You cannot always be prepared for everything but awareness allows you to create more sound planning.
I think an overall high level thinking such as this applies to not just wellness but also financial planning. Often, where we are being lead to purchase too little of certain form of insurance or too much of other form of insurance that have less probability of occurring is due to unawareness.
Personally, I have always wondered about the effectiveness of how the Singapore healthcare system alleviates the citizens from the common major health problems.
It is good that Channel News Asia highlights a case study of a cancer patient who recounts her experience of the financial strain, surprises and emotional strain.
The take-away for most is the specific plans that comes into manage a situation such as this:
- Your Hospitalization and Surgical Plan – commonly known as Medishield Life and Private Integrated Shield Plans
- Your Critical Illness Plan
- Your Early Critical Illness plans
While the article raised awareness, I do worry about some of the advice given. Not so much that they are useless but that the costs could be heavy. One of the advice by Dr Wong was to try and buy a more expensive grade of H&S Plan because when the time comes you might want a higher level of healthcare.
While that is all good, I do anticipate the private insurers layering more premium escalations after the changes to Medishield Life. It is affordable now, however for those that are going into their 40s and 50s, the premiums paid would be substantial.
Furthermore, when the plans become more expensive, it becomes more likely that you will reach the point where part of the premiums get paid in cash at an earlier date.
The article also provided sound idea why certain level of critical illness insurance is required, despite it is likely the shield plans will take most of the financial damage. The cost is after return as a claim, but you would have to provide out of pocket first before claim.
I was surprised by the omission of a disability income plan, which is rather crucial when you are not working and recuperating,
After reading the article, do evaluate whether your current protection strategy at least covers the minimal, or that you are missing certain aspect. If you do not have a good idea, sit down with your financial planner to review your plan. If you have a planner that you are seeing on a regular basis and these were not mentioned in any of the planning session, it might raise the question whether the planner is worth their salt.
Kyith is the Owner and Sole Writer behind Investment Moats. Readers tune in to Investment Moats to learn and build stronger, firmer wealth foundations, how to have a Passive investment strategy, know more about investing in REITs and the nuts and bolts of Active Investing.
Readers also follow Kyith to learn how to plan well for Financial Security and Financial Independence.
Kyith worked as an IT operations engineer from 2004 to 2019. Currently, he works as a Senior Solutions Specialist in Insurance Start-up Havend. All opinions on Investment Moats are his own and does not represent the views of Providend.
You can view Kyith's current portfolio here, which uses his Free Google Stock Portfolio Tracker.
His investment broker of choice is Interactive Brokers, which allows him to invest in securities from different exchanges all over the world, at very low commission rates, without custodian fees, near spot currency rates.
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