SINCE July 1, motor insurance tariffs have been liberalized. Will this benefit consumers? It depends. In a scenario after the liberalisation, the consumer continues with his old “package” because of convenience, and if prices go up, he may complain over the increase and get angry at the liberalisation regime, or on the other hand, if prices go down, the consumer feels elated that he has saved money because of the liberalisation; then the consumers have not benefited from the liberalisation regime.

A Personal Accident (PA) insurance policy offers you protection against injuries, disability and death caused by accidents anywhere in the world. The policies should pay for surgery and hospitalisation expenses, funeral expenses and temporary or permanent disability. How much you get in monetary value often depends on the limits stated in your policy.

The demand for long-term care and non-communicable disease management will increase for the rapidly growing senior population. Concomitantly, infectious diseases, especially dengue, will continue to plague the public. Thirteen countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, have licensed the dengue vaccine.

As quoted by The Star, Kho Chui Ing, the deputy president of National Association of Malaysian Life Insurance Field Force and Advisers (Namlifa), said most companies had adjusted their charges and premiums for medical, health and investment-linked policies over the last few months to cope with medical inflation.

You can perhaps go without that expensive winter edition bag, or those high-end shoes, or the sleek smartphone. Nothing is really going to happen if you do not own them. But, there are some important purchases in life, which you shouldn’t go without. Without them, you could be heading down a visible path of a financial nightmare not only for you, but for your family too.

If you are buying a policy against loss/damage to your vehicle, you must ensure that your vehicle is adequately insured as it will affect the amount you can claim in the event of loss/damage. For a new vehicle, the insured value will be the purchase price while for other vehicles, the insured value is the market value of the vehicle at the point you apply for the insurance policy.