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Growing Up: Falls and Bumps Can Easily Lead to Accidents
Early career stage: the risk of death should not be overlooked.
Peak career-building years and family-forming years: heavier burdens on your shoulders
Harvesting phase of life: the death protection gap disappears
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【Children/Middle-aged/Older adults】When should you buy which insurance? A closer look at the five key stages of life.
Different stages of life come with different risks, which require suitable insurance products to transfer those risks, such as medical insurance and life insurance. However, insurance is indeed very complicated, and many people cannot be bothered to understand the differences, consequently putting off buying insurance and exposing themselves to risk.
In fact, we can simply divide life into five stages: childhood and growing up, entering the workforce, striving during one’s prime, starting a family, and enjoying the fruits of life. By carefully listing the risks we may face, such as illness, injury and property loss, and then matching them with the relevant types of insurance, everything naturally becomes clear at a glance.
Growing Up: Falls and Bumps Can Easily Lead to Accidents
When you are young, you do not need to worry about financial burdens, as your parents are your strongest support. The greatest risk you face is the risk of illness or injury. Young people tend to have a relatively weak awareness of potential dangers, and accidental injuries are common. These may range from minor skin injuries to more serious injuries affecting the bones that require hospital treatment, while many parents opt for private healthcare services. Therefore, when assessing their children’s insurance needs, parents should consider whether they can afford the relevant medical expenses. Medical insurance, such as VHIS and personal accident insurance, can be invaluable.
Early career stage: the risk of death should not be overlooked.
After leaving school and entering the workforce, you become responsible for your future life. Being young and healthy, and having no financial burdens, are no longer excuses for overlooking insurance. The first consideration is whether, in the unfortunate event of your death, your dependants, including your parents, would receive a death benefit to reduce their financial burden. Among the options, term life insurance (also known as pure life insurance) has lower premiums and may be suitable for those who have just entered the workforce.
Another consideration is purchasing critical illness insurance, such as whole life critical illness insurance (also known as savings-type critical illness insurance) or term critical illness insurance (also known as pure critical illness insurance). If you unfortunately develop a specified critical illness in the future, you can receive a benefit to help pay for medical and living expenses. Medical insurance and personal accident insurance taken out in the early years should also be maintained, as the associated risks have not significantly decreased.
Peak career-building years and family-forming years: heavier burdens on your shoulders
As you grow older, your health risks increase, as do your financial commitments. When you enter your peak earning years and start a family, medical insurance and life insurance remain necessary to help transfer these risks. In addition, you may face more property and personal liability risks. For example, after purchasing a property or car, or hiring domestic help, you may consider taking out home, motor and domestic helper insurance to avoid losses caused by accidents, as well as potential legal expenses and compensation claims.
Longevity risk is often overlooked. As people in Hong Kong live longer, the retirement funds or assets originally set aside may not be sufficient to support several decades of retirement. In such cases, you may consider insurance products that can help with retirement planning, such as a Qualifying Deferred Annuity Policy (commonly known as a tax-deductible annuity).
It is worth noting that during your peak working years, you may need to support not only your parents but also your children, while purchasing a property may involve taking on a substantial mortgage. As a result, the need for life insurance protection is often at its highest. Put simply, it ensures that, if anything unfortunate happens to you, your family can withstand the heavy financial burden. A whole life insurance policy with a savings element may be a good choice.
Harvesting phase of life: the death protection gap disappears
As your hair turns silver and you gradually enter the harvest stage of life, your children begin their careers and you are no longer the sole financial pillar of the family. The risk of death decreases substantially, while the risks of illness and longevity increase accordingly. In other words, the key areas to review at this stage are medical insurance and annuities. The life annuity plan offered by HKMC Annuity may be one option for elderly people seeking to hedge against longevity risk.
Finally, if you would like to understand how different life experiences affect your current and future insurance needs, and at which stage you may face the largest life insurance protection gap, you can use the assessment tool provided by the Insurance Authority. You may also use the 10Life Insurance Decoder to compare insurance products.
Further reading:
【Personal Accident Insurance Comparison 2025】Which insurer offers the best physiotherapy and bone-setting coverage? Which personal accident insurance plan pays the most? (Featuring exclusive actuarial ratings)
【Medical Insurance for the Elderly】Can people aged 60 or above take out medical insurance? What should you be aware of when applying?
【Personal Accident Insurance Comparison 2025】Which insurer offers the best physiotherapy and bone-setting coverage? Which personal accident insurance plan pays the most? (Featuring exclusive actuarial ratings)
【Medical Insurance for the Elderly】Can people aged 60 or above take out medical insurance? What should you be aware of when applying?
Note: Information as at 20 May 2022
This English version of this article has been generated by machine translation powered by AI. It is provided solely for reference purposes. In the event of any discrepancy or inconsistency between this translation and the original Chinese version, the Chinese version shall prevail.
10Life Editorial Team
Our team of professional content researchers focussing on insurance
10Life Editorial Team
Our team of professional content researchers focussing on insurance
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