The desire to enhance financial security for our family and to ensure we have sufficient funds for our children’s education and a comfortable retirement are the three key milestones many of
us wish to achieve. While we understand the importance of starting early in financial planning to achieve our financial goals, other more pressing matters such as buying a car, owning a house, or providing for day to day expenses tend to make us defer this action.
When faced with this dilemma of choosing between planning for the future or immediate gratification, the latter always seems more appealing but it is often at the detriment of our future.
Take saving for retirement as an example where inadequate savings for the retirement years are a major concern of many.
The average EPF savings of an active member at age 54 (a year before the retirement) is approximately RM132,000. Without taking into consideration inflation as well as investment returns, a simple calculation reveals that when you reach the age of 75, the average life expectancy of a Malaysian, you will have only RM550 to spend every month. This amount is definitely insufficient for many who look forward to a comfortable retirement that includes travelling around the world with their loved ones.
If inflation is taken into consideration the picture is even gloomier. Inflation is not the only concern. Medical upkeep is another concern that is troubling many of us. Compounded with rising cost of medical treatment, medical upkeep will form a significant portion of our household expenses.
According to a recent consumer research conducted by AXA Affin Life Insurance, those aged above 35 years old cited health and its associated healthcare cost as a key concern as they anticipate that they are likely to encounter increasing health problems as they age.
Younger consumers, between the ages of 25 to 35, share the same concern for health as they become increasingly aware that illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and heart diseases have no age or gender bias and are becoming more common among the young.
To top the concern, they share their fear of the rising medical costs, potentially limiting their treatment options. There is a genuine fear that a sudden and unexpected major hospitalisation will wipe out their hard-earned savings.
The general preference of consumers is that they would like to have the ability to take care of themselves financially when they are old, so as not to burden their families. Most also acknowledge the fact that they had been slow to act, often torn between what is needed now versus what is needed to prepare for the future.
On this note, AXA Affin Life believes it is important to continuously educate our customers on the importance of financial planning. We believe education will impart knowledge and knowledge will motivate the will to act now. Part of the education process is to advise customers on the range of solutions available to help them achieve their financial goals while addressing their concerns.
At AXA Affin Life, we tailor our financial solutions with customers at the heart of our innovation.
Our investment-linked plan –Wealth Protector – is tailor-made to the customer’s affordability level while giving customers the control to prioritise and channel their savings towards the three financial goals. At the same time, it provides you with a comprehensive range of protection that includes disability, death, hospitalisation, critical illness and accident.
You will have access to comprehensive medical coverage with no lifetime limit on the total amount that you claim (except for Special Benefits) and covers you up to age 81, well into your retirement years, ensuring that you have access to medical care when you need it most.
With such a customer-centric solution, we hope to remove the dilemma of whether this is the right time to start and empower our customers to start immediately.
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