Insurance....Do we actually need it?

When my little girl was born about two and half years ago, I took the initiative to make some calls to some friends who are in the agency business. I spoke to them and told them that I'm looking for a product/investment/insurance/education plan for my little girl. What I initially wanted was to have some sort of 'cushion' or a back-up plan when she reaches 18 years old. I wanted to have a 'safe' amount for her 3rd level education.

I must confess that I value education very highly and it is the most important thing that I can give her besides my love. Hehehe. In addition, education costs seems to be on the rise every year and I predict that I will need a figure of about RM200k-RM400k for her 3rd level education purposes in about 16 years time. Hence, I decided to opt for education + insurance plan provided by Prudential (which for me, provides what i wanted all this while). So the agent and I devised a plan as to how much she will be getting when she turns 18 and what will be the procedures in the event of a claim..

So far, for the last 2 years or so, I've been constantly paying (topping up) her insurance via direct debit every month. Well, I didn't bother to check the amount the she has in her education plan as at today. I wonder why...hehehe

Anyways, when she was admitted to the hospital a week ago, I hurriedly call my agent and I'm so relieved that all her medication and room charged are paid for by Prudential. I wonder what if I didn't had any plans for her in the first place. For that 4 days treatment, her total bill comes up to about RM3k. That's a lot of money we are talking about.

During her discharge, as I was signing some documents, I managed to glanced through some guy's admission papers. I can see that he has deposited RM5k for his treatment at the hospital. Phewww. And then it struck me....apart from education, personal health is another important thing to take into consideration...Those days, I dreaded when an insurance agent called for a meet up. Sometimes I see no point of having an insurance...However, after experiencing kecik's problems, I'm glad that I took the initiative to have an insurance plan for her in the first place....

I would certainly agree if all of us could have our own insurance plan. No matter how small we have to pay monthly but it will certainly help in lessening our financial burden when the time comes....

At the same time, the experience also taught me a good lesson in handling my money better. In the event of an emergency, like it or not, you must have a good and solid financial standing. Cause if you don't it will cost you in the most unexpected ways that you can ever imagine. Unfortunately, prices of everything goes up and up and up all the time. So it is really up to us to decide in keeping abreast with challenging world of today and tomorrow...

It comes back to the question of how much saving do we need to make every month? RM500? RM1000? RM2500? I don't know to be honest. It all depends on ourselves. Our lifestyle. Our habits. Our nature. Etc..etc...All i do know is, I will keep a portion of whatever I earn in my ASB as well as my insurance accounts...

Have a good week ahead...