China Taiping Life Insurance — MoneySmart Review 2021

Now, I’ll be honest — I’m not expecting many of you to be scrambling to buy insurance from China Taiping, as they’re one of the lesser-known insurers in Singapore.

But their life insurance products are actually some of the cheapest on the market while still offering decent coverage. In this article, let’s have a closer look at China Taiping’s life insurance offerings.

Why consider life insurance from China Taiping?

China Taiping, if you hadn’t already guessed, is an insurance company from China. It was originally established in Shanghai and now has its headquarters in Hong Kong.

Though China Taiping has a presence mainly in Greater China, the insurer also operates in 24 countries, including Singapore. It has been here since 1938.

Long story short, despite being relatively unheard-of here, China Taiping is an established player in the insurance scene.

Like most insurers, China Taiping offers term and whole life insurance. Term life insurance protects you for a fixed period of time, and its sole purpose is to offer you insurance protection — i.e. a payout if something happens to you.

Whole life insurance, on the other hand, offers insurance protection while at the same time accumulating cash value. The insurance protection is meant to be lifelong, although it is common for insurers to only insure you up to a certain age like 99 or 100.

To learn more about the differences between term and whole life insurance, read the following blog articles:

• Life Insurance in Singapore — The Basics of Whole Life and Term Insurance
• Term Life vs Whole Life Insurance in Singapore — Which Is Better for You?

China Taiping i-Protect (term insurance)

China Taiping’s term life insurance plan is called i-Protect. This policy offers a payout in the event of death or terminal illness, and the minimum sum assured is $200,000.

Choose from a term of 5 or 10 years, 11 to 40 years or until the age of 65, 75 or 85. If you opt for the 5- or 10-year term, you are guaranteed automatic renewal until the age of 85 no matter how your health is.

The plan is convertible, so you can swap it out for a whole life plan like i-Secure without having to undergo medical underwriting.

China Taiping offers the following riders:

• DisabilityCare Rider – Receive a lump sum benefit if you suffer from total and permanent disability.
• AdvancedCare Rider – Receive a lump sum benefit upon diagnosis of one of 55 advanced stage critical illnesses.
• EarlyCare Rider – Receive a lump sum benefit upon diagnosis of one of 149 conditions at early, intermediate and advanced stages, as well as 12 special conditions.

Sample premium: $46.25 per month for 30-year-old male non-smoker with sum assured of $500,000 for 45 years.

China Taiping i-Secure (whole life insurance)

China Taiping i-Secure is whole life insurance policy offers lifelong protection from death, total and permanent disability and terminal illness.

You can boost your sum assured with a multiplier of 2X, 3X or 4X up to the age of 71 or 86. You can also choose to extend your multiplier for life.

You need to choose how many years you wish to pay premiums when buying whole life insurance. China Taiping i-Secure offers premium payment terms ranging from 5 to 25 years.

Now, 5 years is extremely short — in fact, there don’t seem to be any other plans offering such a short premium payment term. This can be advantageous if you have cash on hand and prefer to frontload your premium payments over a shorter period.

To beef up your protection further, you can opt for a whole slew of riders:

• AdvancedCare Rider – Receive a lump sum benefit upon diagnosis of one of 55 advanced stage critical illnesses.
• EarlyCare Rider – Receive a lump sum benefit upon diagnosis of one of 149 conditions at early, intermediate and advanced stages, as well as 12 special conditions.
• Enhanced Waiver Rider – Have future premiums waived if you are diagnosed with a critical illness.
• Payer Rider – Have future premiums waived for your own plan or your child’s plan whose premiums you’re paying in the event of death, terminal illness or total and permanent disability.
• Enhanced Payer Rider – Have future premiums waived for your own plan or your child’s plan whose premiums you’re paying in the event of death, terminal illness, total and permanent disability or critical illness.
• Spouse Rider – Have future premiums waived for your spouse’s plan whose premiums you’re paying in the event of death, terminal illness and total and permanent disability.
• Enhanced Spouse Rider – Have future premiums waived for your spouse’s plan whose premiums you’re paying in the event of death, terminal illness, total and permanent disability and critical illness.
• Early Payer Rider – Same as Payer Rider, but covers all stages of critical illness.
• Early Spouse Rider – Same as SpouseRider, but covers all stages of critical illness.
• Early Waiver Rider – Same as Waiver Rider, but covers all stages of critical illness.

Sample premium: $157.10 a month for 30-year-old male non-smoker with sum assured of $100,000, X2 multiplier and 20 year premium payment term.

Which China Taiping life insurance policy is best?

We normally would not recommend whole life insurance to just about anyone, but if you understand this product thoroughly and want to get one, then you might want to consider China Taiping i-Secure.

Read more: Whole Life Insurance Pros & Cons: Is It Ever A Good Idea?

China Taiping i-Secure shines as one of the cheapest whole life insurance plans in town. The quoted monthly premium of $157.10 a month is much lower than the typical $180 to $200 a month for whole life plans offering similar coverage and sum assured.

There might not be too many frills, but it does offer good protection so long as you’re not looking for a multiplier over X4 (the industry standard is up to X5). The critical illness riders are also quite generous in the number of illnesses being covered.

China Taiping’s shortest possible 5-year premium payment term is an appealing alternative to higher-commitment whole life insurance policies.

The 5-year term allows you to build up as much cash value as possible while your income earning power is still high. This reduces the risk of being overburdened by high premiums as you get older and your earning power falls.

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