How I’m Planning My Insurance As Someone in the Sandwich Generation

At this stage of life, I see myself in a phase of preparation. I have plans to start a family in the future and to purchase a house. At the same time, I am very aware that I come from a family with limited financial resources. So when I think about insurance, I have to think beyond myself. I also have to think about what happens if I am no longer able to support myself, or worse, if I become a financial burden to the people around me.

That is also why the idea of being part of the sandwich generation is very real to me. In future, I may need to support both my parents and my own family at the same time. When you come from a background where there is little room for financial mistakes, your ability to earn an income becomes even more important.

Because of that, I have always felt that I need stronger protection for myself, not because I want to over-insure, but because not having enough coverage could have much heavier consequences for me and my family.

How I Think About Insurance Planning

I like to think about insurance planning through five key areas:

• Income loss due to death
• Income loss due to critical illness
• Income loss due to disability
• Increased medical expenses due to hospitalisation
• Increased expenses due to long-term care

This framework from Havend helps me organise my thinking and see clearly what I am covered for, and where my gaps still are.

Pillar 1: Income Loss due to Death

One of the earlier protection decisions I made was to get a whole life plan (coverage that lasts my entire life) because I was worried about the financial impact of death and critical illness, especially given my family situation and the lack of an existing safety net.

This whole life policy currently gives me:

• $500,000 death and total and permanent disability coverage
• $250,000 early-stage critical illness coverage
• $500,000 late-stage critical illness coverage

When I started my financial advisory career later on, I added a term plan (coverage for a set number of years) with $1 million of death coverage.

The reason was quite simple. I know that my responsibilities are likely to grow in the future. I have plans to start a family and buy a house, and during that phase of life, death coverage becomes much more important. It is not just about leaving behind a lump sum. It is about making sure that if something happens to me during my working years, all my existing loans and debts are fully covered, and my dependants can continue to maintain their standard of living without having to hold back on their own plans, such as attending university or my parents retiring.

To me, a term plan serves a very practical purpose. It gives me a larger amount of coverage during the years when my responsibilities are likely to be the largest, and it allows me to do that in a more cost-efficient way.

For now, my total death coverage of $1.5 million is more than sufficient to cover my parents' retirement lifestyle and, in all likelihood, my upcoming home loan should anything happen to me. However, when my income increases in the future and once I have children, I am looking to review and enhance my coverage further so that it keeps up with the rising responsibility.

Pillar 2: Income Loss due to Critical Illness

Critical illness coverage matters a lot to me because I think one of the biggest financial risks is not just dying too early, but surviving a serious illness and being unable to work for some time.

My whole life policy covers:

• $250,000 for early-stage critical illness
• $500,000 for late-stage critical illness

What concerns me is not just the cost of treatment itself, since most of those expenses can be covered by my hospital plan, but the stress of having to juggle earning an income with seeking treatment if a critical illness happens.

That is why having critical illness coverage gives me some peace of mind. If I am ever diagnosed with a critical illness, I can focus fully on recovering.

On this front, my current critical illness coverage looks relatively healthy. I like that my whole life plan not only covers my income replacement during my income earning years, but also provides a buffer for alternative medication and drugs outside the Cancer Drug List during my retirement years. What I would like to enhance next is a higher amount of late-stage critical illness coverage during my income earning years, through a term plan, should my salary rise in future.

Pillar 3: Income Loss due to Disability

This is currently the biggest gap in my portfolio.

At the moment, I do not have disability income insurance, and I am fully aware that this is an area I still need to work on. If I were to become disabled and unable to work, the impact could be very significant because my income is one of my biggest financial assets.

This gap becomes even more important when I think about my future role in the sandwich generation. If I am supporting both ageing parents and my own household one day, losing my monthly income due to disability would affect not just me, but the people who rely on me too.

For now, I focused first on getting my hospitalisation, critical illness, death coverage, and long-term care in place. So this is a real gap, not one I am ignoring, but one I still intend to address as my planning progresses.

Pillar 4: Increased Medical Expenses due to Hospitalisation

Hospitalisation coverage was one of the first things I made sure to have because I knew that a big medical bill could be financially painful if I ever had to pay for it on my own.

I am currently covered with a private hospitalisation plan together with a cash rider (an add-on to the policy) to cap my out-of-pocket expenses. Even though I may not need to be hospitalised in the next few years, I still see this as something important to secure early.

For me, one of the main reasons for getting private hospital coverage early is to lock in my insurability while I am still young and healthy. Health can change very quickly, and once that happens, getting the same level of coverage later may become much harder, or may no longer be possible.

I also like that private hospital coverage gives me more flexibility if I ever need treatment in future. On top of that, the cash rider helps to keep my out-of-pocket costs more manageable. Since I do not come from a family with a strong financial safety net, this is one area of coverage that I feel is especially important to hold.

Pillar 5: Increased Expenses due to Long-Term Care

For long-term care, I added a CareShield supplement because I recognise that the basic CareShield Life payout on its own is not likely to be enough.

My supplement currently provides:

• $1,600 per month
• On top of the prevailing CareShield Life benefit
• Payable if I become severely disabled

When I bought this about a year ago, my thinking was quite straightforward. I wanted to get some coverage in place first. I already knew then that it might not be enough for the long run, especially with care costs rising over time, but I felt it was still better to start somewhere than to leave it completely uncovered.

Long-term care is something I take seriously because severe disability can become a long and expensive burden. If I eventually have to care for both my parents and my own family, I would not want my own care needs to become another strain on everyone else. This is definitely an area I would like to review again in future and possibly enhance when my budget allows.

Why I Built My Coverage This Way

My insurance journey was not something I planned perfectly from day one. It grew gradually as I learned more, understood my own family situation more deeply, and became clearer on what I was really trying to protect against.

Because I come from a family without savings, CPF, or insurance coverage, I have always felt that I had to be intentional about protection planning. If something happens to me, the impact is likely to go beyond just my own expenses.

That is why the coverage I have today is built around a few key priorities:

• Private hospitalisation coverage with a cash rider
• Whole life coverage for death, total and permanent disability, and critical illness
• Additional term coverage for higher protection during my working years
• A CareShield supplement for long-term care needs

At the same time, I know my portfolio is not complete. The most obvious gap is still disability income insurance, and that is something I would want to review properly in the next phase of my planning.

How My Portfolio May Evolve

I do not see insurance planning as something fixed. It should evolve as life changes.

If I get married, have children, or take on a housing loan in future, I know I will need to review whether my current death and critical illness coverage is still enough. As my income grows, I would also want to revisit disability income protection and long-term care coverage to make sure they keep pace with my responsibilities.

For those of us who may eventually become part of the sandwich generation, I think this matters even more. Protection planning is not just about buying a few policies and calling it a day. It is about making sure the financial foundation you are building is strong enough for the responsibilities you are likely to carry.

A Final Thought

If there is one thing I have learned from my own journey, it is that insurance planning is not just about owning policies. It is about understanding why each policy exists and what role it plays in your life.

I started out buying insurance without really understanding it. Over time, that changed. Today, every plan I have serves a clearer purpose in my overall protection planning.

My portfolio is not perfect, and there are still areas I want to improve. But it reflects where I am today, the family background I come from, and the responsibilities I know I may have to carry in the future.

If you also come from a family without much of a financial safety net, I think the key is not to aim for the perfect plan straight away. Start by understanding your risks, put the essential coverage in place, and build from there as your life grows and changes.