Best Whole Life Plans Singapore 2020 – The Ultimate Guide

4 Best Whole Life Insurance Plans in Singapore – Ultimate Showdown Comparison

With eight in ten Singaporeans are worried about growing old because of concerns related to finances and ability to look after themselves, selecting an optimal whole life insurance might help you alleviate some stress by providing you lifetime protection as well as death benefits and cash accumulation. If you are considering the importance of getting a whole life coverage with limited paying years, this is one comparison not to be missed, as we look into the critical illnesses payout, cash value, flexibility of premium terms and range of multipliers. To simplify your process of choosing an insurance plan, we have compared a few whole life insurance plans and identified their key strengths and weaknesses. 

Pros & Cons

Apart from China Taiping, which is a new player in Singapore’s life insurance industry, all other companies featured here have been in the life insurance industry for at least 50 years. China-Taiping i-Secure’s multiplier maximum age of 86 is higher than that of its competitors. This along with covering the highest number of critical illnesses and charging the lowest premiums makes it stand out. On the other hand, Aviva’s whole life insurance plans, especially when you add the MultiPay Critical Illness (CI) rider option, it offers multiple payouts of CI across early to intermediate to advance stage up to 500% and the ability to convert cash value to regular payouts at retirement age. Manulife’s LifeReady Plus and the AXA Life Treasure offers the lowest starting sum assured at $25,000. This means that you can start your coverage at a lower barrier of entry, helping those with budget constraints to kickstart their protection. Also, with AXA Life Treasure’s multiplier range going up to 7 times, the highest among all plans, this makes it distinct from the rest. Manulife offers plenty of options with regards to its premium terms, with option of extending it to age 99, which makes it the most flexible out of all plans. 

Aviva MyWholeLifePlan III

Pros: 

1. Option of multiple payout critical illness. 
2. Offers ability to convert cash value to regular payouts during retirement age.
3. Could be optimal if you’re looking for short premium term (5 years).
4. Great option of converting your Critical Illness (CI) riders into standalone CI plans when you don’t need main plan anymore.

Cons: 

1. Premiums for Aviva MultiPay option is quite expensive. 
2. Lowest number of critical illnesses covered.

Manulife LifeReady Plus

Pros: 

1. 1. Longest premium term – up to age 99.
   2. Lowest minimum sum assured also mean lower barrier of entry.

Cons: 

1. Multiplier ends at age 70.
2. No multiple payout critical illness option.

China Taiping i-Secure

Pros: 

1. Highest maximum early stage critical illness sum assured payout.
2. Longest maximum age for multiplier. 
3. Most number of critical illness covered.
4. Cheapest premium.

Cons: 

1. No multiple payout critical illness option. 
2. No option to convert cash value to regular payouts.
3. No partial withdrawal/ Surrendering of plan.
4. Insurer is generally unknown of.

AXA Life Treasure

Pros: 

1. Highest Range of Multipliers (2 to 7 times)
2. Lowest minimum sum assured to start 

Cons: 

1. No short premium terms 
2. No option to convert cash value to regular payouts 
3. Lowest age for end of multiplier 
4. No multiple payout critical illness option.

Features Comparison Table

Premium Terms Available	5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 years	10, 15, 20, 25 or to age 99.	5, 10, 15, 20, 25 years	10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 years
Maximum Early Stage Critical Illness Sum assured Payout	$250, 000	$250, 000	$350, 000	$250, 000
Multiple Payout Critical Illness Option?	Yes	No	No	No
Multiplier Maximum Age	80	70	86, Whole Life	70
Multiplier	2 to 5 times	1 to 5 times	1 to 4 times	2 to 7 times
Ability to convert Cash Value to regular payouts?	Yes	Yes	No	No
Total Number of Critical Illness Covered	125	145	161	132
Minimum Sum Assured	$50, 000	$25, 000	$50, 000	$25, 000

Best Whole Life Insurance Features At a Glance

Best whole life insurance with cheapest premium and maximum coverage of critical illnesses: China Taiping i-Secure 

