Buying life insurance can be pretty overwhelming. Even if you manage to narrow things down to one insurer — the tried-and-true NTUC Income, for example — you still have to sift through SO many options.
On the NTUC Income website, there are a whopping 19 different life insurance plans to choose from! Your first instinct might be to call an insurance agent right away and have him or her give you the TL;DR summary.
But before you do that, read this article first to get familiar with the main NTUC Income life insurance policies available.
Why consider life insurance from NTUC Income?
Having grown up with the NTUC brand, most Singaporeans would be pretty comfortable entrusting their major life decisions to the National Trade Union Association (NTUC).
Apart from supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice, they also run insurance cooperative NTUC Income.
Naturally, NTUC Income is one of the biggest insurance providers in Singapore. They have all kinds of insurance products ranging from car insurance to Integrated Shield health insurance to life insurance.
Read more: Life Insurance in Singapore — The Basics of Whole Life and Term Insurance
NTUC Income’s life insurance offerings include both term life insurance (which is meant to cover you for a defined period of time) and whole life insurance (meant to cover you for life and offers a wealth accumulation portion).
Not too sure about the differences? Find out more: Term Life vs Whole Life Insurance in Singapore — Which Is Better for You?
Below, we’ll review NTUC Income’s major life insurance plans: iTerm (term), Term Life Solitaire (term), Mortgage Term (term) and Star Assure (whole) to get you started.
NTUC Income iTerm (term insurance)
NTUC Income iTerm is term life insurance that offers a payout of up to $500,000 against death, terminal illness and total and permanent disability (the latter before the age of 70).
This is an excellent choice if you’re looking for an affordable term life insurance policy with basic coverage. But check that the limit of $500,000 is enough to cover your dependents’ needs and your mortgage. You can also choose a smaller sum assured if you don’t need that much.
Read more: How Much Insurance Coverage Should You Have in Singapore?
Apart from picking your sum assured, you also need to choose your policy term. With iTerm, you have the choice of a term of 5 to 35 years, or up to age 74. The plan is renewable up to the age of 84.
The plan offers numerous riders, including:
- Dread Disease Premium Waiver — Waives future premiums if you are diagnosed with a disease on their list.
- Essential Protect — Protects you against death, total and permanent disability (before the age of 70), terminal illness or a specified dread disease.
- Total Protect — Protects you from early, intermediate and advanced stage dread diseases.
- Hospital CashAid — Pays out if you get hospitalised (double if in the ICU). Also comes with some additional benefits, such as for ICU stays of 5 days or more due to surgery or infection and an extra recovery benefit for each hospital stay.
There are also two premium waiver riders that you can add on to a loved one’s plan that you’re paying for. These riders enable the policyholder to enjoy a premium waiver if you pass away or are totally and permanently disabled. One of them also offers a premium waiver if you get diagnosed with a dread disease.
Bear in mind that you need to pay more for each rider, so consider your needs before adding them on.
Sample premium: $28.50 a month for a 30-year-old, male non-smoker with a policy term of 20 years and $500,000 sum assured.
NTUC Income Term Life Solitaire (term insurance)
The word “solitaire” sounds like it belongs in the name of a credit card. That’s because NTUC Income Term Life Solitaire is targeted at high net worth policyholders who are concerned about protecting their wealth.
For one thing, the minimum sum assured is $500,000 and goes up to $20 million. With Solitaire, the protection is for death and terminal illness.
You can choose from a term of 10 to 40 years, or up to the age of 64, 74, 84 or 100. Renewal is guaranteed till the age of 100.
Optional riders include the following:
- Total Protect — Offers payout if you are diagnosed with specified early, intermediate and advanced stage dread diseases.
- Dread Disease Premium Waiver — Waives future premiums if you are diagnosed with a disease on their list.
- Dread Disease Accelerator — Offers payout if you are diagnosed with advanced stage specified dread diseases.
- Hospital CashAid — Pays out if you get hospitalised (double if in the ICU). Also comes with some additional benefits, such as for ICU stays of 5 days or more due to surgery or infection and an extra recovery benefit for each hospital stay.
- Disability Accelerator — Protects you upon diagnosis with total and permanent disability.
If you’re a business owner, you might also want to ensure your business personnel with the plan in case anything happens to them.
