Beyond Life and Health: The Cover Most Households Overlook

The cover you forget about is usually the cover that fills a gap nobody else does. (General insurance, briefly.)

Once the four big risks are handled, a second tier of "general" insurance protects your property and everyday life. These policies are cheaper and narrower, but two are legally required and the rest plug gaps your other cover will not. (Figures as at June 2026.)

Home and fire. If you own an HDB flat with an outstanding HDB loan, fire insurance is compulsory — administered by HDB through an appointed insurer at only a few dollars a year. But it covers just the flat's structure as built, not your renovations or belongings; a separate home-contents policy does that.

Motor, third-party. Driving on a public road without at least third-party cover for death and injury is an offence in Singapore, punishable by a fine. Comprehensive cover adds protection for your own vehicle on top of the legal minimum.

Travel. A travel policy costs little but covers the genuinely expensive risks of a trip — medical treatment abroad, cancellation, lost baggage — that nothing else picks up.

Personal accident. This pays a lump sum for injury or death caused by an accident, wherever it happens. It is cheap, broad, and often forgotten.

The theme is completeness. Each of these plugs a specific gap, so buy them for the gap they fill — not because they came bundled with something else.

Illustrative example: four everyday policies

The two cards show where these policies sit. The four core risks on the left come first; the everyday general policies on the right — two of them compulsory — finish the picture once the big risks are covered.