Senior citizen, age 50 and above, can consider two insurance plans that provide you with monthly payout for the entire lifetime, and to take care of final expenses when the final day comes. The first insurance plan is obviously the Annuity, the hot topic in Singapore now.
You may use your CPF minimum sum or cash to purchase an annuity. For annuity purchased using CPF minimum sum, the first payout will be at age 62. For annuity using cash, the first payout can be any age (from age 40 to 65 from NTUC Income) chosen by the policy holder.
If you are cash-rich, you can leave your CPF Minimum Sum with CPF Board that will pays you for 20 years with the guaranteed 4% interest. You may then use cash to buy an annuity that will pay you a monthly income for life. If not, it is prudent to buy an annuity using part of your CPF Minimum Sum.
And if you think that you cannot buy any whole life insurance at age 50 due to high premium and pre-existing illness, fret not! You can still be covered even at age 50 to 70, even with pre-existing illness if you have not been hospitalized for the past 12 months. NTUC Income is the only insurer in Singapore that has an insurance plan that covers you for whole life for death and Total Permanent Disabilities till age 65. The even better news is that you just need to pay for 10 years to get the whole life coverage.
The sum assured is $15,000 but the coverage increases yearly since it is a participating policies. However, do note that the sum assured is pro-rated for the first 5 years of insurance. Hence, the first year coverage starts from $3000, becomes $6000 in year 2 and increases linearly to $15,000 in year 5. For a male age 50, the sum assured becomes $27,240 at age 80 with a total premium of $11,106. This plan, termed Senior Plan, is a good planning tool for the final expenses and inheritance for children. Policyholder can surrender the policy for the cash value, but this will be lower than the protection value. Do note that Senior Plan is a good policy for insurance against death and Total Permanent Disabilities.
This Senior Plan, together with Annuity will thus provide you monthly payout for life as well as to take care of the final expenses.