If you want an insurance plan that protects you against the unexpected and offers flexible investment options, TM FlexiAssurance is a great place to start.
This regular premium investment-linked whole life plan guarantees coverage for unfortunate life events such as Total and Permanent Disability, death, and Terminal Illness throughout the insurance term.
Here, we comprehensively reviewed TM FlexiAssurance to see if it meets your needs.
Keep reading.
Criteria
- Minimum investment period of 8 years
- Minimum regular premium of $125/month
General Features
Premium Payments
This policy requires you to make premium payments throughout the policy term. The table below shows the minimum regular premium payable depending on the payment interval selected.
| Payment Interval | Minimum Regular Premium Amount |
| Annual | $1,500 |
| Half-annually | $750 |
| Quarterly | $375 |
| Monthly | $125 |
Protection
Death Benefit
- If death occurs on or before the insurance coverage term expires, their loved ones or beneficiaries will receive the basic sum assured, plus 101% of the ordinary premium policy value, and 100% of the top-up amounts, less indebtedness.
- If death occurs after the insurance coverage term has expired, their loved ones or beneficiaries will be paid 101% of the regular premium policy value and 100% of the top-up premium policy value, less any indebtedness.
The policy will terminate thereafter.
Terminal Illness (TI) Benefit
The payment of the TI Benefit will result in the reduction of the basic sum assured. The policy will continue with the balance of the basic sum assured and policy values, if any.
TI Benefits are payable under the following circumstances:
- If death occurs after the TI claim, their beneficiary will receive the remaining basic sum assured, 101% of the total amount of premiums paid during the policy term, and 100% of additional premium payments made
- If TI is diagnosed after the insurance coverage term expires, the policyholder will be paid 101% of any regular premium policy value and 100% of any top-up premiums made, less indebtedness.
The maximum amount for this benefit payable, including all other policies issued, is S$4,500,000. After which, the policy will be terminated.
Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Rider
TPD Benefits will be paid in the following circumstances;
- If TPD is diagnosed on or before the policy anniversary on which the policyholder is of age 70 next birthday, the compensation will be the TPD sum assured, less any amounts owed. The payment will be in a lump sum up to the TPD limit.
- If death occurs after the TPD claim, their beneficiaries will be paid the basic sum assured, 101% of the premiums paid during the policy term, and 100% of additional premium payments made.
The maximum amount for this benefit payable, including all other policies issued, is S$4,500,000.
Key Features
No Lapse Guarantee Privilege
This ensures the life assured is protected, even if there aren’t enough units to cover the monthly fees and charges.
However, this is subject to several conditions:
- All regular premiums for the basic plan must be paid within the 30-day grace period,
- No withdrawal of regular premium units should have been made since the policy’s inception,
- The insurance coverage term should not have expired,
- The policy has not been on a premium holiday
- You have a standard life,
- This privilege only applies to the sum assured amount for the basic benefit, TPD Rider and/or Dread Disease/Critical Illness Accelerator Rider as at policy inception. It does not apply to the increased portion of the sum assured done after policy inception.
If you terminate this privilege for any reason, you cannot reinstate it afterwards.
Loyalty Bonus
After every 5-year policy cycle, you will receive a Loyalty Bonus if you don’t make any withdrawals within that period.
The policy takes 10% of your total regular premiums paid and divides it by 5 years to arrive at the bonus payable.
Regular Premium Reduction
You may reduce the regular premium after paying the first 2 years of regular premiums.
However, the reduction is subject to the minimum regular premium requirement, minimum regular premium reduction limit, and maximum basic sum assured limit.
The table below shows the minimum regular premium reduction amount:
| Premium Mode | Minimum Reduction Amount |
| Annual | $600 |
| Half-annually | $300 |
| Quarterly | $150 |
| Monthly | $50 |
Ad-Hoc Top-up Premiums
Upon application for the Tokio Marine FlexiAssurance, you may make premium top-ups any time after the start date of your policy.
The minimum top-up amount is $1,200, with each subsequent top-up also requiring a minimum of $1,200.
The resulting sum, less the premium charge, will be put towards purchasing more units.
While this feature is available, it will not increase your basic sum assured.
Change of Basic Sum Assured
You can increase your basic sum assured on your policy’s anniversary without changing your regular premium amount.
This is subject to a minimum of $10,000 and the maximum basic sum assured limit.
You’ll be charged a monthly fee for the increased portion based on your age, gender, and smoker status at the time of the increase.
Partial Withdrawal/Full Surrender
You can withdraw partially from your policy as long as it’s active. The minimum withdrawal amount is $1,000.
After withdrawal, you must have at least $1,000 remaining in each invested fund. Otherwise, you must withdraw all the money from that fund.
Your policy’s total value must also be at least $1,000.
There’s no fee for withdrawing your premium top-ups, but there is a fee for withdrawing regular premiums from the basic policy.
If you make a partial withdrawal, the top-up units will be taken out first, followed by the regular units if needed.
Withdrawing regular units will cancel your No Lapse Guarantee Privilege but won’t reduce the basic sum assured.
Premium Holiday
After paying the regular premium for the first 2 years of the policy, you can stop making regular premium payments.
Your policy will remain active so long as the total account value is sufficient to cover fees and charges.
Fund Switch
With the Tokio Marine FlexiAssurance, you can switch some or all of your original funds to another fund if it meets the current rules and approval.
A minimum amount of $500 is required for each fund switch.
If the value of units in the original fund is less than $500, you must switch out all the units.
