For many of us, we start gaining more exposure and knowledge about personal finance when we enter the workforce. We’re finally making our own money and have a substantial sum where we can decide how we want to put it to use.
As young graduates, we want to ensure that we’re right on track for our financial basics from the get-go so we could form a solid foundation for the future. This includes managing our cash flow well, saving for an emergency fund and getting sufficient insurance coverage.
Recently, we attended the InsureXpo by CIMB event that welcomed participants at the Suntec Convention Centre on 12 April 2025. The event aimed to help attendees plan for their financial future at every stage of life with various tools. The event brought together industry experts from insurers such as Singlife, FWD, Income and AIA, and community partners like Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board, Singapore Police Force, Mindline (by Ministry of Health) and National Youth Council.
Various popular speakers were present at the event as well such as founder of 1M65 Movement Loo Cheng Chuan and founder of Budget Babe Dawn Cher.
If you’ve missed out on the event, don’t worry as we’ve got you covered with these five insurance tips for young graduates from the InsureXpo.
#1 Start Early
Oftentimes, many of us pay attention only to imminent events such as settling our credit card bills at the end of the month. But it’s as important, if not more to plan for unexpected events as soon as we can as we never know when it might strike.
As mentioned by several speakers at the event including Helen Shen, Group Head Of Products at Singlife, it’s important to start planning for your financial future as early as possible. When it comes to planning your retirement, consider not only the retirement savings amount you want to achieve, but to have sufficient insurance coverage so your finances are protected.
Getting insurance coverage at an early age comes with benefits as well as you get to lock down lower premiums. Typically, the premium you need to pay for insurance is determined by the age at which you start buying insurance and increases as you get older.
Additionally, you don’t want to wait till old age to get insurance as by then, you could have developed a medical condition and may be deemed as uninsurable and have your application rejected. Without insurance, you will have to fork out your own savings to foot hospital bills, which can be very costly.
#2 Build From The Basics
One thing several speakers at the InsureXpo emphasised is to get started and familiarised with the basics and working it out from there. Renita Chua, Head of Bancassurance Partnerships, Group Distribution at Singlife mentioned about getting started with what we have, our national insurance schemes such as MediShield Life. If we want more coverage, we could top it off with Integrated Shield Plan and critical illness plans.
As you move forward in life and meet your partner and get married, you may have to look into home insurance, maternity plan and endowment plans.
In Singapore, MediShield Life – operated by CPF – provides universal basic health insurance coverage to all Singaporeans and permanent residents from the moment you’re birthed.
MediShield Life helps you pay for your larger hospital bills at Class B2 and C wards (six to 10 bedders) and selected outpatient treatments. You can supplement your insurance coverage with Integrated Shield Plan (IP), which combines MediShield Life with an additional private insurance coverage component provided by a private insurer. Integrated Shield Plan offers additional coverage such as hospital stays in Class A and B1 wards (one to four bedders) in public hospitals or private hospitals, or option to choose your own doctors.
With 1 in 5 Singaporeans possibly being diagnosed with a critical illness, it may be prudent to consider critical illness plans as well, which provides a lump sum payout to cover your medical and non-medical related expenses.
#3 It’s Personal
It’s common to seek the advice of our peers and friends on things we’re unsure of. But according to Dawn Cher, the founder of SG Budget Babe, when it comes to buying insurance, there’s no one size fits all. Everyone has their own unique lifestyle, liabilities and needs.
For example, if you’re an outdoor enthusiast who engages in high-risk sports activities such as mountain biking or scuba diving, then you may consider getting a comprehensive accident plan.
Dawn also shared that she would speak to multiple licensed insurance agents and compare the plans and pricings before purchasing a policy. Or you could also attend events like the InsureXpo, where you can meet like-minded peers and even engage directly with some of the speakers to ask them questions and learn more.
#4 Changed Perspective Towards Insurers
During the discussion of topic, ‘Shaping The Future Of Insurance’, several of the speakers mentioned the change in the role of insurers.
Kelvin Kua, Chief Partnership Distribution Officer at AIA spoke of how insurers are gradually moving from a mere industry player to a partner to their clients and working towards promoting preventative healthcare so clients can keep being healthy and enjoy retirement. Insurance plans provide coverage to clients but at a price. Prevention would minimise the severity and costs of damaging events.
Helen Shen, Group Head Of Products at Singlife also added that with data explosion, insurance products will be more customised to the populations of Singapore compared to before, which is quite generalised regardless of the person’s lifestyle.
#5 Think Long-Term
Living in an aging nation, healthcare costs are expected to rise. Additionally, the medical industry is increasingly adopting advanced technology, which can add to the costs as well. Globally, medical costs are expected to increase by 10% in 2025, with medical conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer and high blood pressure driving the uptick. By 2030, about 21% of Singaporeans will be over the age of 65.
Thus, it’s important to adopt a long-term approach when planning your insurance and finances and not just look at the costs today.
According to the MAS’ Basic Financial Planning Guide, you could obtain insurance protection for critical illness that has a coverage of four times your annual income and death and total permanent disability with a coverage of nine times your annual income.
Read Also: Why InsureXpo by CIMB 2025 Is The Example For How Insurance Events Should Be Done
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