GREAT Term Review: A Great Plan to Consider

Great Easten’s GREAT Term is a regular premium term life insurance that guards you against death and terminal illness.

This non-participating term plan also provides additional coverage against total and permanent disability and critical illness through riders.

Its convertible option enables you to transform your basic plan into an endowment, whole life, investment-linked policy, or universal life insurance.

Firstly, see how the Great Eastern GREAT Term compares to other term life insurance plans in Singapore:

Click on the image above to get it!

My Review of the Great Eastern GREAT Term

Great Eastern’s GREAT Term has 2 main advantages.

Firstly, the CI Illness riders (i.e. Living Care Rider and Complete Living Care Rider) provide highly extensive coverage of up to 121 CIs. This means that you are well protected financially against grave and unexpected illnesses.

Secondly, GREAT Term provides flexibility in allowing you to convert your basic plan into other insurance forms (i.e. endowment, universal life, whole life, or investment-linked policy). Further flexibility is given to policyholders in offering both partial or complete conversion options.

That being said, most term plans offer similar features as well. Furthermore, the GREAT Term also has its downsides.

Firstly, GREAT Term has a higher premium payable as compared to other term life insurance plans offered in the market.

^Premiums are calculated based on a 40-year coverage period for non-smoking 30 ANB male with a Sum Assured of S$500K for TPD & death

*Has both renewable and convertible options

Secondly, I feel that GREAT Term’s TPD coverage is less extensive in comparison to its competitor plans and is restricted. For instance, other term plans cover you if you have any 3/6 ADLs.

Thirdly, GREAT Term does not offer a renewable option. As such, you will not be able to extend your term life insurance plan when it “expires”, if that’s what you’re looking for.

If you’re a smoker, consider the Manulife ManuProtect Term III.

Looking for the cheapest term plan? The China Taiping i-Protect is by far the cheapest based on the comparison above.

If flexibility in a term plan, early critical illness, and critical illness coverage is something that you need from a term plan, then the Singlife Elite Term takes the cake.

Of course, this is just a personal opinion and you shouldn’t take my opinion as financial advice. The GREAT Term might be better for someone while there could be other term plans better for someone else.

With so many factors for consideration in purchasing insurance, deciding on the plan that best suits your needs can be an overwhelming process.

We suggest starting your research in our comparison of the best term plans in Singapore to help you make a more informed decision.

Once you understand your potential alternatives, you should consider getting a second opinion from an unbiased financial advisor to whether Great Eastern’s GREAT Term is the plan for you.

If you’d like to talk to someone who can assist you with this, we partner with MAS-licensed financial advisors who are happy to assist you.

Click here for a free non-obligatory chat.

Now let’s explore the GREAT Term in detail.

Criteria

• Minimum sum assured of S$50K.
• Minimum premium payable of S$120 annually.

Product Features

Policy Terms

GREAT Term’s coverage period starts from a term of 6 years till the individual reaches 100 ANB.

Premium Payment Terms & Options

The table below shows a sample of the premiums payable for a non-smoking, 35 ANB male who is married with one child.

Protection

Death Benefit

Should the insured encounter death, Great Eastern will reimburse the Death Benefit amounting to the basic sum assured or sum of premium payments, whichever is higher. The policy will then cease to be in-force.

The sum of premium payments can be calculated using the following equation:

(Basic premium adjusted based on the sum assured amount x Frequency of premium payment) x Policy age, counting only complete years

Terminal Illness (TI) Benefit

In the event terminal illness strikes, a one-time payout of the Terminal Illness (TI) Benefit amounting to the Death Benefit value will be paid to the insured. The policy will cease upon the reimbursement of the TI Benefit.

The TI Benefit will be paid when the following conditions are met:

• Insured is diagnosed with a terminal illness that leads to death in 12 months’ time or less.
• Diagnosis is definite and by a certified medical examiner. Where necessary, Great Eastern may require the diagnosis to be verified by a medical examiner appointed by them.

Additional Features & Benefits

Conversion Privilege

The Conversion Privilege allows you to convert your basic plan and its optional riders entirely or partially into an endowment, whole life, universal life, or investment-linked plan.

Medical underwriting is not required if you make the conversion before 70 ANB. The new plan must be verified to have the same or similar coverage to your existing plan by Great Eastern.

The sum assured of the new policy is capped at the original policy’s sum assured upon conversion. In the case of partial conversion, the sum assured of the original policy will decrease by the conversion amount, subject to the required minimum sum assured.

Premium rates of the new policy will be calculated based on your attained age upon conversion.

Add-on Riders

Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Benefit

The Total and Permanent (TPD) Benefit is paid when the insured is deemed permanently and irreversibly disabled by a medical practitioner. The table below details the types of TPD covered under the TPD Benefit:

The TPD Benefit takes the following forms:

• If the rider sum assured is the same as the basic sum assured, the basic plan’s Death Benefit will be paid and the policy will cease to be in-force.
• If the rider sum assured is lesser than the basic sum assured, the rider sum assured will be reimbursed as accelerated payment.
• If the insured is diagnosed with TPD before he turns 1 years old, 20% of the TPD Benefit will be reimbursed in one payout. The rider will then cease to be in-force.

The TPD Benefit is capped at S$5M across all Great Eastern policy plans and add-on riders.

Living Care Rider

The Living Care Rider safeguards you against these 53 types of major stage critical illnesses:

Upon diagnosis of any of the above critical illnesses (CI), the insured will receive a CI Benefit.

• For all claims excluding Angioplasty and Other Invasive Treatment for Coronary Artery:
  • If the rider sum assured is the same as the basic sum assured, the basic plan’s Death Benefit will be paid and the policy will cease to be in-force.
  • If the rider sum assured is lesser than the basic sum assured, the rider sum assured will be reimbursed as accelerated payment.
• For claims under Angioplasty and Other Invasive Treatment for Coronary Artery:
  • CI Benefit will be 10% of the rider sum assured, capped at S$25K.
  • Upon payment, no claims under Angioplasty and Other Invasive Treatment for Coronary Artery may be made across all Great Eastern policies and riders.
  • The basic sum assured, rider sum assured and policy premiums will be decreased by the CI Benefit.

All CI Benefit reimbursements are capped at S$3M across all Great Eastern policies and riders.

Complete Living Care Rider

The Complete Living Care Rider protects you against 121 early, intermediate, and major stage CIs.

References

Official website

Product Brochure

Product Summary

Product Summary w/ CI