Best whole life insurance with highest multiplier and lowest minimum sum assured: AXA Life Treasure 

Best whole life insurance with longest premium terms and ability to convert cash value to regular payouts: Manulife LifeReady Plus

Best whole life insurance with Multiple Payout Critical Illness Option: Aviva MyWholeLife III

While whole life insurance plans provided by China Taiping i-Secure are ideal if you don’t want to spend a lot of money on premiums, it’s important to understand how much utility they provide in terms of cash value. To get a better picture of the bang for the buck provided by these plans, let’s look at this table: 

Client Profile, born 1986, Aged 34 in 2020 – Male non smoker. This is based on a 25 years premium term

Early & MultiPay CI & Premiums Comparison Table

	Early CI	MultiPay CI
Basic Sum Assured for Death, TPD*, TI*	$125, 000	$125, 000	$125, 000	$125, 000	$125, 000
Multiplier	2 times	2 times	2 times	2 times	2 times
Multiplier Ends At	80	80	70	Life	70
Early Stage Critical Illness (CI) Sum Assured	$125, 000	$100, 000* (MultiPay CI – Additional 500%)	$125, 000	$125, 000	$125, 000
Multiple Payout CI (Early to Advance) Option	Available	Available (this is the version!)	Not Available	Not Available	Not Available
Cash Value at age 65 (Based on 4.75% illustrated projection)	$107, 917	$107, 917	$120, 944	$87, 383	$117,105
Cash Value at age 70 (Based on 4.75% illustrated projection)	$135, 484	$135, 484	$146, 728	$114,587	$143, 550
Cash Value at age 75 (Based on 4.75% illustrated projection)	$171, 374	$171, 374	$183, 933	$149,378	$175, 275
Cash Value at age 80 (Based on 4.75% illustrated projection)	$206, 851	$206, 851	$214, 645	$183,343	$209, 395
Annual Premium	$4, 881.25	$7, 109.75	$4, 293	$3, 631.35	$4, 695

Note:

*Aviva’s MultiPay CI $100, 000 – Up to 500% Additional Multiple Early to Advance Stage CI

*CI – Critical Illness

*TPD – Total Permanent Disability

*TI – Terminal Illness

Differences

 Early Stage CI Rider – Single payout, benefit terminates there after 

 MultiPay Ci Rider – Multiple payouts up to 500%, remains in forced when first payout is claimed, as long as it hasn’t reached 500% and meet later stage criteria of claims.

As can be seen from the above table, at age 80 Manulife provides the highest cash value at $214,645 . On the other hand, China Taiping i-Secure at $183,343 provides the lowest cash value.  Aviva MyWholeLife plan (both early stage CI and Multipay CI) and AXA Life Treasure at $206, 851 and $209, 395 provide cash value that’s between China Taiping and Manulife.

Total Premiums & Cash Value Comparison Table

To get a more realistic picture, based on a premium term of 25 years, here are the total premiums you’ll pay for each of these plans: 

	Early CI	MultiPay CI
Cash Value at age 80 (Based on 4.75% illustrated projection)	$206, 851	$206, 851	$214, 645	$183,343	$209, 395
Total Premium for 25 years term	$122,031.25	$177,743.75	$107,325	$90,783.75	$117,375

As you can see, Manulife has one of the lowest total premiums at 107,325 and yet provides the highest cash value at age 80 – 214,645 – an amount almost double of what you invested. On the other hand, while China Taiping i-Secure’s cash value is substantially lower than that of its competitors, we can see that given the premium it charges , it provides the best bang for the buck. 

Given that we’ve provided you with the unique aspects of all whole life insurance plans, the ultimate decision of which whole life insurance plan to choose depends on your needs and objectives. 

To find the most suitable coverage, simply fill in the form below and our friendly licensed FA advisor will get in touch with you. Based on your needs, a custom made solution will be adjusted only addressing your concerns.

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