In the last episode, I expressed my view that 1) medical insurance, 2) income protection insurance, 3) long-term care insurance, and 4) emergency funds are essential for each person/family. There are some other things you need to take note of, and here is what I think:
Death/Critical Illness Insurance for Kids
I used to buy life and critical illness insurance for my children too. However after I realise the priority to protect the main income earners of the family, I started to think buying this type of policy for children is not a good idea. You should rather use the money for this insurance premium to buy better food for your children or send them to sports groups, so they can get healthier and stay away from illness.
Whole Life or Term Plan
When buying death and critical illness, you will usually face the question should you buy a whole life plan or a term plan. A whole life plan covers your entire life and also accumulates cash value which can be withdrawn upon your death. Term plan only lasts curtain fixed years and doesn’t have any cash value, it is straightforward pure insurance.
Typically salesperson will recommend a whole-life plan, but actually, a whole-life plan is 10 to 20 times more expensive than a term plan. Don’t buy a whole-life plan as it is too overpriced. Don’t use whole life plan cash value to accumulate wealth either, because that’s not the main purpose of this insurance.
Investment-linked Insurance
Similarly, don’t ever use investment-linked insurance to accumulate wealth. This type of insurance has an investment fund built in and can generate some return on top of its insurance function. Same to the whole life plan, this type of insurance is very over-priced and charges a high management fee. You should use pure investment (stock/bond investment) to accumulate wealth, and buy pure insurance (term plan). Don’t mix investment and insurance!
Pay Attention to your Insurance Expense
Take a look at all the insurance policies you have and how much premium are you paying per year. You might be surprised! You should only keep those you need and cut those you don’t need.
上一章我阐明我的观点：医疗，收入保障和长照这三种保险，以及应急资金是每个家庭和个人都不可缺少的。还有些其他事情你需要注意，我的看法是：
儿童的人寿和重大疾病保险
我曾经也给我的孩子购买这种保险。后来我意识到我们应该优先保护家庭的主要收入者之后，我开始发觉给儿童买这种保险并不是很英明。那这笔保费去给孩子购买更好的食物或是参加一些体育运动，让他们更健康不容易生病 ，反而更实惠。
终身保险还是定期保险
当你决定购买收入保障（人寿和重疾）保险时，通常会遇到一个问题，是买终身保险呢还是定期保险。终身保险会担保你的终身，而且还会积累一些现金价值，在担保人去世时可以取出。定期保险是很直接很单纯的保险，只担保固定期限，没有现金价值。
通常保险销售员会推荐给你终身保险，但是其实终身保险比定期保险要贵10到20倍，是很高价不值得买的。也不要靠终身保险的现金价值来积累财富，因为那不是保险的主要用途。
投资类保险
同样，也不要用投资类保险来积累财富。这一类保险通常有合作的投资基金在保险基础上可以生成一些投资回报。可是和终身保险一样，这类保险十分高价而且高管理费。你应该用纯粹的投资工具（股票/债券）来积累财富，然后用纯粹的保险（定期保险）来保障自己。不要把投资和保险混在一起。
注意你的保险费用
关注一下你的保单，你每年一共花销多少在保险上。你看了可能会吓一跳！只买你需要的保险，不用的大胆停掉。
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