000, Get diagnosed with cancer and the expenses can go sky high. Medical inflation is increasing year after year and it only means that it has become a MUST for you to be insured with ‘As-charged’ shield plan.

If your employer doesn’t offer coverage in a group plan, look into an individual policy. Just be aware that private health insurance typically requires holders to pay higher premiums than they would with a group plan. And coverage may be more limited. To find the right individual plan, drop me an email for free consultation or review of your policies.

 

2) Disability Insurance

Few people like to imagine the worst-case scenario, but Scott Simmonds, a Saco, Maine-based insurance consultant, makes a practice of it. He knows that one major accident could keep a person out of work for months or even years. Even worse: those without disability insurance could face bankruptcy. (Even though Simmonds doesn’t sell disability insurance, he still recommends it.)

Disability insurance replaces a portion of up to 60% or 70% of lost income if the policyholder can’t work due to an illness or injury. Often times, companies pay for employees’ disability insurance, or offer it as a voluntary benefit that employees pay for. Individuals can also buy their own policy, although the premiums will cost around 15% more, says Simmonds.

Shop around carefully. These policies are very complicated, can include many caveats, such as what qualifies as a disability, and can be hard to land on your own. Also, costs will vary based on an individual’s income and type of coverage. If your employer doesn’t offer adequate coverage, contact independent insurance agents who can provide you with a range of policies, says Simmonds.

3) Life Insurance

No matter how little gray is in a person’s hair, anyone who has dependents, be it a spouse, children or aging parents, should buy life insurance.  If they move on, then their beneficiaries will likely receive the policy’s benefits tax-free, he says.

Easy enough, but here’s where it gets tough: Deciding between term and whole life insurance policies. A term policy provides coverage for a designated period of time such as 5 or 10 years or until a specific date, such as the insured reaching age 65. Policy benefits are only payable if loss occurs within the term, with nothing payable upon its expiration.

 A whole life Policy has a savings component (cash accrual) that builds cash value and allows funds to be borrowed from the cash value. For people who wanted limited liability, a limited paying option for whole life policy is also available for them.

For some, the better choice is a term policy. Premiums are usually less expensive than that of a whole life policy in general. Term insurance can be as little as 10% to 30% of the cost of whole life insurance, although this can vary on a case by case basis. It’s particularly useful when one decides to increase his coverage during his prime time and would like to stop at certain age.

 

4) Accidental Insurance

If you think that by working in office will means less chance to get into accident. Think twice!  Accident can happen anywhere anytime. In Singapore, almost every single day there will be at least one accident on the road so such coverage is very important. With cheaper ways to own a car, the number of cars on the road is increasing tremendously every year and as a result, accident rate are bound to increase. At most times, the fault does not lies with the person driving but the other party.

 

Such policy can be a standalone or a rider to be included into the main plan. It only cost less than $0.80 per day to insure for $100,000.

 

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  2. Whole Life Insurance
  3. Why Should I Buy Insurance?
  4. Singaporean Are Underinsured!
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