Tokio Marine Life Insurance Singapore — MoneySmart Review 2021

When it comes to buying life insurance, Tokio Marine isn’t the most obvious choice. For one thing, I’ve never ever been accosted on the streets by an insurance agent from Tokio Marine.

But just because they’re not the biggest insurer, doesn’t mean their insurance plans aren’t worth checking out. If you’re willing to give the Japanese insurer a chance, they do have some worthwhile insurance policies that you should not overlook.

Let’s check out Tokio Marine’s life insurance to see if it’s worth considering.

Why consider life insurance from Tokio Marine Singapore?

Tokio Marine may not be that popular in Singapore, but it’s big in Japan. It’s Japan’s oldest insurance company and also one of its biggest insurance groups with branches in 45 countries.

In Singapore, Tokio Marine isn’t as big an insurer as, say, NTUC Income. They do not provide Integrated Shield health insurance, for example. But they do have a pretty good selection of both term and whole life insurance.

Term life insurance offers straight-up insurance protection (ie. your beneficiary gets a payout if you die) for a specific duration. There is no cash value accumulation.

Whole life insurance, on the other hand, is meant to protect you all your life (or until an advanced age like 100). Another key difference is that whole life insurance helps you accumulate cash value over time. If you surrender the plan, you will receive the cash value together with bonuses if any.

Before buying a plan, you’ll need to decide whether you need term or whole life insurance. To learn about the differences between the two, check out these MoneySmart 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?

We’ll take a closer look at their key products for term insurance (Tokio Marine Term Assure II) and whole life insurance (Legacy LifeFlex) below.

 

 

Tokio Marine Term Assure II (term insurance)

Tokio Marine Term Assure II is a term insurance plan that will offer you a payout in the event of death, terminal illness, or total and permanent disability (TPD). Coverage starts from $100,000.

The fact that they cover TPD from the outset is quite generous. A great many life insurance plans only cover the first 2 scenarios; you’d usually have to pay for an add-on rider to get TPD coverage. Tokio Marine covers TPD up to age 85, which is also higher than the industry standard of age 70.

With term life insurance, you need to decide how long you wish to be protected. This plan gives you a choice between 5 or 10 year terms, or anywhere from 11 years up to the age of 85.

You can increase your protection at certain milestones like graduation, marriage, divorce, parenthood or a home purchase, or convert your plan into a regular premium whole life insurance plan or an endowment plan.

Finally, you can choose for your plan to be in SGD, USD, GBP or AUD, in case you intend to leave Singapore at some point in the future.

Here are the riders available for this plan:

• Critical Illness (CI) Accelerator Rider – Receive a payout (taken from your sum assured) if you are diagnosed with a major stage critical illness.
• Early Critical Illness (ECI) Accelerator Rider – Receive a payout if you are diagnosed with an early, intermediate or major stage critical illness
• Protect 1 Lite Rider – Receive a monthly disability benefit for up to 72 months if you are unable to perform one of six Activities of Daily Living (washing, dressing, feeding, toileting, mobility, transferring to/from wheelchair).
• Waiver of Premium Rider and (Enhanced) Payer Benefit Rider– Waives future premiums in the event of death, total and permanent disability and/or diagnosis of a covered critical illness.
• KidAssure GIO Rider – For kids who are covered by the plan. Covers death and child-related illnesses and also pays out hospitalisation benefit. Refunds 80% of premiums paid when the child turns 19.

Sample premium: $26.57 a month for 30-year-old male non-smoker with sum assured of $500,000 for 20 years.

Tokio Marine Legacy LifeFlex (whole life insurance)

Tokio Marine Legacy LifeFlex is a whole life insurance policy which covers you for death, terminal illness and total and permanent disability. Again, this is generous compared to many other life insurance plans which only cover 2 out of the 3 scenarios.

With whole life insurance, you don’t pay premiums forever. Instead, you decide on a premium payment term. After it ends, you don’t have to pay anymore and will still be covered. In this plan’s case, premium terms range from 10 to 25 years.

The minimum coverage is $100,000, but as is common with whole life insurance policies, you can boost your payouts with multipliers. This plan’s maximum multiplier is X10, which is very generous compared to the industry standard.

Whole life insurance plans help you accumulate cash value, and this plan is no different. It is a participating plan, which means you have the chance to earn bonuses and dividends.

You can start to receive dividends from age 65, if any — the dividends are non-guaranteed because they depend on the performance of the insurer’s investments — which can supplement your retirement income.

There is a caveat though. This plan is for those who intend to hold onto it for a long time and are not expecting to have to make withdrawals or surrender it early.

Here are the riders you can add to the plan:

• Critical Illness (CI) Accelerator Rider – Receive a payout (taken from your sum assured) if you are diagnosed with a major stage critical illness.
• EarlyCare Rider – Receive a payout (either separately or taken from your sum assured) if you face medical conditions or procedures due to the covered critical illnesses.
• Waiver of Premium Rider, (Enhanced) Payer Benefit Rider and (Enhanced) Spouse Rider – Waives future premiums in the event of death, total and permanent disability and/or diagnosis of a covered critical illness.
• KidAssure GIO Rider – For kids who are covered by the plan. Covers death and child-related illnesses and also pays out hospitalisation benefit. Refunds 80% of premiums paid when the child turns 19.

Sample premium: $208.15 a month for 30-year-old male non-smoker with $100,000 sum assured, X2 multiplier and 20 year premium payment term.

Which Tokio Marine life insurance policy is best?

Offer very comprehensive protection, Tokio Marine’s life insurance plans are great for the budget-conscious and risk-averse. Even if you don’t buy any riders, you are already protected for total permanent disability AND terminal illness in addition to death.

In terms of pricing, Tokio Marine’s Term Assure II offers good value for money. The basic plan’s premiums are slightly above average, but it comes with coverage that’s well above average.

It’s also one of the few term insurance policies with coverage as low as $100,000 (most start from $500,000). If you are looking for a basic policy, Term Assure II is a good option.

Tokio Marine Legacy LifeFlex, on the other hand, is on the pricey side for a whole life policy. But with its X10 multiplier, it can be a good option for those who prioritise protection and are willing to pay a bit more for it.

This plan is ideal for those who are willing and able to hold it to term as you can reap the most benefits out of it. It is however not the best if you anticipate running into cashflow issues — it doesn’t make sense to make withdrawals or surrender the plan.

If you’re looking for a cheaper and/or more flexible whole life insurance plan, you might want to compare plans from other insurers such as NTUC Income or Aviva instead.

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