Legacy Planning in Singapore: When is the right time to plan for your family?
The Ministry of Health estimates that a staggering “1 in 2 Singaporeans who are healthy at the age of 65 is at risk of having a long-term disability over their lifetime.” This is a worrying situation. What happens to your family when you are unable to earn a living or when you are gone?
The answer to that question is legacy planning.
To put it simply, legacy planning is distributing your hard-earned money according to your wishes. This involves identifying, preserving and distributing your wealth in a thoughtful manner.
Why is legacy planning important?
Legacy planning ensures that your wealth and hard-earned money is preserved to support your family and future generations. This is especially important when your children are young and you want to ensure that they have the best education to meet their aspirations.
In essence, legacy planning involves thinking of how to preserve your money for your family.
With proper legacy planning, you can better secure and pass your wealth to your loved ones in an unfortunate event.
How TermLife Solitaire helps your legacy planning
Income’s TermLife Solitaire can make your legacy planning easier by providing a financial safety net should the unexpected happen with your preserved wealth. It is a term life insurance plan that provides coverage* for death or terminal illness during the policy term to protect your legacy for your loved ones. You can choose to enhance your coverage with the total permanent disability (TPD) and dread diseases (DD) protection by attaching different riders with additional premiums.
* If the insured becomes terminally ill or dies during the term of the policy, TermLife Solitaire will pay the sum assured. The policy will end when payment is made.
To illustrate how life insurance works, let’s look at the case of Mr John Tan, a 40-year-old engineer and his wife Ann, 40, who is a homemaker.
At 70 years old, Mr Tan dies of liver cancer and leaves the following assets and liabilities for Mrs Tan.
What Mr Tan leaves his family
| Assets | Amount | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Bank savings + Central Provident Fund (CPF) | $150,000 | Mr Tan has nominated his wife to receive his CPF savings. |
| Investment | $80,000 | |
| Total | $230,000 |
| Liability | Amount | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Housing loan for condominium unit (excluding interest) | $250,000 | The loan has to be paid off in 5 years’ time. |
While Mrs Tan has $150,000 in cash at her disposal, she is stretching it thin for multiple purposes – her living and medical expenses, paying off the housing loan and Mr Tan’s funeral expenses, just to name a few. As the cost of living continues to rise, these expenses will increase accordingly.
While Mrs Tan can liquidate her husband’s investments, she may make a loss if the market is doing poorly.
If Mr and Mrs Tan bought TermLife Solitaire on each other’s life, the situation will be different.
As indicated in the infographic, Mrs Tan can use the payout to defray her living expenses and pay off the debt concurrently.
Mr and Mrs Tan, both age 40, non-smokers, sign up for TermLife Solitaire, insuring each other's lives with a sum assured of $1,000,000 each and a policy term till age 100.
They add a Payor Premium Waiver rider1 with a maximum term till age 84. They also choose to pay premiums on a yearly mode.
POLICY 1
Mr Tan purchases TermLife Solitaire on the life of Mrs Tan.
Yearly premium = $4,771.45 (including premium for Payor Premium Waiver rider1)
POLICY 2
Mrs Tan purchases TermLife Solitaire on the life of Mr Tan.
Yearly premium = $5,970.40 (including premium for Payor Premium Waiver rider1)
If Mr Tan passes away at the age of 70, Mrs Tan will receive the payout of $1,000,000 from Policy 2, which can be used to pay off any outstanding loans and help the family maintain their current lifestyle.
Policy 2 terminates. Policy 1 insuring Mrs Tan will remain inforce with future premiums waived until the rider term expires1.
End of policy term for Policy 1.
The above figures are for illustrative purposes only.
1 Payor Premium Waiver rider waives future premium payments on the policy for the remaining term of the rider upon death or diagnosis with total and permanent disability (TPD before age 70) of the policyholder during the term of the rider. This rider is applicable only if the policyholder is not the insured.
© 2017 Income. All rights reserved.
Termlife Solitaire protects the wealth you accumulated
Since Mrs Tan can use the lump sum payout and existing savings to pay for her expenses, she can continue accumulating wealth from Mr Tan’s investments.
Getting a peace of mind
To find out how you can benefit from TermLife Solitaire or how life insurance works, refer to the details here or speak to one of our financial advisers today. You can also enjoy exclusive rewards that cut across various categories such as food and beverage, entertainment, health and wellness, shopping and lifestyle etc with your purchase of TermLife Solitaire.
So, what are you waiting for? Start planning for your legacy now, while you are young, healthy and have the resources.
This advertisement has not been reviewed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
