4 Insurance Plans That Malaysians Must Buy While Working In Singapore

I still remember the early days when I was randomly given freebies when I exited the MRT gantry.

Back then, I didn’t know it was a marketing gimmick for financial planners to get a quick survey out of me.

Fast forward to today, whenever someone offers a random freebie, my automatic reaction is to hold up my hand and say “No, thank you”.

While there are no right or wrong ways to approach potential clients, this particular method is just not my cup of tea.

To reaffirm, I am not against insurance. In fact, I have always encouraged fellow Malaysians who come over to Singapore to make a living to be properly protected. I view proper insurance planning as wealth protection, as no one wants to see their hard-earned income whittled away by random unfortunate events.

Even for Malaysians who might not be planning to work and stay in Singapore for a long period of time, it is still vital to get optimum coverage.

So what are the most important insurances Malaysians should buy working in Singapore? Here’re 4 you should have:

1. Medical Insurance

Medical insurance, colloquially known as medical cards, is the most basic insurance to get once you are more or less settled with life in Singapore.

A medical card pays for your medical expenses as specified in your medical plan. It covers the trips to the clinic whenever you are sick to hospitalization.

I get it.

Some of you might argue, that your current employer has added this as an employment benefit.

Or that you might already have one back in Malaysia.

Or you commute daily to and fro from Johore to Singapore.

If you are certain you’ll spend your entire working career with the same employer, or you are very confident of finding future employment that will always offer medical cards as an employee benefit, you can happily forego this.

But should you eventually come across an employer who pays above-average wages but does not offer medical insurance, what would you do?

For those who have a medical card back in Malaysia and opt not to get one in Singapore, has it ever occurred to you; what if you suddenly need to be hospitalised due to unforeseen circumstances?

if you are confident about obtaining any repatriations back to a Malaysian hospital in the event of a serious injury while you are in Singapore, perhaps you might not need a Singapore medical card after all!

My Personal Take

I got my personal medical card a few months after I’ve arrived in Singapore, even though my previous employer also offered medical insurance. I am also still financing my Malaysian medical card religiously as I do not know whether I will eventually move back to Malaysia or not.

2. Life Insurance

Most Malaysians who come over to Singapore for work carry the heavy burden of being a major breadwinner of their family.

That means, should any unfortunate and fatal events happen to us, we want to ensure that our family and dependents have some leeway and breathing space.

This is where life insurance comes into play. Life insurance will provide financial protection to your loved ones in case of your death. It can be also used to pay off debts and other obligations that you might be having.

Depending on how much your family is relying on you financially, and your current liabilities, getting a life insurance with sufficient coverage will provide some breathing space if you are gone. It could even prevent them from shouldering your liabilities.

If you have life insurance in Malaysia that sufficiently covers you, you can skip getting one in Singapore. But do take note that the stronger SGD can play a favorable role in the payout amount after conversion back to MYR.

With regards to buying term or whole life, I believe that there are 2 sides to a coin. Are you financially savvy enough to save up and invest on your own? If not, buying life might actually be a viable option for you to ponder on!

Everyone knows that term is cheaper, and “buy term, invest the rest” is the go-to catchphrase.

So is “buy low, sell high” and “price is what you pay, value is what you get”. But you don’t see many millionaires divulging what to buy and at what price to buy term insurance, right?

3. Personal Accident Insurance

Getting your hospital bills covered and your family covered if something fatal happens to you are just the different ends of unfortunate events – mild and extreme.

What if something “in-between” happens?

Serious injuries from accidents can lead to disabilities, where we not only might not be able to work but also face difficulties in daily living activities. How can we and our families be protected?

Personal accident insurance is useful in such scenarios. Some even come with income support during periods when you might not be able to perform your job and obtain earned income.

It is also crucial for those who commute a lot via driving or motorcycles. The risk of getting into an accident is relatively higher when you are on the road or are working in high-risk areas.

And when accidents happen, we might not have the choice or viability to be sent back to a hospital in Malaysia for urgent attention.

4. Critical Illness Insurance

Last on the list is critical illnesses. Critical illnesses can be devastating, but the fatality of it will not be instantaneous.

Illnesses usually build up over time and it also depends on how early it is detected. Early detection and swift remedial actions can reduce the severity of it.

Getting sufficient coverage on critical illnesses can be done via an insurer in Singapore or Malaysia at your own preference. It boils down to the amount of coverage and whether you prefer coverage in SGD or MYR

Should you prefer to seek treatment in Singapore, then subscribing to a critical illness plan might be something you need to consider.

Insurances are a safety net bet in the opposite spectrum of the game of probability

What are the chances of unwanted events happening to us?

That does sound a bit familiar what are the odds of winning a jackpot? Got buy got hope, no buy no hope!

Insurances are bets on the opposite spectrum that help protect us in the event of an unforeseen and unlucky event happening.

While no one bets for an insurance payout to happen, it’s more of a consolation for the protection coverages should the misfortunate events be triggered.

Honestly, not all 4 types of insurance are required for Malaysian SG PRs. The important ones are medical cards and personal accident coverage. This again can depend on your income level, the nature of your job, and your desired treatment.

Yes, it is a cost to bear. It might even affect your spending power to a certain extent. But I’d rather finance these premiums rather than have an unlikely event of wiping out my savings.

The phrase “penny wise, pound foolish” comes into play for those who are willing to take the risk. Personally, I build my insurance coverage to ensure I can happily deploy my war chest into stocks and equities during the right time, knowing that I would not need to force sell my portfolio to finance any obligations arising from unfortunate events.

But that’s just me. Perhaps my investor intuition, risk analysis, and thought process have driven me to look at risks on a wider spectrum with a tangible plan for containing them.