Whenever someone comes to talk about insurance, the questions they ask come down to the same three. This article collects all three with a way of thinking through the answers, so that whichever agent you sit down with, you go in confident that you already know your own needs.
Question 1: Which kind of insurance should I buy?
The answer does not begin with a product but with your own risks. Ask yourself: what event, if it happened, would break your finances most?
- If the answer is "serious illness with a large treatment bill" → health insurance comes first.
- If the answer is "if I were gone, my family would lose their income" → life cover is the main thing.
- If the answer is "no money to live on in old age" → an annuity or endowment for a long-term goal.
The easy rule is to buy to close the strongest risk first, then add the next layer as your means allow. Don't start from the plan someone else says is good, because no two people's risks are the same.
Question 2: How much cover is enough?
For life cover, the basic method is to add up the obligations that would fall on the people behind you: outstanding debts, family expenses through the adjustment period (three to five years, say), and the goals you want to keep providing for, such as a child's education. Then subtract the assets and cover you already have. The shortfall is the sum you should have. We set out the detailed calculation in our dedicated article on the sum insured — worth reading alongside.
For health insurance, "enough" is measured against the room rate and treatment costs of the hospital you actually intend to use, not a round number that sounds large.
Question 3: How much premium is not too much?
The approach commonly used is that total premiums across all policies should not exceed around a tenth of annual income, so that you can keep paying throughout the contract without squeezing essential expenses and other savings. That is only a starting point: someone with heavy obligations may need to go lower, while someone with a high income and few obligations may go higher. The heart of it is "affordable in the worst year, not the best," because insurance is a long-term contract and abandoning a policy halfway is a loss that can be prevented on the day you choose the premium.
A bonus question: when should I buy?
The shortest answer is while your health is still good — the premium is lower for your age, and the chance of being accepted without conditions is higher. A condition found before applying usually becomes an exclusion on the new policy. Waiting "until I'm more ready" therefore has a hidden cost.
In short
All three questions are answered by the same sequence: know your own risks, calculate the real obligations, and choose a sustainable premium. With those answers in hand, choosing the plan becomes the easiest step of all. If you would like to work through each one with your own situation, message us on LINE any time.
This article was inspired by material from the Thai Financial Planners Association (TFPA) and has been entirely rewritten.