After the fund switch, you must retain $500 in the original fund and $500 in the target fund.
Optional Rider Add-ons
Critical Illness Accelerator
This rider covers up to the policy sum assured if any of the critical illnesses covered are diagnosed.
It acts as an accelerator, meaning your sum assured will decrease based on the rider’s sum assured.
EarlyCare
The EarlyCare Rider covers critical illnesses at 3 different stages of severity (Early, Intermediate and Advanced) and Juvenile and Special Conditions.
Payer Benefit, Waiver of Premium Rider, and Spouse Add-on
In the case of an unexpected event such as TPD, death, or the unfortunate diagnosis of any covered critical illness, the future premiums will be waived.
KidAssure GIO Add-on
With this rider, you can provide your child with death coverage, protection against child-related illnesses, and more from your own policy.
Plus, if they reach the age of 19 without any claims, 80% of the premiums paid will be refunded to you.
Protect 1 Lite Add-on
The Protect 1 Lite Rider offers a monthly financial benefit for up to 6 years in the event of an inability to perform any one of the Activities of Daily Living (ADLs).
Similar to what an Eldershield supplement would do.
TM FlexiAssurance Fees and Charges
Premium Charge
Each regular premium and top-up will be subject to a premium charge of 5%, which will be deducted before allocating the premiums to the policy.
Fund Management Fee
The fee for each fund is specified in the policy documents. It is calculated as a percentage of each fund’s asset value and is applied daily.
Each fund will have different management fees, so be sure to note what you’re invested in.
Also, this ILP invests in Tokio Marine’s ILP sub-funds, which incurs an additional charge from the returns you see on the fund level.
So make sure your financial advisor tells you of this additional charge on top of the returns illustrated on the fund factsheet.
Policy Fee
At the start of each policy month, a policy fee of $5 is deducted in advance.
The policy fee will no longer apply on the policy anniversary when you reach 70.
Monthly Protection Charge
At the start of each policy month, the monthly protection charge is deducted in advance based on the basic sum assured or the sum assured of the rider that deducts units.
Regular premium units will be deducted first, followed by the top-up premiums if necessary.
The table below shows the rates for Monthly Protection Charges for Death/Terminal Illness:
The table below shows the Monthly Protection Charges for Total and Permanent Disability Rider:
Administrative Charge
An administrative charge of 0.2% is imposed on your regular premium policy value, and it’s deducted in advance every month during the surrender charge period.
Surrender Charge
A surrender charge will apply if you opt to partially withdraw or fully surrender your regular premium units within the surrender charge period.
However, this charge does not apply if you withdraw any premium top-ups made.
The surrender charges on regular premium policy value are as follows:
| Up to *Premium Year | Surrender Charge |
| 1 or less | 90% |
| 2 | 80% |
| 3 | 70% |
| 4 | 60% |
| 5 | 45% |
| 6 | 30% |
| 7 | 20% |
| 8 | 10% |
| 9 onwards | 0% |
*Premium Year is calculated by dividing the total regular premiums received by the total regular premium amount required from you for the first policy year. If the result does not result in a whole number, the value is rounded up to the nearest whole number.
Other Charges
A daily accounting and valuation fee of 0.03% per annum, based on the asset value of each respective fund, is charged.
In addition, each fund is responsible for paying its custodian fee and bank charges, which are also not included in return calculations.
Summary of the TM FlexiAssurance
| Cash and Cash Withdrawal Benefits | |
| Cash Value | Yes |
| Cash Value Benefits | Yes |
| Health and Insurance Coverage | |
| Death | Yes |
| Total Permanent Disability | Yes |
| Terminal Illness | Yes |
| Critical Illness | No |
| Early Critical Illness | No |
| Health and Insurance Coverage Multiplier | |
| Death | No |
| Total Permanent Disability | No |
| Terminal Illness | No |
| Critical Illness | No |
| Early Critical Illness | No |
| Optional Add-on Riders
Critical Illness Accelerator Rider EarlyCare Rider Waiver of Premium Rider (Enhanced) Payer Benefit Rider (Enhanced) Spouse Rider |
Yes |
| Additional Features and Benefits | Yes |
My Review of the Tokio Marine TM FlexiAssurance
The Tokio Marine TM FlexiAssurance provides financial protection to you and your loved ones in the event of death, TPD, and TI.
It has an array of riders providing you with early critical illness and critical illness coverage, premium waivers, and even extending coverage to your children!
The TM FlexiAssurance policy includes flexible premium payments, top-up premiums, and insurance coverage up to age 70.
However, this has way too many fees and charges, and it’s high too. Firstly, the premium charge is a steep 5%, while many other investment products are only 3%.
There are also policy fees, monthly protection charges, administrative charges, and other charges that add to the total fees you’re paying.
Not forgetting that the returns you see on the funds exclude fund management fees (and other fund-level fees), which can go up to 1.5% based on a quick glance.
That’s another 1.5% in annual fees you need to consider.
Also, this is a traditional ILP that many (including the Dollar Bureau team) do not recommend due to it mixing investments and insurance in a single policy.
They usually come with higher-than-usual fees, and your insurance portion will usually eat into your investments, affecting your retirement funds.
As this is also an investment, the point is to withdraw them when you need them. Withdrawing early (assuming you are past the minimum policy term) will reduce your sum assured.
You’re better off buying a term plan or a whole life plan with an investment-focused ILP (not traditional ones) to avoid these problems.
If you are still not sure, it may be helpful to consult with an MAS-licensed financial advisor to discuss your options and help you make an informed decision.
