SRS Approved Insurance Plans
What are Your SRS Insurance Plan options?
If you are looking to invest your SRS money in Single Premium Insurance plan, we have summarised the solutions for you to make an informed decision.
In next sections, we give an overview of different Single Premium Insurance Plan allowed for SRS investment and a simple guide on choosing one for yourself.
Option 1
Wealth Accumulation Plan
A Wealth Accumulation Plan is one where you pay a one-time premium, which then gathers value over time to give you a lump sum payout in the future, at a date of your choice or at maturity.
This type of Participating Endowment Plan provides both Guaranteed & Non-Guaranteed Return. The Non-Guaranteed Return usually comes from Reversionary Bonus and Terminal Bonus.
Reversionary Bonus is declared and credited to the policy every year. Once these bonuses are added to your policy, they are guaranteed and will be provided for regardless of the performance of the insurer’s Life Participating Fund.
The policyholder can surrender the policy for lump sum surrender value when he deems the time is right. The longer he holds the policy, the higher the lump sum surrender value.
In short, If you want to have the flexibility to decide when to withdraw the money for retirement and let the power of compounding works on the SRS money, this is one good option.
Pro:
- Total Return in long term is much higher than SRS account interest rate of 0.05% p.a.
- Flexibility to decide when to withdraw
- Capitalise on the long term savings horizon to grow your wealth thru the power of compounding
Con:
- If policyholder needed to withdraw SRS money prematurely, the policyholder may suffer losses on top of early withdrawal penalty by SRS scheme consequently.
SRS Approved Wealth Accumulation Plans
- Protected against Death & Terminal Illness
- Capital guaranteed upon maturity
- Partial Withdrawal Option
- Flexible choice of policy terms
- Guaranteed Insurability Option
- Protected against Death & Terminal Illness
- Capital guaranteed at ~ Year 10
- Partial Withdrawal Option
- Retrenchment Benefit
- Protected against Death & Terminal Illness
- Capital guaranteed at ~ Year 15
- Partial Withdrawal Option
- TPD Benefit (up to Age70)
Option 2
Retirement Income Plan
Retirement Income Plan pays you regular monthly or yearly income when you retire. Most importantly, you can choose to get an income stream starting from a retirement age of your choice.
In addition, the policyholder can decide to receive the retirement income over several years or for lifetime at selected retirement age.
This type Participating Endowment Plan also gives Guaranteed & Non-Guaranteed return. Again, the Non-Guaranteed Return usually comes from Reversionary Bonus and Terminal Bonus.
The annual bonuses once declared and credited to your policy, is guaranteed and will not be affected by any subsequent years’ revisions.
In short, retirement income plan help you plan ahead and create regular cash flow during your retirement. The additional retirement income from the plan will supplement your CPF Life.
Pro:
- Total Return over a long investment time horizon is much higher than SRS account interest rate of 0.05% p.a.
- Flexibility to structure a retirement income cash flow after reaching penalty-free period and spread throughout 10 years to optimise tax saving.
Con:
- If policyholder needed to withdraw SRS money prematurely, the policyholder may suffer losses on top of early withdrawal penalty by SRS scheme consequently.
SRS Approved Retirement Income Plans
- Protected against Death & Terminal Illness
- Capital guaranteed at maturity
- Option to accumulate cash benefit with Income at the prevailing interest rate, currently at 3.25% p.a. (as of Nov2021)
- Option to change the payout period
- Accidental Death Benefit
- Disability Care Benefit
- Protected against Death & Terminal Illness
- Capital guaranteed at maturity
- Option to accumulate cash benefit with Income at the prevailing interest rate, currently at 3.00% p.a. (as of Nov2021)
- Option to change the payout period
- Retrenchment Payout Benefit
- Loss of Independence (LOI) Income Benefit
- Protected against Death
- Capital guaranteed at Maturity
- Option to accumulate cash benefit with Income at the prevailing interest rate, currently at 2.75% p.a. (as of Nov2021)
- Protected against Death & Terminal Illness
- Capital guaranteed at ~ Year 8 or end of Accumulation period, whichever earlier
- Option to accumulate cash benefit with Income at the prevailing interest rate, currently at 3.00% p.a.(as of Nov2021)
Option 3
Short Term Guaranteed Return Plan
This type of Non-Participating Endowment Plan gives a Guaranteed Maturity Return over a short policy term, usually 3 years.
