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How to read a benefit illustration

A benefit illustration is the table your insurer gives you when you buy a participating policy, showing what it could be worth each year. Read the guaranteed columns as what you are owed, and everything else as projections that may turn out higher or lower.

Last reviewed 15 October 2026

What a surrender value table looks like

A simplified version. Real illustrations have more columns and every policy year.

Illustration only: a 10-year endowment, S$5,000 a year
End of policy yearTotal premiums paidGuaranteed surrender valueTotal surrender value at 3.00%Total surrender value at 4.25%
15,0001,2001,4001,500
525,00018,90021,50022,600
945,00039,80043,70045,600
10 (maturity)50,00044,00050,60054,000

Not any real plan. The rates are the industry caps used in illustrations since 1 July 2021.

Column by column

  • Total premiums paid

    Everything you will have paid in by the end of that year. Compare every other column with this one.

  • Guaranteed

    What the insurer must pay under the contract, whatever happens to its investments. Your floor.

  • Total at the upper and lower rates

    Guaranteed plus projected bonuses, if the participating fund earned 4.25% or 3.00% a year. Not limits, and not forecasts.

  • Death benefit

    A separate set of columns shows what is paid on death in each year, on the same basis.

  • Costs

    Illustrations also show the cost of distributing the policy and how charges reduce its value over time. Look for these near the main table.

What it tells you before you surrender

  • Your break-even year

    The first year a surrender value column passes total premiums. In the table: year 9 at 4.25%, maturity at 3.00%, and never on the guaranteed column alone. Endowment break-even

  • How you are tracking

    Compare your latest statement with the illustration for the same year. If you are near or below the lower rate, bonuses have been cut.

  • What waiting is worth

    The gap between today's value and maturity shows what you give up by surrendering now. Surrender value calculator

Benefit illustration questions

What do the 4.25% and 3.00% rates mean?

They are the highest rates insurers may use to project participating policies, set by the Life Insurance Association from 1 July 2021. Actual returns may be higher or lower. Guaranteed and non-guaranteed bonuses

I can't find my benefit illustration. What now?

Ask your insurer for a copy, or for a current statement of guaranteed and projected values.

Why is my surrender value below the illustration?

Usually because bonuses declared have been lower than projected, or a loan has been taken off.

Do buyers use the benefit illustration?

We use your insurer's current figures first, and the illustration to understand the guaranteed values. How we value a policy

Sources

LIA media release, 2 June 2021: revised caps on participating policy illustrations (checked 15 October 2026)

Read the numbers? See what a buyer would pay

If we would buy your policy, our offer sits beside your net surrender value. No NRIC, no obligation.

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