You can then use the two premium waiver riders meant for policies for which you are not the policyholder. With the Payor Premium Waiver rider, the insured will get a premium waiver if you pass away or are totally and permanently disabled, while the Enhanced Payor Premium Waiver also offers a premium waiver if you get diagnosed with a dread disease.
Sample premium: $28.50 a month for a 30-year-old, male non-smoker with a policy term of 20 years and $500,00 sum assured.
NTUC Income Mortgage Term (term insurance)
Mortgage insurance is a more affordable subset of term insurance for those who are primarily concerned about paying off their property loan, rather than providing for dependents.
If something happens to you before you’ve fully paid off the loan, your family could risk losing their home. But if you’ve got mortgage insurance, the plan will pay off all remaining sums on your mortgage.
Read more: Mortgage Insurance in Singapore: How To Compare & Decide Which Is Best For You
NTUC Income’s Mortgage Term plan offers protection if you die, suffer from total and permanent disability or are diagnosed with a terminal illness.
The payout adjusts according to your outstanding mortgage, and you can choose from interest rates of 1% to 7% in order to match what you are currently paying on your home loan.
The following riders are available:
- Dread Disease Premium Waiver — Waives future premiums if you are diagnosed with a disease on their list.
- Essential Protect — Get a payout in the event of death, total and permanent disability, terminal illness or diagnosis of dread disease.
As with the previous two plans, if you are purchasing the plan for a policyholder other than yourself, you can also purchase riders to waive premiums if you die, suffer from total and permanent disability and/or get diagnosed with a dread disease.
Sample premium: $25.10 a month for a 30-year-old, male non-smoker with a policy term of 20 years and $500,000 sum assured.
NTUC Income Star Assure (whole life insurance)
Unlike the other policies on the list, NTUC Income Star Assure is a whole life policy.
It pays out your sum assured in the event of death, total and permanent disability (before age 70) and terminal illness. At the same time, it will accumulate cash value that you can access if you decide to surrender the plan.
Read more: Whole Life Insurance Pros & Cons: Is It Ever A Good Idea?
It’s also a lot more expensive. On the other hand, the sky’s the limit when it comes to sum assured, so long as you can afford the premiums. You can also select a multiplier that lets you receive up to 5 times the sum assured.
While whole life insurance covers you for practically your whole life, you probably don’t want to keep paying for it in old age. So you can choose how many years to pay premiums (the “premium term”). Star Assure’s premium terms range from 5 to 30 years or up to the age of 64.
The plan also offers a premium waiver of up to 6 months if you get retrenched and are unable to find a new job for at least 3 months. There is also an accidental death benefit worth 200% of your sum assured if you die of an accident before your next policy anniversary after you turn 70.
The following riders are available:
- Advanced Assure Accelerator — Protects you from 39 dread diseases, including future unknown diseases like new viruses.
- Early Assure Accelerator — Protects you from 121 medical conditions, including coverage of up to $350,000 for early and intermediate stage dread diseases.
- Hospital CashAid — Pays out if you get hospitalised (double if in the ICU). Also comes with some additional benefits, such as for ICU stays of 5 days or more due to surgery or infection and an extra recovery benefit for each hospital stay.
- Dread Disease Premium Waiver — Waives future premiums if you are diagnosed with a disease on their list.
If you are buying this plan for someone else, you can also purchase riders to waive premiums if you die, suffer from total and permanent disability and/or get diagnosed with a dread disease.
Sample premium: $161 a month for a 30-year-old, male non-smoker with a policy term of 20 years and $100,000 sum assured with X2 multiplier.
Which NTUC Income life insurance policy is best?
There is little overlap between NTUC Income’s various plans, so the main decision to make is what exactly you need your life insurance for.
If you need life insurance to pay out money to your dependents in case of death, but want to keep it affordable, then opt for term life insurance. The plan you go for will be decided based on your desired sum assured, with iTerm being for sums assured of less than $500,000 and Term Life Solitaire being for sums above $500,000.
If you don’t have dependents (or have already covered them separately) and simply want to cover your mortgage so your partner doesn’t have to bear the full costs, then NTUC Income Mortgage Term makes more sense.
Finally, if you’re looking for a whole life plan for both protection and cash value that you can potentially unlock in the future, there’s NTUC Star Assure.
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