If your investment time horizon is less than 10 years, this may be a good choice.
Pro:
- Guaranteed Maturity Return higher than SRS account interest rate of 0.05% p.a.
- Short Policy Term allows policyholder who is reaching retirement age not to lock in the SRS money beyond their desired withdrawal time.
Con:
- Return is capped at the guaranteed maturity rate
- If policyholder would like to renew upon maturity after 3 years, the return rate for a new plan may be lower due to market condition.
- Plans are launched from time to time in limited tranche at insurer’s discretion, and it’s on first-come-first-serve basis.
SRS Approved Short Term Guaranteed return Endowment Plans
- Protected against Death & TPD
- Capital guaranteed upon maturity
Option 4
ILP (Investment-Linked Plan)
Like any regular ILP, these plans allow you to make lump sum investment in any chosen ILP sub-funds (Unit Trust Funds) offered under the plan.
Therefore, the return of your policy depends on the return of your chosen Sub-Fund and there is no guaranteed return portion. Policy holder can decide to redeem the investments anytime through full surrender or partial withdrawals.
If your risk profile can tolerate short to mid-term market fluctuation for potential higher return in the long run , this may be a good choice.
Pro:
- Total Return of the policy depends on the return of the chosen sub-funds. So, it could outperform other Participating Endowment insurance plan. That is because the market cycle timing when you surrender may affect your return significantly. For instance, if you happen to surrender during Bull Market peak, your return may be higher.
- Some ILP offer portfolio type investment choice.
- Some ILP allows retail investor to access AI (Accredited Investor) funds or restricted funds.
Con:
- Likewise, the total return of the policy could underperform other Participating Endowment insurance plan if you have to surrender during Bear Market bottom.
- ILP tends to have higher than other unit trust investment methods
- ILP tends to have more restriction in terms of top-up, withdrawal, etc than other unit trust investment mehods
SRS Approved Investment-Linked Plan
- Protected against Death & Terminal Illness
- Partial Withdrawal Option
- Target Monthly Retirement Income Option
- Access to AI or restricted Fund
- Actively Managed Portfolios thru AIA Elite Funds
- Choices of portfolio according to risk profile : AIA Elite Conservative / Balanced / Adventurous
- Protected against Death
- Partial Withdrawal Option
- Free Switching
- Access to AI or restricted Fund
- Secure coverage against market downturns with high watermark locked-in Policy Value feature on Death benefit (#goElite Secure)
- Protected against Death & Terminal Illness
- Partial Withdrawal Option
- Free Switching
- wide range of ~100 available funds
- Protected against Death & Terminal Illness
- Partial Withdrawal Option
- Free Switching
- Manulife ILP Sub-Funds
- Protected against Death
- Partial Withdrawal Option
- Free Switching
- TM ILP Sub-Funds
- Protected against Death
- Partial Withdrawal Option
- Free Switching
- NTUC ILP sub-funds
Conclusion
When deciding which is the best option for yourself, be reminded that you have committed this SRS money till your prevailing statutory retirement age. Therefore, make use of this time horizon to reap the benefit of compound return. If you let your SRS money sits in SRS account earning 0.05% p.a., you are losing out quite a bit here.
Before you go, spend a few minutes more to read on some essential information about SRS scheme and watch short clips on “How to build a retirement portfolio with SRS” and “Why use SRS to buy retirement policies?”. Above all, feel free to request for a SRS insurance proposal by filling up a simple form below.
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