The number one motivation for people who come to ask about insurance is not tax or saving — it is a short phrase: "I have someone to worry about." But what that worry looks like differs completely from person to person, and so does the tool that answers it. This article matches four main kinds of worry to the insurance structure that fits each most closely. Find yours.
Worry 1: your children — cover must last until they can stand on their own
A parent's problem: if we are not here, the children must have the money to be raised and to finish their education. The main tool is life cover on the parents (not on the children), sized at the annual cost of raising them multiplied by the years until they are independent, plus the education target. Use long-term term cover to keep the premium down, and add a waiver of premium rider to the child's education plan, so it continues even if something happens to the person paying. For the details, read our article on three types of insurance for parents of young children.
Worry 2: your parents — a two-layer problem to plan together
Worrying about parents has two layers. The first: their treatment costs when they fall ill, answered with health insurance for them (if they can still be accepted under the age and health conditions) or with a family health fund of the kind we have written about. The second, which people often forget: if something happens to you, who keeps sending them money? That is answered with life cover on yourself, naming your parents as beneficiaries, sized at the monthly amount you send multiplied by the years you want to provide for. It is filial care, properly planned.
Worry 3: your partner — the balance between two people who depend on each other
A couple's problem: household expenses are built on two incomes. If one disappears, can the other carry it? The tool: life cover on both of you, proportionate to income — not only on the main earner, since the housework and care the other provides also has a value that would have to be paid for. Add health cover complete for both, and remember to update the beneficiaries to each other — particularly for couples living together without being legally registered, where naming each other on the policy matters all the more, because automatic inheritance law does not cover it.
Worry 4: debt and guarantors — don't let obligations become an inheritance
The problem: a mortgage, business debt, or debt with a guarantor. If you are not here, the obligation falls on the family or the guarantor immediately. The precise tool: term cover with a sum equal to the debt and a term equal to the life of the debt. As the debt falls, the cover expires alongside it, which makes the premium very economical. Or MRTA, which is tied to the loan — compare the two before choosing. This is the worry that can be solved most completely of them all, because the figures are clear from the start.
If you have several worries at once, how do you order them?
In real life, worries usually overlap. The ordering principle: start with the one that depends on you most completely and for the longest (usually young children), then the debts that have legal consequences for other people, and add the other layers as the budget allows. Remember that all the worries together must keep the premium within a sustainable frame (around a tenth of income), because a policy that does not reach its destination protects nobody at all.
In short
"Having someone to worry about" is the best starting point for planning, because it translates into a clear problem: worried about whom, for how long, and for how much? Answer those three and the tool chooses itself. Try writing a list of the people you worry about and putting a number beside each. That is the blueprint of your insurance plan. If you would like to turn that list into a real plan, message us on LINE any time.
This article was inspired by material from the Thai Financial Planners Association (TFPA) and has been entirely rewritten.