Complete Life Secure by NTUC Income Insurance, is a whole life participating insurance plan offering lifelong coverage for death, terminal illness, and total permanent disability. The plan includes a multiplier cover option and Flexi Cash Access, allowing policyholders to receive annual cash payouts starting at age 50. Review features like the retrenchment benefit and a guaranteed insurability option to purchase additional coverage at life milestones.

Complete Life Secure Elaboration of Features:

• Lifelong Protection: Complete Life Secure provides coverage for the whole of life, protecting against death, terminal illness, and total and permanent disability.
• Multiplier Cover: The plan offers a multiplier cover, which increases the sum assured before the anniversary immediately after the insured reaches the age of 65, 75, or 80, depending on the selected option. The multiplier cover can be 100%, 200%, 300%, 400%, or 500% of the sum assured.
• Flexi Cash Access: Policyholders can choose to receive annual cash payouts from age 50 by converting a portion of their policy’s sum assured. The payout period can range from 10 years up to the insured reaching age 100.
• Retrenchment Benefit: The plan includes a retrenchment benefit that waives premiums for up to six months if the policyholder is retrenched and remains unemployed for three consecutive months.
• Guaranteed Insurability Option: The plan provides an option to buy another life policy without a health assessment upon reaching certain life events such as turning 21, marriage, divorce, becoming a parent, death of a spouse, or purchasing a residential property.
• Bonus Accumulation: The policy’s value increases through the addition of annual bonuses that are based on the performance of the Life Participating Fund. A terminal bonus is also payable upon claim or surrender of the policy.
• Riders: The plan can be supplemented with riders for additional coverage including Early Critical Secure and Advanced Critical Secure riders. These riders can provide coverage for dread diseases, mental conditions, special conditions, and juvenile conditions.

Complete Life Secure has the following to take note:

• Premium Payments: Complete Life Secure requires regular premium payments, though these are limited to a specified term.
• Surrender Value: There is a surrender value after premiums have been paid for more than 2 years (or 1 year for a 5 year premium term), and the surrender value consists of guaranteed and non-guaranteed components.
• Flexi Cash Access Conditions: Exercising the Flexi Cash Access option is subject to certain conditions. The policy must not be paid-up, there must be no policy loan, the percentage of the sum assured used must be within a range determined by the insurer, and the policy and cash payout must meet minimum requirements. The sum assured is reduced when this option is exercised.
• Retrenchment Benefit Conditions: The retrenchment benefit is subject to conditions, such as having paid at least six months’ premiums, the retrenchment occurring at least six months after the cover start date and remaining unemployed for three consecutive months. The benefit can only be claimed once.
• Guaranteed Insurability Option Limitations: The sum assured for the new policy under the guaranteed insurability option is limited to 50% of the sum assured of the basic policy or $100,000, whichever is lower. This option can only be exercised twice, each time for a different life event.
• Exclusions: The policy has exclusions, including suicide within one year of the cover start date, and certain circumstances that may invalidate a claim for TPD or terminal illness benefits. The retrenchment benefit also has exclusions.
• Bonus Uncertainty: The bonus rates are not guaranteed, and the benefits payable will vary according to the future performance of the Life Participating Fund.
• Policy Termination: The policy can terminate due to surrender, non-payment of premiums, loan exceeding surrender value, or the sum assured reaching zero due to claims.
• Rider Limitations: Payments under the Early and Advanced Critical Secure riders will reduce the sum assured and bonuses of the basic policy and the riders by the same amount. There are also limits on the total benefits payable for dread disease, special benefits, mental health benefits, and juvenile benefits across all policies issued by the insurer.

Complete Life Secure Use Case Scenario:

Paul, a 30-year-old married non-smoker, is seeking a comprehensive life insurance plan that provides both protection and flexibility for his future.

Policy Purchase:

• Paul purchases a Complete Life Secure policy with a sum assured of $200,000 and a premium term of 20 years.
• He chooses a multiplier cover of 300% of the sum assured up to the age of 75. This means that before age 75, his coverage for death, terminal illness, and total and permanent disability will be $600,000 (300% of $200,000).
• He also adds the Early Critical Secure rider with a sum assured of $100,000 and the Advanced Critical Secure rider also with a sum assured of $100,000.
• His annual premium is $8,977.

Benefits Utilized:

• Age 35: Paul is diagnosed with a non-cancerous benign tumor in his kidney. He receives a payout of $20,000 from the Early Critical Secure rider under the Special Benefit.
• Age 37: Paul is retrenched and unable to find employment for six months. He exercises the retrenchment benefit, and his premiums are waived for six months. During this time, he is also diagnosed with major depressive disorder. He receives a payout of $30,000 from the Early Critical Secure rider under the Mental Benefit.
• Age 40: Paul is diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer. He receives a payout of $300,000 from the Early Critical Secure rider under the Dread Disease Benefit. His base policy sum assured reduces to $100,000, and the Early Critical Secure rider’s sum assured becomes $0. Paul exercises the Guaranteed Post-Early DD Cover Option and purchases a new term plan, Star Term Protect, with a sum assured of $50,000, covering death and terminal illness.
• Age 45: Paul is severely ill and spends four days in the ICU. He receives a payout of $60,000 from the Advanced Critical Secure rider under the Major Impact Benefit. His base policy sum assured is now $80,000 and Advanced Critical Secure rider sum assured reduces to $80,000.
• Age 50: Paul is diagnosed with advanced stage liver cancer. He receives a payout of $240,000 from the Advanced Critical Secure rider under the Dread Disease Benefit. He also receives a payout of $150,000 from the Early Critical Secure rider under the Advanced Restoration Benefit. Paul’s Complete Life Secure policy ends, and he is now covered under the Star Term Protect plan.
• Age 65: Assuming his base policy sum assured was $200,000 before any payouts, Paul exercises the Flexi Cash Access option, utilizing 80% of the sum assured. He receives an annual cash payout starting at $13,688 at age 65, and would receive a total of $181,171 over the next 10 years, assuming a long-term average return of 4.25% p.a. from the Life Participating Fund. If the long-term average return is 3.00% p.a., his annual cash payout starts at $9,490 and he would receive $122,085 over 10 years.

Total Payout:

• In total, Paul receives $800,000 from his Complete Life Secure policy and riders. This is in addition to the payouts he would receive under his new Star Term Protect plan and the Flexi Cash Access option.

Important Considerations:

• The figures used are for illustrative purposes and are rounded to the nearest dollar. The actual benefits payable will depend on the specific terms and conditions of the policy, as well as the future performance of the Life Participating Fund.
• The annual cash payout is not guaranteed and can vary depending on the performance of the Life Participating Fund.
• The policy conditions and specific definitions of covered conditions should be carefully reviewed for details about benefits and exclusions.

Some things to note. This review post will get dated. And the product might not be available for new subscriptions at some point. Hopefully this serves as reference for future policyholders who have forgotten what they have taken up.

There can be shifts in planning narratives over time. For example, limited premium tenures gain popularity over the years because people are less confident of their future earning capacity or sustainability of income levels. Regular payout features gained popularity when more and more people are in tune with the FIRE (Financial independence retire early) movement. An extended period of low interest rates brought down insurance products’ returns yield for policy holders, but now in a higher interest rates environment, things have changed.

NTUC Income’s Complete Life Secure may or may not fit into your financial plans. Understand that there is no best plan for all time, but there is a method to objectively facilitate your decisions. Read more about it here.

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